• About This Project The 2024 SCMP Residency
      • Back
      • Frequently Asked Questions
      • The Project Team
      • Special Thanks
  • In The Beginning Faith in Early Georgia
      • Back
      • An Introduction
      • Historical Context
      • John Wesley and The Moravians
      • The Jews
      • The Salzburgers
      • African American Congregations
      • The 1806 Resolution
  • Faith In Action Community Outreach
      • Back
      • An Introduction
      • Civil Rights
      • Education
      • Healthcare
      • Housing
      • Hunger
      • Prison Ministry
      • Substance Abuse Recovery
  • Common Ground Diverse Voices
  • Teaching Resources Test Material and Additional Reading
      • Back
      • Quiz #1 'In The Beginning' Section
          • Back
          • PDF
      • Essay Questions 'In The Beginning' Section
          • Back
          • PDF
      • ---------
      • Quiz #2 'Faith In Action' Section
          • Back
          • PDF
      • Essay Questions 'Faith In Action' Section
          • Back
          • PDF
      • ---------
      • Additional Reading
          • Back
          • PDF
  • Contact The Project Team Get In Touch With Us
Malena Stone - My husband and I both felt really strongly that it was our responsibility to raise children who want to make a difference.
Rev. Michael Chaney - People felt reaffirming of one another in this community. There was a sense of culture, of holding one another up.
Rabbi Robert Haas - I think God wants us to place nice here and show respect. You don't have to be best friends with everybody, but showing respect is essential.
Dana Felty Bynum - We're so lucky as to have a lot of different people from day one just sailing into port.
James Stanley Lester - I'm doing it in truth and for people to know that there are people that care out there and that they can be helped.
Rev. Billy Hester - Savannah was a melting pot. We all went to school together. We played on the ball teams together.
Katrina Bostick - We have to figure out how to work together because in the end, this entire community is going to be impacted.
Sakinah Ziyadah Ali - When we are able to sit down and dialogue, we all come away with a better understanding and a better respect for each other.
Chaplain Kenneth Rouche - There is a very strong multicultural interdenominational presence in Savannah. And we have made it a point to come together.
Sister Margaret Beatty - Our world is tainted now with all kinds of division. But building relationships is the only thing that works.
Mayor Otis Johnson - I wasn't supposed to be here in this place, in this society. So whoever or whatever you call it, had a plan. And I'm simply carrying it out.
Roshi Paul Genki Kahn - We call our congreation a 'songha', but it doesn't matter... a rose by any other songha is a community.

About This Project

The Savannah Faith In Action Residency

In 2023, the City of Savannah invited proposals for a creative project spotlighting an underrepresented community. Applicants were encouraged to select communities defined by criteria that extended beyond traditional neighborhood boundaries. The call specified a year-long residency for the selected proposal in 2024. This website is the result of a key component of the chosen project team's proposal, Faith in Action: Perspectives on Savannah’s Interfaith Community.

Source Material

The project team produced and filmed interviews with historians, faith leaders, and engaged citizens over six different days spread throughout the year. The collection of interviews is accessible online from the City of Savannah Municipal Archives in both text transcript files and time-coded video links.

The video assets created are two-fold:

  1. Time-coded reference video files in universally compatible 1080p resolution MP4 format (available online)
  2. High-resolution 4K (UHD) original footage captured from two camera angles, ideal for derivative works (contact the Municipal Archives for more information)

A Teaching Resource

Although available to the general public, the project team developed this website to be an educational resource for 8th-grade teachers and students in Georgia. The City of Savannah requested that the project support appropriate social studies curricula as specified in the Georgia Department of Education's Standards of Excellence (SS8H2). Since 8th-grade students focus specifically on learning Georgia history, the passages and selections on this site's 'In The Beginning' section are designed to support them in integrating knowledge from their core curriculum while using critical thinking skills to deepen their understanding.

Additional content in the 'Faith In Action' and 'Common Ground' sections is also available for use in instruction. Of course, teachers of other grade levels may also find value in the material, and we encourage use of this site by anyone outside of the specific target audience, although a reading level above 8th grade is suggested. To assist teachers in assessing comprehension, the site offers content quizzes and proposed essay questions in both online and PDF printable formats.

Site Layout and Educational Goals

  1. After completing the readings and videos from the section titled 'In The Beginning', students should be able to describe the diverse faith landscape of the early Georgia colony and a few key faith-related events in Savannah’s history.
  2. Next, in the 'Faith In Action' section, teachers can help students explore the content on current and past social initiatives. These first two sections can be taught independently or together, as each stands on its own without requiring knowledge of the other.
  3. The third section, 'Common Ground', weaves a rich tapestry of selected comments from our interviews on  Savannah's diverse and interrelated faith traditions. Students may use this additional information to inform their own analysis as they complete the material.
  4. Finally, the 'Teaching Resources' menu offers quizzes, essay questions, and additional reading suggestions.

More specific site usage instructions are available on our Frequently Asked Questions page.

Conditions Governing Reproduction and Use

All original content generated by this project is housed in the City of Savannah Municipal Archives. It is protected by copyright law. Anyone wishing to reproduce, republish, or use the materials beyond private study, educational use and scholarship, or research must obtain written permission in advance from the Municipal Archives by submitting the Request for Permission to Reproduce/Publish, failure to do so may result in copyright infringement.

All material on this site, including the material derived from the original assets, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Please contact the project team if you have questions about this license.

Mayor Otis Johnson Interview

Top
City of Savannah Municipal Archives Logo

Funded by the City of Savannah through the Savannah Community Memory Project (SCMP) Residency Program at the Municipal Archives

Communicator Awards 2025
© 2024 - 2025 The Savannah Faith In Action Residency Project.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Click here for more information about this license.
illustration
You are about to load content from another website
Our website cannot be held responsible for the content of external websites.

By clicking 'Continue' below, your link will open in a new browser tab at the following address: {ebExpr this.triggerElement.href}

Please note this current tab will remain open for you to re-visit, but you will need to close this notification box upon your return. (click the 'x' in the top right corner)
Continue