Taylor, Susie King (1848-1912), was an African American nurse in the United States Army. She was the first black person to teach openly in a school for former slaves in Georgia. She was also the first black woman to publish an account of her experiences during the American Civil War (1861-1865).
Taylor was born a slave on Aug. 6, 1848, on the Isle of Wight, south of Savannah, Georgia. Her given name was Susie Baker. When Susie was about 7 years old, her master sent her to live with her grandmother in Savannah. Susie learned to read and write at two secret schools run by black women. Several white acquaintances also helped Susie learn to read. At the time, Georgia had harsh laws against the education of African Americans.
In 1862, during the American Civil War, Susie was sent back to live with her mother. Around this time, Union forces attacked nearby Fort Pulaski. Susie escaped with her uncle’s family to Union-occupied St. Catherines Island, along the coast of Georgia. About two weeks later, Union forces moved the slaves to St. Simons Island, farther south. Soon after her arrival, Susie organized a school for the island’s African American children. She also taught black adults. While teaching on the island, she met and married Edward King, a sergeant in the First South Carolina Volunteers (later the 33d U.S. Colored Troops). Over the next four years, Susie King traveled with her husband’s regiment, working as a cook, laundress, and gun cleaner. She also helped camp doctors care for wounded soldiers and taught soldiers to read and write.
In 1866, the Kings returned to Savannah, where Susie established a school for freed black children. That year, Edward King died. In the early 1870’s, Susie traveled to Boston as a domestic servant of a white family. There, she met her second husband, Russell Taylor. In 1886, Susie King Taylor organized a local branch of the Women’s Relief Corps, a group that aided soldiers and hospitals. In 1902, Susie King Taylor’s autobiography, Reminiscences of My Life in Camp, was published. She died in Boston on Oct. 6, 1912.
