Prior to the construction of the African American Monument on the River Street waterfront in 2002 Savannah possessed no monument to represent the African American community. Dr. Abigail Jordan began the long process of rectifying this issue  in 1991, though it was not without significant pushback from the city. In the early planning stages supporters of the monument had to answer questions such as how the monument should be represented and what exactly it should represent.¹ The first iterations of the monument were rejected, first for design and second for location. The incumbent city-manager at the time told Dr. Jordan that her marker “belonged on a wall in a black church, a black, cemetery, or a housing project rather than on the water front.”² This statement by the city-manager created a divide between supporters of the monument and the city, leading to several years of opposition and attempts by the city to seize control of the project.³

Though faced with significant opposition the monument was finally erected in 2002 on River Street. The monument depicts a family of four standing close together with chains at their feet. The monument faces outwards on the waterfront, looking back towards the African continent. Savannah finally had a major monument to the African American community but it was not universally liked or even accepted.

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Local artist James Kimble opposed the monument, believing it did not accurately represent the reality of the African American community in Savannah. Kimble also states that the figures weren’t accurate from a design standpoint, and didn’t look like African Americans.⁴ Kimble decided to make his own monument on his property which he would call the “Black Holocaust Memorial.” The memorial was made of paper-mache, a skill Kimble learned during his time in Germany.⁵ The monument would reflect how Kimble believed a monument to the African American community should be portrayed.