THE LEGACY

In 1950, W.W. Law began a 30-year tenure as a member of the national board of directors of the NAACP and as president of the Savannah Branch. He led the struggle for integrated housing, voter registration, equal employment, and desegregation of schools and public facilities. During a time when communities were burned and destroyed, his leadership facilitated the peaceful transition to an integrated society.

From leading mass meetings of the NAACP every Sunday, to the sit-in of Levy's Department Store, to the 18-month boycott on Broughton Street, to the wade-in at Tybee Beach, to his eloquence at the Sibley Commission meeting, W.W. Law transformed the legal landscape of the city of Savannah.

He is a man of great culture and learning who came of age at a time in history where a college degree for a man of his race did not guarantee the best job. He received an honorary doctorate from Savannah State University. His extensive collection of literature and recordings fueled his interest and leadership in the preservation of black history and culture, resulting in the establishment of the King Tisdell Cottage, the Beach Institute Historic Neighborhood, Negro Heritage Trail, the Savannah-Yamacraw Branch Association for the study of Afro-American Life and History, and the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum.