By Eric Curl
June 1, 2020 – A fundraiser has been established to pay for a historical marker for the two-story house Virginia Jackson Kiah transformed into a community museum in the late 1950s.
Built in 1915, the “museum was started to reach the masses”, the late African-American educator and artist said in this video on YouTube.
Now under the ownership of a trust in Kiah’s name, the house at 505 W. 36th St. in historic Cuyler-Brownville continues to deteriorate after being tied up legal dispute in Chatham County Probate Court following the Kiah’s death in 2001 at age 90.
A Savannah State University anthropology professor, Deborah Johnson-Simon, has been leading the charge to restore the Kiah house. Johnson-Simon established the Friends of Kiah Museum group to raise awareness about the artist and her home.
Johnson-Simon is now leading the fundraising effort for the marker. To donate, go to the Gofundme page. With a $5,000 goal set, Johnson-Simon said the 10-day fundraiser will be extended if they reach the half-way mark by June 3, Kiah’s birthday.
While Kiah’s own house and museum crumbles, a 19th-century Georgia Railway building named in her honor stands fully restored along Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Located at 227 MLK Jr. Boulevard, Kiah Hall is owned Savannah College of Art and Design. Kiah had served on SCAD’s board and also donated most of her art to the university, which held an exhibition of her work in 2009. However, at least one of Kiah’s paintings can be viewed at the Johnson Collection Gallery in Spartenburg, SC.
Read about Kiah and the house in this 2017 Savannah Morning News article I wrote back in my reporting days.
