Ghost Residents  ·  No. 011  ·  Issue No. 1

The Lion of Civil Rights
Never Left Savannah.

MLK called him the lion of civil rights in Savannah. By 1963 Savannah was the most desegregated city south of the Mason-Dixon line.

409 West 33rd Street, Savannah, Georgia
Multiple Addresses Confirmed
Photograph coming soon
409 West 33rd Street  ·  Savannah, Georgia

Westley Wallace Law was born in 1923 in Savannah and never really left. His childhood home was at 409 West 33rd Street — in the westside corridor that would become the center of the city's civil rights movement. As an adult he moved to 2009 Florence Street. Later to 710 West Victory Drive. He stayed in the same neighborhoods his entire life.

W.W. Law became president of the Savannah NAACP in 1950 and held that position for twenty-four years. He led the desegregation of Savannah's lunch counters, its beaches, its public parks, its department stores, its municipal stadium. He was fired from his postal worker job in 1961 because of his civil rights activities — then reinstated after the national NAACP and President Kennedy intervened.

Martin Luther King Jr. called him the lion of civil rights in Savannah. By October 1963 Savannah was the most desegregated city south of the Mason-Dixon line.

When the movement was over W.W. Law turned to history. He founded the Negro Heritage Trail Tour. He secured funding to convert the former Wage Earners Savings Bank building into the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum — named for the mentor who had trained him. He died in 2002. The house at 409 West 33rd Street has no marker.

He was born here. He stayed here. He changed it. Then he turned around and made sure nobody forgot what had happened.
24Years as president of the Savannah NAACP
1963Savannah became most desegregated city south of Mason-Dixon
3Confirmed Savannah addresses across his lifetime
THE RECORD Primary Source
Document coming soon
Multiple Savannah City Records
Childhood home409 West 33rd Street
Adult address2009 Florence Street
Later address710 West Victory Drive
Born1923 · Died 2002
Primary Source Citation
Census records and Savannah city directories confirming 409 West 33rd Street childhood home, 2009 Florence Street adult address, and 710 West Victory Drive · DEED History, April 2026
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