Editing St. Simons, Georgia (section)

=== Black American heritage ===
After the [[American Civil War]], many Geechee people who had been enslaved remained on St. Simons Island, subsisting on whatever they could harvest from their gardens and the surrounding waters. Many later found jobs with the lumber mills starting in the 1870s.<ref name=":1" /> They attended the First African Baptist Church, completed in 1869 by formerly enslaved people from St. Simons Island plantations. Regular services are still held today at the original site on Frederica Road, which has been diligently cared for and renovated through the years.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Our History|url = http://www.fabsaintsimons.org/Our-History|website = www.fabsaintsimons.org|access-date = 2016-01-14|archive-date = February 7, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160207044230/http://www.fabsaintsimons.org/Our-History|url-status = dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Brown |first=Brian |date=2020-03-09 |title=First African Baptist Church, 1869, St. Simons Island |url=https://vanishinggeorgia.com/2020/03/09/first-african-baptist-church-1869-st-simons-island/ |access-date=2022-07-13 |website=Vanishing Georgia: Photographs by Brian Brown |language=en}}</ref>

In October 2000, at the First African Baptist Church, a group of island residents and property owners formed the St. Simons African American Heritage Coalition to protect and preserve the history and heritage of African-Americans on St. Simons Island. Today, the coalition conducts tours of historic sites and produces the annual Georgia Sea Islands Festival to celebrate traditional Geechee African-American music, food, and crafts. More recently, the coalition, together with Friends of Harrington School, has organized a successful fund-raising effort to restore the historic Harrington School House, which was initially built in the 1920s to serve the island's Geechee or African-American children.<ref>{{Cite web|title = SSAAHC {{!}} St. Simons African-American Heritage Coalition - History of SSAAHC|url = http://www.ssiheritagecoalition.org/our-history.html|website = www.ssiheritagecoalition.org|access-date = 2016-01-14|archive-date = February 7, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160207001034/http://ssiheritagecoalition.org/our-history.html|url-status = dead}}</ref>