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Virginia Jackson Kiah
Virginia Jackson Kiah (June 3, 1911 – December 28, 2001) was an African-American educator and artist who spent a large part of her life in Savannah, Georgia, where Kiah Hall is now named for her. She was the daughter of civil-rights activist Lillie May Carroll Jackson.[1] Early life and careerVirginia West Jackson was born in East St. Louis, Illinois, to Keiffer Albert Jackson and Lillie May Carroll Jackson.[2] Kiah graduated from the Pennsylvania Museum School of Art with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1931. She followed this up with a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1950.[3] In 1951,[3] Kiah and her husband of nineteen years, Calvin Lycurgus Kiah, moved to Savannah, Georgia.[4] Calvin was a professor at Georgia State University and Savannah State College during his career.[4] In 1959, they opened the first floor of their home at 505 West 36th Street, in the Cuyler-Brownsville neighborhood,[5] as the Kiah Museum,[4] a teaching facility.[1][6][7] The home was built in 1915.[8] Personal life In 1992, Savannah College of Art and Design acquired the deteriorating former Central of Georgia Railroad headquarters building and began renovations. A year later, the building was dedicated to Kiah, a member of SCAD's board of trustees between 1987 and 1997.[9] Kiah received an honorary doctorate from SCAD in 1986.[10] In failing health, she moved into a nursing home in 1990.[8] In 1993, she donated much of her art to the university, which held an exhibition of her work in 2009.[1] DeathKiah died in a Savannah nursing home in 2001, aged 90,[1] having survived her husband by seven years. She was interred beside him at Hillcrest Abbey on Wheaton Street in Savannah on December 30.[2] In 2022, Historic Savannah Foundation (HSF) purchased her former home for $60,000, saving it from demolition due to its ruinous state, having lay vacant for 32 years. They will sell it to a party interested only in restoring the house, a project estimated to cost around $500,000.[8] In November the following year, plans to restore the house received approval from the Metropolitan Planning Commission's Historic Preservation Commission, a step toward converting the house back to a museum.[11] In 2024, HSF secured approval for the Kiah Museum to be placed on the Georgia Register of Historic Places.[12] References
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