SAVANNAH, Ga. () — Community members gathered on Wednesday to unveil a new historical marker at the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum.

The marker is dedicated to Gilbert, the man recognized as the father of Savannah’s modern-day Civil Rights Movement. Community leaders and advocates emphasized the significance of preserving his legacy.

“If we lose the markers, if we lose the place where the story needs to be told, then our kids, the young guys, miss the opportunity to spread the story,” Chatham County Commissioner Chairman Chester Ellis stated. “So, then we aren’t able to speak the name.”

Gilbert was a pastor, NAACP leader and Civil Rights organizer.

“Anyone and everyone can walk up to a marker and learn about something that happened in the states that we live in, and that shapes who we are today,” Breanna James of the Georgia Historical Society commented.

James said, “The past has made us who we are, and being able to reflect on that and learn about it can help us then make a better future.”

Many agreed with the museum’s founder Westley Wallace-Law who said, “Honoring this great man is long overdue.”

spoke with Civil Rights advocate Mercedes Wright Arnold.

“There was a thumping of praise in my heart and the glory to God that all of the hard work of all of the people who made it possible through the ages is acknowledged today with the unveiling of that marker,” Arnold said. “I know they are smiling”

The Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum has been a part of the Savannah community for more than 25 years.