The exhibition “Resilience and Revolution: Native Peoples in 18th Century South Carolina” will be on display at the Sumter County Museum in from October 3 – December 28, 2024. “Resilience and Revolution” is a traveling exhibition created for the Traveling Exhibition Program of the South Carolina State Museum through a partnership led by South Carolina Humanities, with the Native American Studies Center of the University of South Carolina Lancaster, the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, and the SC State Museum.
The exhibition explores the struggles of Indigenous peoples in South Carolina to retain their independence through the upheavals, unrest and uncertainty following the establishment of the Carolina colony by the British. “Trade, diseases, and competition that often resulted in conflict are explored in the exhibit as we chronicle the lives and cultures of these resilient, freedom-loving Native Americans,” notes Project Director Alice Taylor-Colbert.
Maps, documents, images and reproductions on display illustrate the rich cultural life and values of the diverse Native peoples in the 1700s to allow visitors to better understand this era. In addition, this exhibition highlights how the resilience of the surviving Indigenous peoples enabled them to maintain and adapt their cultures. Educational resources and collection preservation information will accompany the exhibition. Learn more about the exhibit.
“Resilience and Revolution: Native Peoples in 18th Century South Carolina” opens on October 3 at the Sumter County Museum. The Museum is located at 122 N. Washington Street, Sumter, SC 29150. It is open Thursday-Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Learn more: https://www.sumtermuseum.org/
On Tuesday, October 15, Christopher Judge, Assistant Director of the Native American Studies Center at USC Lancaster, will give a lecture on “The Elusive Cheraw Indians of South Carolina.” The lecture begins at 6:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public. In this lecture, Judge will discuss an ethnohistoric process to identify the cultural aliation of two individuals interred at the Johannes Kolb Site in Darlington County, South Carolina. He traces the movement of the Cheraw across the Piedmont of North Carolina and ultimately to the Great Pee Dee River and beyond in an attempt to write a brief history for these two people. The event will take place in the museum’s McKenzie Hall located at the main campus at 122 N. Washington Street
As part of the Traveling Exhibition Program at the SC State Museum, the exhibit is available to be rented by other cultural institutions across South Carolina. For information about the Traveling Exhibit Program and future booking of the exhibition, contact Timia D. Thompson, Collections Outreach Manager, South Carolina State Museum, tep@scstatemuseum.org.
“Resilience and Revolution: Native Peoples in 18th Century South Carolina” was produced thanks to generous funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities through the special initiative “A More Perfect Union.” Additional funding was provided by the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, South Carolina Humanities, and other donors.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c)3 organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos, and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually. South Carolina Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as corporate, foundation and individual donors. The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
