Slavery in the North v. Slavery in the South and the Common Connection
Myra Davis-Branic discusses how slavery was taught in Public Schools based on region. Myra Davis-Branic, a native New Yorker and a product of the Great Migration, was taught in NYC Public Schools that slavery was a “Down South Phenomenon”. When she migrated south and started teaching Black History to at-risk youth to increase self-esteem and […]
Legacies of Slavery and the Shared History of the South
Myra Davis-Branic discusses how writing a book about her family’s history led to a chance meeting which grew into a friendship with Frye Gaillard, 6th X Great-grandson of the man who enslaved her family on a South Carolina plantation. The discussion includes a video presentation of our conversations in Mobile Alabama at the University of […]
Cornbread My Soul: The Davis Family of Eutawville, South Carolina
Myra Davis-Branic discusses the steps she took in writing a book that traced her family back to the 1700s to a South Carolina Plantation and finding a connection to Sierra Leone through the name of an ancestor, Teneba, which is a name from Sierra Leone’s Mende or Temne tribe. The writing of the book was […]
How Did the Simple Act of Spending a Night In a Slave Cabin Become a Book
Join author and journalist Herb Frazier for a conversation with historic preservationist Joseph McGill Jr., founder of the Slave Dwelling Project. Since May 2010, McGill has traveled to twenty-five states to sleep in more than 200 former slave dwellings to bring attention to a need to preserve these structures as important historic evidence of African […]
Reconsidering James Petigru: Unionist and Civic Reformer in a Radical Age
Few sarcastic quips in all of southern history remain as famous as James Petigru’s reported comment upon receiving the news that South Carolina had seceded from the Union. South Carolina, Petigru mused sarcastically, was “too small for a republic and too large for an insane asylum.” Petigru died in 1863, a devoted Unionist and southern […]
“A Soul of Priceless Value”: The Contested Ideology of Slaveholding in the Lowcountry
This lecture examines white Christianity’s struggle for influence among slaveholders in Charleston and the surrounding South Carolina Lowcountry as the movement delineated both the ideological and the practical mechanisms that it believed necessary to sustain a slaveholding society in the face of increasingly sharp moral and social criticism, chiefly from outside the region. Religious paternalism’s […]
The Thompson Family: Untold Stories from the Past (1830 – 1960)
Through the stories of enslaved ancestors and notable relatives, The Thompson Family: Untold Stories from The Past (1830-1960), chronicles the rich history of a prominent African American family from Salley, South Carolina features stories of individuals who were enslaved, a woman served as an enslaved cook during the Civil War, and agricultural life.
Martha Kitchings Seawright Ellison
Martha Kitchings Seawright Ellison was born enslaved on November 20, 1849, in Aiken County, South Carolina. This presentation tells the contextualized story of her life, featuring local history of the antebellum period and Civil War in South Carolina during Martha’s enslavement; a historical account of Martha’s life during the Reconstruction Era; the circumstances that involved […]
South Carolina African American Confederate Pensioners
This presentation explores the reasons why South Carolina used African American labor during the war; the diverse roles of African American labor during the war; SC approval of Confederate pensions for African Americans; notable features of the pension application; and notable South Carolina African American Confederate Pensioners.
Lavinia C. Thompson – The Personal Story of Slavery and Civil War in South Carolina
Lavinia was born enslaved on June 3rd, 1844, in Aiken County, and this presentation tells her personal story of slavery and survival during the Civil War. Lavinia would follow her master into battle in the Civil War, serving the Confederate army as a cook. Six decades later, she would be among about 100 black South […]
Slavery to Civil Rights: A Tour Through Time of Charleston’s African-American History
Did you know the author of Amazing Grace sold a shipload of slaves here? Charleston was the center of the English slave trade. Estimates are over 40% of the Nameless Enslaved sold in all thirteen colonies were sold here. This presentation tells the story of historic Charleston from the perspective of the African-American experience. During the chronologically […]
Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the African American Quest for Freedom
The story of the Underground Railroad is one of the most epic in American History. This presentation describes the heroic efforts of African Americans and whites to hide and guide runaway slaves in their desperate journeys to freedom in the north and in Canada. Highlights of the presentation include first person narratives of escaping runaway […]
Slave Dwellings of South Carolina and the Slave Dwelling Project
Joseph McGill will chronicle nights spent in several slave dwellings throughout the United States.
A general reading and discussion of The Traveler’s Charleston, followed by Q&A
Charleston has always held a fascination for its visitors. Today there remains a nacreous patina that overlays this old city, a pentimento suggestive not only of artifacts beneath the surface but also gradations of history. It suggests an excavation of its centuries-old layers. This presentation allows us to do just that, to venture back through […]