Joseph McGill Jr., Founder, Slave Dwelling Project
Proposal Type: Structured Conversation
Abstract: Over the past four years, I have spent nights in extant slave dwellings in the states of Alabama, Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. The purpose of the stays is to bring much needed attention to these often neglected structures. The project has been quite successful and has garnered much publicity to include a story in the October 2013 issue of Smithsonian magazine. The structured conversation will discuss the successes and challenges of the project and discuss possible ways that these endangered properties can be preserved and used for educational purposes.
Seeking: Since this will be a structured conversation, I would like to appeal to an audience with interest in African American history. More specifically, an audience with the desire of using space (the extant slave dwellings) to interpret a part of history that is uncomfortable to discuss for some people. More recently, I have been inviting youths and their chaperons to spend nights in these dwellings with me. While this approach has been highly successful, we need to discuss ways of how this aspect of the project can be furthered. The project is also breaking down barriers between descendants of slave owners and those who were enslaved by inviting them to spen d nights in the dwellings. This structured conversation can help further this breaking of barriers. I would like to know if this will work as a structured conversation or another format.
Related Topics: Preservation, Teaching, Place
If you have a direct offer of assistance, sensitive criticism, or wish to share contact information for other people the proposer should reach out to, please get in contact directly: Joseph McGill Jr., slavedwellingproject[at]gmail.com
If you have general ideas or feedback to share please feel free to use the comments feature below.
This is very interesting, Joseph. I followed your project online for a while and the pictures kept bringing me back to the same thought–These reconstructed “slave dwellings” are way too homey and comfortable. They are not historically authentic, and serve almost as Lost Cause memorials. I hope your presentation will take a hard look at the authenticity issue.
This is very interesting. I wonder if by “structured conversation” you mean that you have a series of questions that the experience has raised for you and you want the opportunity to engage in a dialogue with public historians about those specific questions for some specific end (revisiting the project? publishing about it? organizing similar projects on different subjects?). IF that is what you mean, then you might consider proposing a working group. That would require you to pose some of your questions in your proposal and say some words about your goals for the conversation. Then, in the fall, you would solicit participants (through NCPH) and select folks whose interests seem to match yours and help further your conversation.
I agree with Denise, a working group structure would fit nicely. And one of the expectations of the working group is to reach some sort of conclusion(s) and share that on History@Work in the months after the conference.
I’ve also followed the Slave Dwelling Project with interest, and although I might be going in the wrong direction here, I wonder if you’ve considered framing your project within the lens of the search for an authentic experience? While your project is quite distinct, it does have some interesting parallels with other “immersive” experiences, and raises some really important questions about the diverse avenues through which we seek to understand and connect with the past.