Black History Month-- February 2007: Charleston’s African-American Heritage Honored
For Immediate Release, February 2007National Black History month has a special significance in Charleston, SC. The historical influence of African Americans in the South Carolina Lowcountry is reflected in the culture and customs that still resonate throughout the area. While many of Charleston’s earliest citizens came for economic, political and religious freedom, slaves were taken from Africa for intensive agricultural and constructive labor. Not all Africans remained slaves. Many of these black citizens were able to carve out a niche for themselves as artisans, craftsmen and business owners.
Both free and enslaved Africans helped shape Charleston’s economic and cultural life. Their agricultural knowledge is largely responsible for Charleston’s success. Ironwork, handmade sweetgrass baskets, she-crab soup and benne seed cookies are just a few of the well-known artistic and culinary contributions. Gullah, the Sea Island culture and language, continues to survive today. This February, Charleston celebrates Black History Month by highlighting special events.
AVERY RESEARCH CENTER FOR AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY AND CULTURE:
Located at 125 Bull Street, Avery was established to collect, preserve, and make public the unique historical and cultural heritage of African Americans in South Carolina and the Lowcountry. Contact: Alada Shinault-Small at 843.953.7609.
ASALH (Association for the Study of African American Life and History)
Association for the Study of African American Life & History (ASALH) annual Carter G. Woodson luncheon -Saturday, Feb. 3; 12 noon; $25.00 p/p; Holiday Inn, Patriot's Point; for further info email: dadavis52@msn.com.
BOONE HALL PLANTATION:
Tour one of the few remaining slave streets in America. Built around 1800, these cabins were home to the skilled and house slaves of Boone Hall Plantation. Nearby, a sweetgrass artisan demonstrates the sewing of baskets, a skill brought from Africa. Contact: Kathryn Brown at 843-856-5361.
Experience the Past (a living history program): This program, designed for groups and offered during the month of February, features hands on as well as demonstrative activities. Visitors will tour the original slave cabins, pick and deseed cotton, and assume the roll of a runaway slave through an interactive and educational game. Before leaving, each group will attend the Gullah theatre and hear Gullah story telling and interactive songs.
CAW CAW INTERPRETIVE CENTER:
This 654-acre site, rich in natural, cultural and historical resources, is comprised of several former rice plantations that operated during the 18th and most of the 19th century. Here and throughout the South Carolina Lowcountry enslaved Africans were forced to apply their West and Central African agricultural experience, technology and skills to rice cultivation. Out of vast Lowcountry swamps these men, women and children successfully converted thousands of acres to rice fields. Still evident today are the earthen dikes, water control structures called rice trunks, and canals - all fruits of their slave labor. So, if you are interested in a peaceful stroll along wooded paths and through expansive marshlands, or if you would like to participate in hands-on programs about Charleston County's rich natural and cultural history, come to Caw Caw today! Contact: Mandi Starnes 843.762.8089.
CHARLES PINCKNEY NATIONAL HISTORIC SITE:
This historic site was established to interpret Charles Pinckney's plantation, Snee Farm, his role in the development of the United States Constitution, and the transition of the United States from a group of colonies to a young nation. Interpretive exhibits highlight these areas as well as the influences of African-Americans in the development of Snee Farm. Contact: Michael Allen at 843.881.5516.
CHARLESTON COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY:
Contact: Jamie Thomas, 843.805.6819
“I AM SOMEBODY”
Monday, Feb. 26th at 6:30 p.m. The Charleston County Public Library presents the half-hour film "I Am Somebody" along with a panel discussion. The film documents the 1969 hospital workers' strike at the Medical University in South Carolina. African-American nurses aids protested very low pay, drawing the attention of national and international press and civil liberties groups. The strike lasted 100 days.
LOWCOUNTRY GULLAH CULTURE PROGRAMS
The National Park Service, in partnership with the Town of Mount Pleasant, is hosting special public programs highlighting Lowcountry Gullah Culture at the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site in Mount Pleasant. The free series begins at 2pm every Saturday during February and March and will feature regional artists and performers with Gullah and African story-telling, quilting, cooking, spirituals, sweetgrass basket sewing and cast-net demonstrations, iron-working, African drumming and dance.
CHARLESTON MUSEUM
Contact: Stephanie Thomas at 843.722.2996
GULLAH GALORE- FAMILY FUN EVENT
Celebrate the culture of the Lowcountry with sweet grass basket weavers, storytellers, and more. Every month The Charleston Museum offers a special Saturday program dedicated to providing an educational and exciting experience for the whole family. February 10 from 10am – 12pm.
INTRO TO AFRICA AT THE CHARLESTON MUSEUM
From Mombasa to Marrakech and Cairo to Cape Town, traverse this vast continent and its ties to the Lowcountry by sampling regional food, sights, sounds and craftsmanship at the Museum’s annual fundraiser. Enjoy an evening of African and Lowcountry inspired cuisine, as well as live and silent auctions. February 24, 2007 from 7-10pm.
AFRICAN AMERICAN HERITAGE GROUP TOURS
This signature tour of the Museum’s permanent exhibitions with a Museum curator will focus on African and African American contributions to Lowcountry history. Learn about the plantation system, particularly rice and cotton producers, and discover artifacts such as slave badges and slave-made pottery unique to this area.
CHARLESTON STAGE COMPANY
Contact: Emily Wilhoit at 843.813.8578
Charleston Stage Company's The Syringa Tree by by Pamela Gien
Winner of Atlanta Magazine's Best of Atlanta 2005 Award and the 2001 Obie Award for Best Play, The Syringa Tree tells the story of six-year-old Elizabeth Grace as she tries to make sense of the chaos, magic and darkness of apartheid-gripped South Africa. Jan 26, 27, 31 and Feb 1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10 at 8pm, and Jan 28 and Feb 4 at 3pm at the Dock Street Theatre.
Art Forms and Theatre Concepts' Joe Turner's Come and Gone by August Wilson
Set in a working class boarding house in 1911, a time when Reconstruction's promises to freed slaves have been abandoned and African-Americans are trickling north to find work and new lives, Joe Turner's Come and Gone tells the story of a man, and a people, who are struggling to find the "song" that has been taken from them. February 1, 2, 3, 4, 8, 9, 10 and 11 at the New Burke High School Performing Arts Center.
DRAYTON HALL:
This National Trust historic site was built between 1738 and 1742. It is the oldest preserved plantation house in America open to the public. Contact: Vera Ford at 843.769.2608.
CONNECTIONS: FROM AFRICA TO AMERICA AT DRAYTON HALL
Offered at 11:15am and 2:15pm every day and included with gate admission, Connections: From Africa to America, is an interactive program about African-American life that traces the story of Africans from Africa to the Lowcountry and beyond. The program focuses on African-American history, contributions of African Americans to American culture, and specific individuals and historical events at Drayton Hall.
FROM PLANTATIONS TO THE CITY
Drayton Hall’s African-American history package, From Plantations to the City, provides groups with a comprehensive look at Lowcountry African-American history from the 17th century to the present. Tours begin on the Ashley River at Drayton Hall, where participants learn about African and African-American life through the interpretive program Connections: From Africa to America. After learning about life on a rice plantation, groups travel to Charleston’s Historic District for an African American history walking tour.
AFRICAN AMERICAN CEMETERY
After hearing the stories of specific African-Americans who lived and worked on Drayton Hall’s grounds, guests can visit Drayton Hall’s African-American cemetery. This sacred spot is the resting place of at least 33 hard-working men and women. Richmond Bowens, a descendent of slaves owned by the Drayton family, is buried here along with his family members. In keeping with his wishes, the cemetery has been left natural, not restored or planted with grass or decorative shrubs.
MAGNOLIA PLANTATION AND GARDENS:
Learn more about the unique African-American experience at Magnolia Plantation, from slavery to the Civil War and beyond. Also, visit a rare African-American plantation graveyard at Magnolia's Audubon Swamp Garden. Contact: Jane Taylor at 843.571.1266.
INTERPRETIVE TALKS
After working as slaves in indigo and rice fields for generations, freed slaves were employed in Magnolia's garden as gardeners, porters, and tour guides. Six slave cabins still stand -- many were occupied continuously from the 1840s through the 1930s. Daily interpretive talks are held at a restored, furnished antebellum cabin.
MEPKIN ABBEY:
Contact: Barbara Burgess at 843.761-8509
AFRICAN AMERICAN LECTURE
Mepkin Abbey will have a lecture on the painting, "Seeking" done by Jonathan Green. The painting now hangs in Claremont Cemetery on the grounds of the monastery, where it is believed slaves are buried on the Mepkin Property. After the lecture, visitors have the chance to walk through the Slave Cemetery. Every Wednesday and Saturday during February and the first Wednesday and Saturday of the month thereafter.
MIDDLETON PLACE:
Just off Highway 61, this carefully preserved plantation with 65 acres of America’s oldest landscaped gardens offers craft demonstrations, exploration of slave life, horse back riding, hiking, biking, kayaking and on site dining. Contact: Pat Kennedy at 843.556.6020.
BEYOND THE FIELDS EXHIBIT
The exhibit, Beyond the Fields: Slavery at Middleton Place, is mounted in Eliza’s House, a freedman’s cabin, and focuses on the daily lives of slaves and their work beyond the fields in the Middleton plantation system. It complements recent African American initiatives such as the Plantation Chapel, Slave Cemetery, Rice Mill, and Demonstration Rice Field as well as the Plantation Stableyards.
AFRICAN AMERICAN FOCUS TOURS
This tour provides insight into the lives of African Americans at Middleton Place and other Lowcountry rice plantations. Trained interpreters discuss the domestic life at Eliza’s House (a freedman’s cabin), rice cultivation at the Rice Mill and Demonstration Field and learn about religion and spirituality at the Plantation Chapel and Slave Cemetery. Included in the regular admission fee, this tour is offered daily at 11am and 1pm.
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The mission of the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau is to unify and lead the local travel industry in marketing the Charleston area as an individual, meeting, incentive and group destination to both the domestic and international markets. To learn more about the Charleston Area, contact the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau at (800) 868-8118 or visit our website at CharlestonCVB.com.
