Category: U. S. South

More people question weddings at plantation sites

Bernard Powers, CSSC director, was on his way to do field research in the Caribbean when he was contacted by a BuzzFeed news reporter. “This is an article on the recent debate over weddings at plantation sites,” Dr. Powers notes. “Early this a.m., I was responding to the reporter on my phone on a small ferry plying the choppy waters between St. Kitts and Nevis.”

Here’s an excerpt from BuzzFeed News:

Dr. Bernard Powers, the director of the College of Charleston’s Center for the Study of Slavery in Charleston, told BuzzFeed News that the inherent beauty of plantations must be contextualized.

“If these places looked the same and had a different history, no one would object and they would simply be recognized for their beauty. And they are beautiful today because in part due to the knowledge of slave gardeners who tended [to] them,” he said. “Recognize the people who did the work and contrast the beauty with the brutality. Both occurred and must be recognized and reconciled.”

This country, Walcott-Wilson added, was built by slaves. Finding a wedding venue anywhere that hasn’t been touched by slavery would be difficult.

Read more at https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/clarissajanlim/bride-groom-plantation-wedding-slaves-criticism

 

 

Charleston’s landscape of memory: Putting history in perspective

Please read this commentary piece published in the Post & Courier: https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/charleston-s-landscape-of-memory-putting-history-in-perspective/article_d782da88-0ad4-11e9-9ae2-93cbc27f6418.html.

Call for Papers: Architectures of Slavery – Ruins & Reconstructions

The Art & Architectural History Department and the new Center for the Study of Slavery at the College of Charleston announce a symposium dedicated to the historic and ongoing relationships between slavery and architecture: A SYMPOSIUM ON THE HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE, URBANISM AND LANDSCAPES, October 24-26, 2019, Charleston, South Carolina. We seek papers that critically explore places and times in which slavery was a legal institution, as well as papers that analyze the long-enduring memories and legacies of slavery in architecture, urbanism, and landscapes. Charleston is one of the most important sites of such history in the United States and offers an ideal setting for a confrontation with the ways that the systems and values of slavery are woven into the fabric of a place. The city was built upon the slave trade, launched the Civil War, seethed during Reconstruction, and endured decades of segregation and oppression, both in its historic center and in its modern suburbs. We acknowledge, however, the global nature of slavery and welcome relevant submissions pertaining to any corner of the planet.

Please email a 300-word abstract and a two-page CV, with the phrase Ruins and Reconstructions written in the subject line, to walkernr@cofc.edu and stiefelb@cofc.edu by April 1, 2019. Send any inquiries to the same addresses. For more information, view our Call for Papers.

Visit our website at https://charleston.edu/study-slavery-charleston/index.php.