New site!

Dear readers,
thanks for your loyalty, we have moved to a new site, Interpreting Slave Life
Please be sure to add us to your feed!

New Blog Coming Soon

Dear Readers,
There have been some changes to how the blog will run and those changes are still in the process of being finalized. Please stay paitent as I work to unveil a new, more focused blog!!

This will still focus on the interpretive practices of presenting slave life, but it will also look at slave history, living history sites and thoughts related to the two! I am excited to ge to work on this new aspect and hope that you will join me for what should be a very exciting (and regularly updated) ride!

Tell your family, tell your friends...a new Experience is coming!

Best,
Nicole

Living History in Action

The Slave Cabin Project comes to Brattonsville

So for those who have been following my blog, you know that I have never revealed exactly where I work at for various reasons. Well for this entry, I am actually letting that info out because I can't properly tell you about the Joe McGill visit without letting you know where I'm at.

I was first introduced to the Slave Cabin Project like most people...the media. I read about it in the Charleston Post and Courier and thought "Hey, this is really kind of cool, I'd like to meet this guy one day and see what he's thinking!" Little did I know that I would get to do just that. One of the higher ups asked me about the project over the summer and if I heard about it. "Why yes, I did and I think it's spectacular!" I always take an interest when people are talking about slave life interpretation or just preserving the history that most feel is unimportant, and said higher up told me that he got to meet Mr. McGill at a conference in Charleston and that he was interested in coming out to our site do to the cabin sleepover.

While we thought it was exciting and appropriate for something like that to happen, we also realized that the decision like that was not just ours to make. Because we are pretty active with our slave descendants, we thought it would be best to have Mr. McGill ask them if it was alright to do this at the home of their ancestors. A meeting was set up and the descendants loved what Mr. McGill had to offer as well as why he was going around doing this. Without further delay, a day was set and the slave cabin project was officially coming to Historic Brattonsville.

After doing a bit of research on the project, and being the one coordinating Mr. McGill's visit, I noticed that Brattonsville would be the site of  a few firsts, mainly that this would be the first site that Joe would meet with slave descendants. This would also be the first time that he would partake in a living history day at a site. I wanted to not just highlight his stay but also the story of the slaves who we know little about here at Brattonsville, and so I asked some of the descendants to come and share oral histories that they had...stories that many of the staff had never heard before, and they gladly obliged! The day was wonderful and filled with the story of the African Americans who did the work on the plantation. There were kitchen demonstrations, slave life interpretation  (which we have all the time), as well as a tour looking at the plantation from the eyes of a slave. Visitors got to see what Brattonsville would have been like for those who were working the land, not just from those who lived the high life there, and they all appreciated that view.

Once the day's activities were done, I greeted Mr. Terry James who would be staying with Joe in the slave cabin overnight but I had no idea that he brought original slave shackles with him until this  I thought it was absolutely amazing and while I couldn't sleep in the shackles, I understand how that could bring one closer to the experience of slavery and how it would make me appreciate the freedoms I have today just a little bit more. I'm so glad that I got to experience everything and I know that This Place Matters!

While I have a moment

I do have a totally different blog that I want to post involving my working with Joseph McGill of the National Trust for Historic Preservation on his recent visit out to Historic Brattonsville, but I need to wait until I get home to put those pictures up. What I wanted to do a quick blog about was how long slavery existed in what we now know as America. I always hear from various people that slavery was around for 400 years. I'm no math major, and I could clearly see that for slavery to be around for 400 years, then it would have had to start in the 1400s.

With the first Africans being brought to Jamestown in 1619, and slavery being abolished in 1863, I'm not seeing 400 years of history, I'm seeing 244. So then, why do folks obsess about the 400 years thing? As I talk more and more to people about what I do and endure the cringed faces, I realize that a lot of people are lost on the issue of slavery. I'm stepping my game up and re-reading a lot of sources I used for my thesis and delving deeper into the institution of slavery and what that meant to American culture then and now.

I want to understand why there is this need to NOT discuss slavery, and I don't think I can. I understand why people may feel uncomfortable talking about some issues in slavery, hell, I get a little squirmy myself sometimes, but I don't understand why you wouldn't want to know what built this country. At its core slavery is two things: An institution and a business.It's inhumane, but unless we can understand why it took place, we'll never be able to fully learn about our history. Without learning about our history, we will always spout off incorrect numbers like 400, or not realize that some freedmen contracts worded themselves so that it was slavery after emancipation. I don't know. All I know is that the more I get into my job, the more I am drawn to teach others about slavery and what it has done. It has made many afraid, it has made many ashamed, it has made many angry, but most of all, it has made many not know the truth.

The ability to choose

I don't have a clue what to blog about tonight. I am forcing myself to keep up with this at least once a week, but I am aiming for two. I have a piece of paper that has many topics on slave life written down so that I may enlighten my readers, but tonight, I just don't feel like using it.

So instead, I will use some of the recent conversations I've had with a friend guide me. Of course I will relate this all to slave life...somehow. But the discussion was on dating and having the option to date various people and personalities until you have found that person that you will call your mate and marry. He told me that men, much like himself, tend to date to see if that particular woman walking down the street is the next best thing. Sure, the woman he's currently seeing may be alright, but is she still the next best thing? So that got my mind to working about the relationships of slave men and women. Clearly there was some courting on the plantations, and some slaves got to marry the mate of their choice, but what happened to those slaves who weren't given an option, let alone a chance to find that "next best thing"?

And while I know arranged marriages exist and that in some parts of the world, they are common, I feel for some reason, I'm not talking about those. After all, some arranged marriages are made when the couple are small children. I'm looking at this from the perspective that someone has taken the ability of the slave to pick their own mate because they feel that they can breed a "hard worker" by matching two people together. Yes, slaves were property, and yes they were treated like animals. But for a minute, just think of what it would be like if ladies, a man told you that you had great hips for birthing and that he would pair you up with a muscular individual who had good teeth, because your children (who would become this man's property) should come out just as strapping and sturdy as their parents and would make great field hands. Then imagine your husband, that you were forced to marry anyway, being sold to another plantation. At this new plantation, he is paired up with yet another slave, to create yet again these, sturdy strapping babies. There are a lot of aspects of the business of slavery I can make myself understand. This however is not one of them.

Which brings me back to the conversation earlier. I know this is something that 99% of people don't think about as they find various people to date. But I truly wonder, if people knew how fortunate they are to have the option and to be able to pick and choose until they found that person that was just right for them, would they do things differently? Would you?

Things that I "hate" about my job

Daring title you say? Would I really post what I hate about my job? Provide dissatisfaction? Trust me, it's not what you think. I love my job and what I do. But there are things that I hate about it as well. Curious to find out? Read on!

That there are few African Americans doing it
While this lack of available "slave labor" makes the individuals who do it a hot commodity, let's face it, it gets lonely being the "only". You want co-workers who can relate on the skin deep level. It's always great for me when I have someone who is African American volunteer with me because we can talk about why we think slavery should be interpreted, and hey, it's always fun to have a partner hang out with me in the slave cabin.

People have a tendency to feel sorry for you
I understand when visitors empathize with the plights of slaves, but I choose to look at them as survivors. Certainly without the determination of my ancestors, I wouldn't be here. I am constantly amazed at what slaves were made to endure as I interpret and it makes me appreciate their lives even more. It sometimes pains me when people feel bad that I interpret slave life. I choose to do this and I am empowered to tell the stories of these human beings who had thoughts, feelings and families.

Saying "I don't know/We don't have information on that"
Not all sites that interpret slavery have a comprehensive history of their slaves. It's a fact of life and just a part of the package. Often, slave holding records are held by family members, held in state archives in bits and pieces or destroyed. For those rare places that do have more than a list of names, reading about the activities of the slaves can be fascinating. It's always amazing to read store ledgers and see slaves buying ribbon or clothing because they saved money from whatever good they were able to sell. To read runaway ads of slaves from your particular site is a curious thing as well. Especially when you don't know how slaves were treated. Was it family? The longing to be free? Was it brutality? What factors led the slaves to run away? Were they recovered? What happened next? These are things that clue us into the lives of the slaves. We depend on the records of the slave owners because it was illegal for slaves to write or read, so save for those published narratives, we don't get the "everyday life" aspect we would like to have. So it's frustrating to tell people, "we don't know", because you would like to know and you would like to share that information.

The often unspoken rule that if you're not African American, you can't interpret slave life
Some of the most notable historians of slavery have been white. I therefore refuse to believe that you can't interpret slavery because you're the wrong (I use that loosely) shade. Now, if you're doing first person, then no, of course not. But if you're doing third person interpretation--why not? Ans who says it can't be done? Worried people will get mad or you'll offend someone? Unless you're in black face or giving out completely inaccurate information (see: all slaves were happy being slaves), if you know your stuff and can present it to the public that makes them walking away thinking more about your topic, and they aren't cussing you out, then YES! you can interpret slave life. Granted, people tend to accept slave interpretation better when it comes from African Americans, but there are some African Americans who will lead you to believe that all whites owned slaves and beat their slaves within an inch of their lives, every.single.day. Doesn't matter what color you are when you present information that shows you know your stuff and you are confident in your presentation

That there are some African Americans who see it as a bad thing that I interpret slavery
To that I say, if not me, who? If not now, when? There should be no shame in knowing the history of your country, let alone your ancestors. Is it pretty? No. People being treated like property and listed alongside cattle is not pretty. It however is reality. Rose colored lenses will only get you so far, and will lead you down the road of ignorance. When it comes to slave life, let me tell you, ignorance is not bliss. It's an eye opening thing, this study of slave life. It's a lesson in being thankful that it no longer exists and its better to research and find out for yourself than to believe everything someone tells you. Bone up on some research, visit some sites. Like I said, it may not be pretty, but it's worth it. And stop scowling at me because I do it!