Exhibitions in Charleston and Greenville

A couple of great exhibitions of interest to Jubilee Project followers have recently opened in the Lowcountry and in the Upstate.

Here in Charleston, you can take in a remarkable art show featuring the beautiful work of Doris Colbert Kennedy, curated by Jonathan Green. Kathleen Curry in the most recent issue of the Charleston City Paper describes Ms Kennedy’s work as inspired by her reading about quantum physics, but her paintings have nothing of the academic about them beyond their titles: they are characterized as Curry writes by “rich, multi-layered colors” and have a vibrancy and movement that makes them feasts for the eyes.

The show, which also features work by Alvin Staley and Amiri Farris, is on display at Charleston’s City Gallery at Waterfront Park–surely one of the most beautifully situated art galleries around–and runs from January 25th through March 9th. For further details, call the gallery at 843-958-6484. You can read the City Paper‘s preview here.

For those in the Upstate, Furman University’s Upcountry History Museum, located at 540 Buncombe Street in Greenville, just opened a terrific exhibition entitled “Protests, Prayers, and Progress: Greenville’s Civil Rights Movement.”  The exhibition documents the struggles and victories of upstate civil rights activists of the 1960s.

As the recent Charleston historic marker series indicated, the story of South Carolina’s civil rights movement often gets lost in the broader national narrative.  South Carolinians, however, also did courageous and principled work to integrate this state’s institutions–our schools, our churches, our lunch counters. “Protests, Prayers, and Progress” allows visitors to the Museum to follow the journey of the activists whose commitment and bravery helped to lead Greenville out of the era of segregation.

The exhibition will be on display from January 18th to June 15th. For more details, click here or call the Museum at 864-467-3100.

 

 

 

 

USC Commemorates 1963 Desegregation

The focus of the Jubilee Project shifts to Columbia today, September 11th, as the University of South Carolina begins its year-long commemoration of its desegregation in September, 1963. For an article on the commemoration, check out the State newspaper here.

The University’s official web-site listing all the commemorative events is here.

2013 Piccolo Festival Spoleto Presents Becoming Harriet Tubman

Lift Every Voice Project to Host National Forum to Address the Challenges of Preserving and Teaching the History of the Civil Rights Movement

Lift Every Voice will bring together experts and stakeholder communities to address the challenges of collecting, archiving, presenting, and teaching the history of the civil rights movement. The national forum, with support from The Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) will take place on May 14-18, 2013, in Columbia, South Carolina, and will result in a collaborative model and action agenda for libraries, museums, archives, and stakeholder communities which will be disseminated nationally.
There is a pressing need to collect and preserve South Carolina’s untold civil rights stories before a generation passes into history. South Carolina played a significant but largely unknown role in the civil rights movement. Time is of the essence in documenting the stories of elderly participants. Moreover, it is critical to help the next generation appreciate the struggles and the triumphs of this extraordinary period in our nation’s history.
The four-day national forum will bring together librarians, archivists, digital media specialists, members of the civil rights community, scholars, and educators to:
a. Develop a collaborative model for collecting, preserving, presenting, and teaching oral histories and artifacts related to the civil rights movement.
b. Develop a plan for utilizing the collaborative model to collect, preserve, present, and teach civil rights oral histories and artifacts in South Carolina.
c. Further develop the network of civil rights librarians, archivists, historians and other scholars, and educators in South Carolina to facilitate collection, preservation, presentation, and teaching of oral histories and artifacts.
At the end of the forum we will disseminate the collaborative model and information about the South Carolina plan to the civil rights and scholarly communities, including a national media release, a panel at a major national conference, and announcements through national e-networks for scholars, educators, and civil rights organizations.
The Lift Every Voice project will place learners at the center and support engaging experiences in libraries and museums that prepare people to be full participants in their local communities and our global society.

For more information, visit Lift Every Voice’s website.

Charleston-area Clergy Establish Charleston Area Justice Ministry, Area’s Largest Interfaith Community Action in Decades

The Charleston Area Justice Ministry (CAJM) is a Charleston-area interfaith community group aimed at at bringing people together across denominational lines.  The group gatherings (the schedule for which can be found here) are gaining steam, with the last event hosting over 600 people.  To read the full Post and Courier article, click here.

The Color in Freedom Experience–An Interactive Journey Along the Underground Railroad

The color in freedom experience workshops are designed to use arts integration and a positive, nontraditional methodology to talk about slavery.  They will feature age-specific information and use the arts as a tool to engage in conversations about slavery. The workshop’s facilitators are History scholars and experts on the topic of slavery and the Underground Railroad who will utilize their decades of expertise to educate and inform the audience.  Workshops will address each audience at its level.

All workshops will be held at the College of Charleston Avery Research Center, 125 Bull Street, Charleston.  The workshops will take place on May 3 and 4.  For more information, call Sheila Harrell-Roye: (843) 953-7613 or visit the Avery Center’s website.

Join CofC for a worldwide celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail

On April 16th, 2013, the 50th anniversary of the day that Martin Luther King, Jr. began writing his Letter from Birmingham Jail, participants worldwide will read King’s Letter in celebration. Participants will host public readings from the Letter at various locations around the globe: libraries, museums, schools, universities, churches, synagogues, temples, work places, public parks, bookstores, street corners, coffee shops and anywhere people want to participate. Join the celebration! This event is sponsored by the Birmingham Public Library.

Locally, the event will take place at Cougar Mall on College of Charleston’s campus at 1:30 pm.  For more information, click here.  See you there!

Fisk Jubilee Singers Concert and Reception

Friday, April 19, 2013 Fisk Jubilee Singers Concert and Reception

On Friday, April 19, 2013 at 7:00 pm, the Avery Research Center presents the renowned FISK JUBILEE SINGERS in concert at the Circular Congregational Church, 150 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC. There will be a reception immediately following the concert with desserts from Sugar Bakeshop.

Tickets are $25.00/$10.00 12 and under or CofC students. Purchase tickets at alumni.cofc.edu/jubilee.  Checks payable to the Avery Research Center also accepted.
Mail to: Avery Research Center, 125 Bull Street, Charleston, SC 29424; Attn: Fisk Jubilee Concert

Sponsors for this program are:
SunTrust Bank, College of Charleston School of the Arts, College of Charleston Friends of the Library, College of Charleston Office of the President,  the Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture and Charleston Friends of the Spiritual.

All proceeds to benefit the Avery Research Center’s Public Program Funds. Full details at http://avery.cofc.edu/fisk-jubilee-singers-concert-and-reception.

PURE Theatre Presents The Mountaintop with Kyle Taylor and Joy Vandervort-Cobb

March 29–April 20 PURE Theatre Presents The Mountaintop with Kyle Taylor and Joy Vandervort-Cobb

Performances at 7:30 pm April 4-6, 11-13, 18-20; Matinee at 2 pm Sunday, April 7. 477 King Street, Charleston, SC 29403.

Set on April 3, 1968, The Mountaintop is a gripping reimagining of the night before the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. After delivering one of his most memorable speeches, an exhausted Dr. King retires to his room at the Lorraine Motel while a storm rages outside. When the hotel maid visits Room 306 with room-service coffee and some surprising news, King is forced to confront his destiny and his legacy to his people. Full details at http://puretheatre.org/ or(843) 723-4444

ASALH Call for Papers, 2013 Conference

From ASALH:

Association for the Study of African American Life and History

March 2013

Marking the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation and the 50th anniversary of the March on Washington, the Association for the Study of African American Life and History invites papers, panels, and round-tables on these and related topics of black emancipation, freedom, justice and equality, and the movements that have sought to achieve these goals. Submissions may focus on the historical periods tied to the 2013 theme, their precursors and successors, and other past and contemporary moments across the breadth of African American history.

The submission deadline is May 15, 2013!

Scroll down and read through the Call for Papers to learn more.
***

At the Crossroads of Freedom: The Emancipation Proclamation and the March on Washington

The year 2013 marks two important anniversaries in the history of African Americans and the United States. On January 1, 1863, the Emancipation Proclamation set the United States on the path of ending slavery. A wartime measure issued by President Abraham Lincoln, the proclamation freed relatively few slaves, but it fueled the fire of the enslaved to strike for their freedom. In many respects, Lincoln’s declaration simply acknowledged the epidemic of black self-emancipation – spread by black freedom crusaders like Harriet Tubman – that already had commenced beyond his control. Those in bondage increasingly streamed into the camps of the Union Army, reclaiming and asserting self-determination. The result, abolitionist Fredrick Douglass predicted, was that the war for the Union became a war against slavery. The actions of both Lincoln and the slaves made clear that the Civil War was in deed, as well as in theory, a struggle between the forces of slavery and emancipation. The full-scale dismantlement of the “peculiar institution” of human bondage had begun.

In 1963, a century later, America once again stood at the crossroads. Nine years earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had outlawed racial segregation in public schools, but the nation had not yet committed itself to equality of citizenship. Segregation and innumerable other forms of discrimination made second-class citizenship the extra-constitutional status of non-whites. Another American president caught in the gale of racial change, John F. Kennedy, temporized over the legal and moral issue of his time. Like Lincoln before him, national concerns, and the growing momentum of black mass mobilization efforts, overrode his personal ambivalence toward demands for black civil rights. On August 28, 1963, hundreds of thousands of Americans, blacks and whites, Jews and gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, marched to the memorial of Abraham Lincoln, the author of the Emancipation Proclamation, in the continuing pursuit of equality of citizenship and self-determination. It was on this occasion that Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his celebrated “I Have a Dream” speech. Just as the Emancipation Proclamation had recognized the coming end of slavery, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom announced that the days of legal segregation in the United States were numbered.

For more information, or to submit a paper proposal, visit ASALH’s website.

The 2013 Geography Lecture Features Dr. Derek Alderman on “Pressing the RESET Button on Southern Hospitality: African American Belonging and Tourism Justice”

March 26th, 2013 at 4:00pm in Physician’s Auditorium, College of Charleston campus

Dr. Derek Alderman, Geographer from the University of Tennessee, will speak at this year’s annual Geography lecture hosted by the Department of Political Science.
Alderman has long worked on issues of justice in the South.
Alderman co-coordinates the RESET (Race, Ethnicity, and Social Equity in Tourism) Initiative in addition to several other associations.
See a full list of Dr. Alderman’s published works and accomplishments at http://web.utk.edu/~utkgeog/faculty/alderman.htm

“I am a cultural and historical geographer interested in public memory, popular culture, and heritage tourism in the U.S. South. Much of my work focuses on the rights of African Americans to claim the power to commemorate the past and shape cultural landscapes as part of a broader goal of social and spatial justice.”
–Dr. Alderman

Sponsored by College of Charleston Departments of Hospitality and Tourism Management  Political Science, and Historic Preservation and Community Planning

Penn Center’s “Tribute to the Civil Rights Movement” by Natalie Daise

“Tribute To The Civil Rights Movement” by Natalie Daise

Date: February 28, 2013 Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM

http://www.penncenter.com

Event Description“Tribute To The Civil Rights Movement” by Natalie Daise on February 28th 6-8 PM at Penn Center’s Darrah Hall.  Natatlie Daise will perform a soulful tribue to the Civil Rights Movement.
Visit the York W. Bailey Museum to view “Civil Rights Throught The Lens of Cecil Williams following the performance and enjoy light refreshments.
Puchase Advance Tickets By February 18th:  $18.00/Adult & $9.00/Student
Tickets For Sale At Event: $25.00/Adult & $10.00/ Student
Tickets Include Museum Entry

Charleston County Parks and Rec Celebrates African American Heritage

In honor of Black History month, educators throughout the Lowcountry and beyond are invited to bring their students to experience a special event hosted by the Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission. Celebrating the traditions and histories of Africa and the Diaspora, African American Heritage Day 2013 will take place at North Charleston Wannamaker County Park on Friday, Feb. 22.  For more information, click here.

A Woman Called Truth Special Ticket Offer

George Lucas Film Brings Tuskegee Airmen to the Silver Screen

Red Tails, an upcoming film produced by George Lucas, will bring the story of the Tuskegee Airmen–a group of African American fighter pilots deployed during World War II–to the silver screen. To read The Post and Courier’s article concerning the film, including its South Carolina ties, click here.

CofC Presents “Unity Through Song” Featuring the Claflin University Concert Choir and CofC Gospel Choir

The College of Charleston in conjunction with The Jubilee Project
Presents
“Uniting Through Song”
Featuring the Claflin University Concert Choir
and guest performance by the College of Charleston Gospel Choir
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Sottile Theatre
7:00 p.m.
Admission is Free
Sponsored by:
CAB
Department of Music
Friends of the School of the Arts
Office of Institutional Diversity
Office of Multicultural Student Programs and Services

Civil War historian Eric Foner to visit two campuses

 Eric Foner, historian and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery,” will be in the Charleston area for two free public lectures.

His College of Charleston talk is part of the Southern American Studies Association Biennial Conference and sponsored by the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of English, Department of History, Avery Research Center, African American Studies and the Fort Sumter-Fort Moultrie Historical Trust.

To view the Post and Courier‘s full article regarding Foner’s lectures, visit http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130129/PC16/130129206/1268/civil-war-historian-eric-foner-to-visit-two-campuses&source=RSS

2013 Sweetgrass Cultural Festival

2013’s Sweetgrass Cultural Festival is May 31-June 1 at Mt. Pleasant Waterfront Park on Harry M. Hallman, Jr. Boulevard.  A “Taste of Gullah” program will kick the event off, followed by the festival on June 1.  For more information, visit www.sweetgrassfestival.org.

Witness to History: Civil Rights Era Photographs by James Karales

Image Credit:
Lewis Marshall Carrying U.S. Flag, Selma to Montgomery March for Voting Rights, 1965
By James Karales (American, 1930-2002)
Vintage gelatin silver print
©Image courtesy of the Estate of James Karales

The Gibbes Museum of Art is showcasing an iconic collection of Civil Rights era photographs by acclaimed photographer James Karales. Engaged as a photo-journalist for Look magazine, Karales witnessed and documented many historic events during the Civil Rights movement and created some of the era’s most iconic images. Between 1960 and 1965, Karales covered stories on the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) conventions in Birmingham, and finally, the Selma to Montgomery March for voting rights. Karales traveled extensively with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and captured rare and poignant images of the leader in both public and private moments.

On view January 11 through May 12, 2013, this exhibition features forty-five vintage photographs from the Estate of James Karales that offer insight into this remarkable period of history—a period in which the visual image was crucial in communicating the struggle for justice to the world.

CofC’s “History of Education and the Black Freedom Struggle” Lecture/Workshop Series

The Department of Teacher Education and the College of Charleston is pleased to welcome Dr. James Anderson and Dr. Christopher Span from the University of Illinois for a series of workshops and lectures, entitled “The History of Education and the Black Freedom Struggle: Resistance, Desegregation, and the Continued Struggle for Quality Education.” Drs. Anderson and Span are renowned historians of black education who have examined the long struggle to obtain a quality education. Beyond extensive publication records, their work has included diversifying higher education and serving as Supreme Court expert witnesses on Affirmative Action cases.

February 20, 4:00-6:00 pm: “Understanding Educational Inequality in American Education” 4:00pm – 6:00pm in the School of Education, Health, and Human Performance Alumni Center (86 Wentworth) This is workshop and student-panel led by Dr. Christopher Span that addresses the history of the Achievement Gap and its implication for schools today.

February 21, 11:00 am-12:30 pm: “Fifty Years of Desegregation in Charleston: A Panel Discussion with the First Students to Desegregate South Carolina Schools,” 00pm in the School of Education, Health, and Human Performance Alumni Center (86 Wentworth). This is a community panel discussion with Millicent Brown and the other students who were the first to desegregate South Carolina schools in 1963.

February 21, 6:00-7:30 pm, “Affirmative Action and the New Color Line: Fisher v. University of Texas and Public Discourse about Race in Educational Policy” at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture (125 Bull Street). This lecture by Dr. James Anderson will address the history of Affirmative Action, how this policy continues to promote diversity in American society, and the ongoing threat this policy faces today.