Historian and educator Kellie Carter Jackson, a nationally recognized scholar who explores abolitionism, the Civil War and political violence, will be the keynote speaker at the 9th Slave Dwelling Project (SDP) Conference that begins Thursday in North Charleston.
Carter will speak at 7 p.m. Saturday in the ballroom at the Embassy Suites by Hilton Charleston Airport Hotel and Convention Center.
Jackson, the author of We Refuse: A Forceful History of Black Resistance, is the Michael and Denise Kellen ’68 Associate Professor in the Department of Africana Studies at Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass.
During an opening reception on Thursday, SDP founder Joseph McGill Jr. and Charleston City Paper senior editor Herb Frazier will discuss their forthcoming book, Divided Loyalty: Uneven Paths to Freedom during the Revolutionary War in South Carolina. Evening Post Books is scheduled to release the book in October.
Aunt Pearlie Sue and the Gullah Kinfolk will also perform during the reception.
The conference, which is held every two years, is themed “250 Years and Counting: Reckoning, Resilience and Remembrance.” More than 30 academics, writers and researchers will present colonial-era scholarship on people of African descent in South Carolina and other colonies.
The conference, which concludes Saturday, also includes a harbor tour and an overnight sleepover outside of the International African American Museum.
From 1708 when Black people “became the majority population in South Carolina, their presence has factored in significantly to this nation’s history,” said McGill, a Ladson-based historic preservationist and Civil War reenactor.
Since launching SPD in 2010, McGill has conducted more than 250 overnight stays in former slave dwellings in 26 states and the District of Columbia.
More: slavedwellingproject.org
Help keep the City Paper free.
No paywalls.
No subscription cost.
Free delivery at 800 locations.
Help support independent journalism by donating today.
