When Slave Cabins Don’t Exist

When Slave Cabins Don’t Exist

It is always my desire to sleep in places where slave dwellings are extant. That opportunity does not always present itself, yet all efforts that interpret the existence of the enslaved Ancestors should be rewarded. My opportunity to spend a night on Edisto Island,...

Slavery in New York Part II

I get the most pushback when I tell people that I have slept in extant slave dwellings in five northern states. Those five states being Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania and Rhode Island. There is pride associated with the ties that northern states...
The Student Becomes the Teacher

The Student Becomes the Teacher

I got the opportunity to use a slave dwelling sleepover as a teaching tool when I was called on by my former employer the National Trust for Historic Preservation to present at a Preservation Leadership Training that they were conducting. The event was cosponsored by...
……..and the District of Columbia

……..and the District of Columbia

While this nation was engaged in its Civil War, slavery still existed in our nation’s capital of Washington, DC. Slavery did not end there until April 1862. It is highly likely that structures built in Washington, DC before 1860 were built and/or lived in by enslaved...
What was Hope to the Enslaved

What was Hope to the Enslaved

There are those who still hold President Thomas Jefferson to the highest esteem. For those who do, to involve him in the activities of the Slave Dwelling Project can be somewhat offensive to some of them. I’ve gotten push back from some of those who still question the...