For the past six years, on Mondays and Tuesdays, you can find me at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston, South Carolina giving tours of the four restored slave cabins at the site. Most tour participants are White and some express surprise when I express to them that the From Slavery to Freedom Tour that they are on, is sold to visitors the least. Others on the tour understand comfort zones and they know exactly why this tour is chosen the least. And then there are those rare occasions when some express that the From Slavery to Freedom Tour was their first choice. Even rarer and more pleasing to me is those who express that the From Slavery to Freedom Tour was their only choice.
Magnolia Plantation
Eight years ago, I slept alone in one of the cabins at Magnolia to begin the Slave Dwelling Project. I woke up on Mother’s Day of 2010 and thought about all the enslaved moms in similar spaces who had to forfeit those children to the peculiar institution of chattel slavery. Little did I know in 2010 that chasing the footprints of slavery that existed in the United States was going to be a vast endeavor and that I will still be doing to this day. My intent was to do this one year and keep the project in my home state of South Carolina.
Fast forward to 2018, and now I’ve slept in slave dwellings in Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and Washington, DC. The biggest difference from 2010 to now is that I very rarely sleep in these slave dwellings alone anymore. Hundreds have joined us in these sleepovers as we spread the message of the necessity to preserve, interpret, maintain and sustain the dwellings of which the enslaved Ancestors occupied.
Magnolia Plantation
With all of the travel involved in carrying out the mission of the Slave Dwelling Project, it is at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens that members of the Slave Dwelling Project have slept in Slave Cabins the most. It has become the unofficial headquarters of the Project. We have also conducted our living history program at Magnolia Plantation the most. The living history program is titled Inalienable Rights: Living History Through the Eyes of the Enslaved. During this program, living historians engage in a meaningful conversation with the participants about slavery and the legacy it left on this nation before sleeping in the slave dwellings. The next day, we don our period uniforms and have cooking and blacksmithing demonstrations. Additionally, we conduct history lectures and storytelling. Hundreds of visitors at Magnolia have benefitted from this educational program.
Magnolia Plantation
On October 5 – 6, 2018, the Slave Dwelling Project conducted its living history program at Magnolia for the eight times. Many signed up for the conversation and sleepover and many showed up which was unusual. A group known as the Gatherers, college students and their professor from University of South Carolina Aiken; staff from Telfair Museum in Savannah, GA, living historians and a coworker from Magnolia were all a part of the mix.
Magnolia Plantation
The best parts of the sleepovers now are the conversations before the sleep and this one did not disappoint. This was the first program we had in Charleston, after the Charleston City Council voted 7 to 5 to apologize for slavery, so a lot of the conversation centered around that controversial decision. Also discussed was White supremacy, White privilege, genealogy, genetics, Confederate monuments, weddings at plantations and Black Lives Matter.
Magnolia Plantation
The Saturday living history element of the program was business as usual, however, I encountered one African American gentleman who was adamant about African Americans not needing to pay to visit plantations. His reason was the one I hear often and borders on paying reparations to the descendants of those who were enslaved. His argument is that our enslaved Ancestors were exploited by the system of slavery and plantations were ground zero for that exploitation, therefore the descendants of the enslaved should not have to pay to visit plantations. I can not argue with his reasoning, but I must support the need for stewards of plantations to do as they wish on their properties in conducting events that help to sustain them.
Magnolia Plantation
I also encountered an African American female who wanted to know if there were good slave owners. She wanted me to say yes, but I could not go there with her. It surprised me because that is an inquiry that I usually get from White folks.
I only found out later that the African American female was actress Debbie Morgan. I can only assume her question about good slave owners was based on her research for a character in a movie. If she was not researching a character, then she is disillusioned or the victim of sugarcoated history.
I define a good slave owner as one who would buy his or her loved one and do not have the authority to free them because freeing them would mean that they would have to be free somewhere else.
Thank you, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens, for having confidence in the Slave Dwelling Project to bring quality programs to your audience. We look forward to 2019 and the ability to build on what we have started.
Holly Lynton
Magnolia Plantation
This October, I participated in the Slave Dwelling Project’s overnight at Magnolia Plantation. It was my first time attending, and it is an experience that sinks in slowly with more thoughts revealing themselves days and weeks later. The conversation around the campfire allowed for people to ask hard questions, and questions that they might otherwise be fearful to ask. New perspectives were voiced as we tried to understand the history of the enslaved and the repercussions it has had, beyond the ones we already know about. And we tried to discuss ways to heal, know each other, contemporary concerns, and at the end, we left bonded to human beings we had never met before. It’s a powerful experience that can hardly be described but must be experienced. The next day, I attended some of the living history events with Jerome Bias leading the cooking, and several people giving powerful spoken word presentations, including Sarah Daise and Dontavius Williams / Chronicles of Adam. He presented me with two blessing dolls representing courage and strength, urging me to carry forward and do my work. All of the presenters that day were amazing, including the blacksmith Gilbert Walker Jr. It takes a few people at a time to turn the tides, and the Slave Dwelling Project is a group of people who do just that.
Dr. Heather Peterson Associate Professor of History at USC Aiken
Magnolia Plantation
I think I can safely say that my students will probably remember their experience with the Slave Dwelling Project their entire lives. It was hot when we arrived and the Spanish moss and the old cabins were almost surreal. After a very nice dinner at a local Crab shack, we all settled around the firepit and loaded up on bug spray. We were a very interesting and diverse group including a wonderful contingent of ladies from Myrtle Beach who called themselves “the gatherers,” myself and my colleague Kristina Ramstad, a biologist who loves camping in any conditions, our students (one of whom is from Mexico and another from India), a young couple who do museum work in GA, and then all the lovely people who work with the Slave Dwelling Project. The conversation was both honest and deep, and my only regret is that I probably participated too much instead of listening. Nevertheless, I felt as though we all did gather together in a meeting of minds and hearts and I stayed up much later than I thought I would!
Magnolia Plantation
The next morning, we made coffee on a cookstove and ate muffins and watched the activity going on all around as the members of the production assembled their equipment and the living history displays. Around the hearth the chef and his assistants were cutting and rendering fat in a cast iron pot hanging over the fire, the Blacksmith prepared his bellows and fire and we cleaned out the cabins and got out of the way until the program started.
Magnolia Plantation
The oral histories presented on a range of subjects, from the Gullah-Geechie with Sara Daise to a history as one act of Harriet Tubman by Carolyn Evens. We had met Carolyn the night before and it was really magical to see her transformed in the Tubman. The highlight for me was Dontavius Williams’ “Chronicles of Adam,” a story that captured one of the most horrific aspects of the institution of slavery. Dontavius is a tremendous storyteller and must be a marvelous teacher. We certainly learned a lot and left feeling like maybe the world was ok after all.
Thank you so much Joe and company for organizing such a wonderful experience, I feel so lucky to have shared it.
Ithzel Z. Contreras
Magnolia Plantation
I went to “The Slave Dwelling Project” in Charleston at the Magnolia Plantation on October 5th and 6th and I don’t regret it at all. I heard of it from my History Teacher Dr. Heather Peterson. I enjoyed visiting the Plantation and staying at the Slave Cabins. We had a campfire conversation in which everyone shared a little bit about themselves and how they found out about this. With this conversation, I got to know a little bit more about African American history, and I had the chance to hear different perspectives about this subject.
Magnolia Plantation
What I liked the most about this trip was experiencing the slave’s lifestyles. I liked how we had the chance to sleep in the cabins they used to sleep in. I also liked how the next morning we had the chance to hear a little bit more about how slaves used to live. We heard some stories and we saw some interpretations, some of these stories and interpretations were so good, sometimes you could feel like you were really listening to a slave telling his or her story.
I encourage everyone to live this experience because this was the best weekend I had. I encourage students to go and learn a little bit more about African American’s history.
Magnolia Plantation – No Ghosts Here, Right? Prinny Anderson
Magnolia Plantation
Joe McGill, the founder of the Slave Dwelling Project, will tell any who asks that he doesn’t believe in ghosts and he doesn’t look for them when he sleeps in slave dwellings. He discourages ghost-hunters.
Prinny Anderson
I don’t look for ghosts either when I spend the night in a slave dwelling, and I basically agree with Joe. But some sites and some conversations make it hard not to think about ghosts of one kind or another, and this October’s overnight at Magnolia Plantation brought haints to mind.
Magnolia plantation
Starting at the main gate, the old live oaks along the entrance allée are hung with Spanish moss. Its draped, irregular shapes that move with the slightest breeze trick your eyes at dusk. There, now. Didn’t you just see something flicker by? The third-growth woods beyond the allée are dense with hunched, misshapen trees, growing so close together it’s hard to see how anyone but a phantom could move across the landscape. There’s a dank loneliness to those swampy spots. Isn’t there something hiding in there? Look, right there.
As twilight deepens, strange, haunting cries come from the gloom. For some reason, the plantation’s peacocks are especially noisy in the evening but remain out of sight, scaring the unsuspecting for a moment. Those noises are all from peacocks, right?
Slave Cabins at Magnolia Plantation, Charleston, SC
At the conversation circle, the only light comes from the campfire. The usual outdoor lights have not come on. As the talk continues, people’s voices seem sometimes disembodied, voices out of the darkness. Our African American interpreters talk about the lives of enslaved people and the lives of African American men and boys today. They describe how often black people are treated as invisible, are unheard, were unheard. They describe the survival skill of making yourself small and quieting your voice then and now. It’s not always clear whether their stories are being told in the present tense or the past. It is hard not to think that they speak today for the people long gone but perhaps still here. But no ghosts, right?
I would like to start a similiar project here, in upstate New York. Would you have any objections? Would I be violating any copywrite laws?
Clifford O Mealy, I will be coming to New Paltz, NY in April 2019. How close are you to there?
I live 10 minutes from New Paltz and very interested in your event there. How do I get invited?
Jerrie, We are still working out the details of the matter. Please keep monitering the Slave Dwelling Project’s Facebook Page for updates. We will release the 2019 schedule in mid January 2019.
In regards to Good Slave Owners… If you cannot admit there were good slave owners then you support African American victimization and have very little comprehension of the institution within human history. Slavery is an instinctive action based within inherent Social Dominance. We like to presume we are in control of things, particularly free will, well we have at times. But, at others we are driven by circumstances that we wouldn’t prefer to confront issues of conflict of interest between others, particularly of humans. We weigh daily our sense of self, in what we believe is preferred behavior largely due to societal moral constructs. But, nature itself, let alone human nature doesn’t adhere to moral societal constructs. Even under the laws that govern human societies, laws are abused daily by those empowered to dictate the laws over the masses regardless of idealism. Does that make Judges, Lawyers, Politicians, Property Owners, bad people? No! They are human and all humans are created equally fallible. Slaver Owners were empowered by circumstances and governed by moral idealism, no less than we are today. They wanted good things, they were not beyond moral empathy, numerous documents state very clearly a fluctuation in determining social casteism, and that was based on what they comprehended and how they were empowered just as Slaves were empowered by their own sense of self. Asks yourself are there good Slaves? Did Planters not note that their were good Slaves? Did Slaves not note their were good Masters? Yes they did! Even Solomon Northup made note of Good Master William Ford. Olaudah Equiano made note of Good Masters as well, as other Slave narratives note their were good Slave Masters.
I would love to know your opinion of this argument..
Below are quotes from Hal Holbrooks impression of Mark Twain regarding Slavery:
“In my school days I had no aversion to slavery no one arraigned it in my hearing the local papers said nothing against it, the local pulpit taught us that God approved it, that it was a holy thing. But, among blacks and whites alike the “Slave Trader” was loathed by everybody, he was regarded as a sort of human devil who bought and conveyed poor helpless souls to Hell. For the Southern Plantation was simply Hell, no milder name could describe it.”
“I vividly remember seeing a dozen black men and women chained to one another once, a line in a group on the pavement awaiting shipment to the Southern Slave Market, those were the saddest faces I have ever seen.”
“I used to tell lies but I’ve given it up, the field is overrun with amateurs.
Well when I look around me lumbering it grieves me to see a noble art so prostituted. In my day, a liar was a liar! I don’t mean to suggest that the custom of lying has suffered any decay it couldn’t for the lie is eternal, it is man’s best and surest friend, and cannot perish from the earth while congress remains in session.”
“No when I talk about the decay in the art of lying I’m talking about the silent lie, it requires no art you simply keep still and conceal the truth.
For example, It would not be possible for a humane and intelligent person to invent a rationale excuse for slavery. And yet in those early days of the “emancipation agitation” in the North those agitators got small help from anyone, argue and plead, and pray, as they might they could not break the universal stillness, that rained from pulpit and press all the way down to the bottom of society.
The clammy stillness created and maintained by the lie of silent assertion. The silent assertion that there wasn’t anything going on, in which humane and intelligent people ought to be interested, well when whole nations of people conspire to propagate gigantic mute lies like that one, in the interest of tyranny is shams.”
“Why should we care anything about the trifling ones told by individuals, why make them undesirable, why not be honest and honorable and lie every chance we get. Why should we help the nation lie the whole day long and then object to telling one insignificant private lie, in our own interest, just for the refreshment of it. And to take the rancid taste out of our mouth. No there’s no art to silent lying, it is timid and shabby.”
My response to Hal Holbrooks Mr. Twain would be as follows:
To the contrary Mr. Twain, for the query to an Humane and Intelligent Rationale Excuse exists in that Slavery presents a humane question of One’s own humanity for Survival, in the form of Self-preservation and Self-interest to either Root Hog or Die!… a cruel twists of humane human nature for oneself as well, of one over another, as a necessity for each other’s lives, those being Masters or Slaves, the needs of the many dictates survival within any given society, which society is nonetheless divided into leaders or followers, Masters or Slaves.
Without that order of things there is no order of things, a communist structure is a utopian delusion, as communism only works within the accepted consensus of everyone, as any Democracy or Republic will, the inherent nature of self-interest is ever present and the power to govern is inherently flawed with perks of position that those ruling the commune are inherently self-centered, to dictate their power, as masters of the communes domain, as it suits them…
We are all subjects to the forces of nature, let alone the inhumanity of human nature. Humaneness is subject to those presented with the power to be humane to each other, regardless of the casteism of a Master or Slave hierarchy.
People own people without the necessity of obvious chains, or physical abuse. But nonetheless by manipulation and legal coercion, as it is opportune to do so. The moral question persists in the conflicts of self-interest for power of one over another even in determining the best interests of all.
Masters of Slaves are therefore no less Slaves of Slaves that they Master, even as the pendulum of dominance swings for the bottom rail over the top one.
Hello Michael C. Lewis, Thank you for taking the time out to first read the blog and thank you for providing a thoughtful response.
In referencing enslavers, I categorize them as bad, worse and worst.
Enslavers had to convince themselves that what they were doing was correct, therefore they were morally corrupt. Men of the cloth even engaged in enslaving people, but that did not make those men good enslavers, in my opinion they were worse. I put those few Black slave owners who were in it for the money in that same category of bad.
Abolitionists had the same opportunities to enslave people, yet they chose not to, although they were for freedom but not equality. Quakers eventually got it and stopped enslaving people to become advocates for freedom. All of this was happening while those like John Brown and Nat Turner were considered the problem and not the solution. From 1861 – 1864, it took 600,000 deaths to adjust the moral compass of this nation. Yet, the residuals of that institution still lingers in many forms today.
In order for superiority to thrive, those who buy into that concept requires subjecting other groups to be inferior. These groups are usually those who don’t look like and think like them. We the people, in this room, was the collective agreed upon concept for which this nation was founded. It is not my intent to go back in history to catagorize enslavers as good men, because they were not. How many gene pools did these enslavers eliminate? Why was an Underground RR necessary?
Acquiences of the enslaved is not an indication that their enslavers were good people, it is an indication of what enslaved people needed to do to survive. Challenging that institution of slavery could mean severe public punishment or even death to the enslaved. The 3% of enslavers had very little contact with most of those they enslaved, yet they reaped the benifits of their labor.
Good slave owners, if we can determine how many enslavers freed their enslaved people while the enslaver was still alive, they might get a pass from me. I am not talking freeing them in a will upon death or that enslaved person having to buy his or her freedom. I’m talking the wretches, as in, Amazing Grace.
Again, thank you for your thoughtful comment.