Many antebellum historic sites use the excuse of not having enough information about enslaved people as their reason for not including them in their narratives. What that has given us is a sugarcoated, watered down version of history at these sites. A history that keeps us in a comfort zone and concentrates on the stories of the enslavers, usually casting them as good slave owners. Despite that, there are some existing antebellum historic sites that are doing various things to change the narrative and tell a more complete story.

In the defense of antebellum sites that choose not to interpret the lives of the enslaved, making it illegal to educate them meant that the enslaved themselves could not leave a lot of documentation of their existence and contributions to this great nation. Not educating enslaved people was one of the many means of keeping the peculiar institution of chattel slavery in place.

As the Slave Dwelling Project continues to honor people who were enslaved at antebellum sites, we come across allies with similar missions. Last year at Walkertown High School in Walkertown, North Carolina, the Slave Dwelling Project was scouted by Bridget Morton of Mars Hill University. Bridget administers a grant titled Teaching With Primary Sources at Mars Hill University. The Teaching With Primary Sources Mars Hill program helps teachers use the Library’s vast collection of digitized primary sources to enrich their classroom instruction.

Bridget’s proposal to us was for the Slave Dwelling Project to visit Governor Zebulon Vance Birthplace and Mars Hill University to help execute the grant.

Zebulon Vance Birthplace

There were players in history, that if their presence wasn’t made known to you, your historical trauma would be minimized. The notorious Zebulon Vance was the governor of North Carolina during the Civil War. He is also known for doing very little to advance the pursuit of happiness for African Americans enslaved or free. Before this trip, I knew very little about Zebulon Vance. Now, I think I know too much.

Zebulon Vance Birthplace

I would not have this experience all to myself. A group from a local high school and board member, Prinny Anderson were there. Our goal was present to the school group methods of using the landscape and the built environment as primary sources. Although some of the buildings were moved there or recreated, we could still pull this off at the Zebulon Vance site.

During the program, we were treated to a tour by Kimberly Floyd, site manager of Vance Birthplace. I’ve gone on many tours at many historic sites, this was one of the best. There was no attempt by Kimberly to sugarcoat any of Vance’s misdeeds.

A special part of the tour was about the vandalism that occurred at the Vance Birthplace. Someone spray painted Black Lives Matter on the main house. Given the minuscule amount of African Americans living in the area, and no one being yet being arrested for the act, the jury is still out on if the graffiti was supportive or against Black Lives Matter.

Zebulon Vance Birthplace

The tour by Kimberly and the discussion about the graffiti was not the end of the scheduled activities. Steve Nash, professor of history at East Tennessee State University gave a presentation on Zebulon Vance. Nash revealed everything you wanted to know about Zebulon Vance. 

As if the tour by Kimberly Floyd and Steve Nash was not enough, Bridget Morton gave us a lesson in using primary sources for conducting research. She revealed information that exposed Governor Zebulon Vance for the racist that he was. Primary sources were also provided for a controversial Confederate monument that now stands in Weaverville, North Carolina.

Board member Prinny Anderson gave a presentation on useful words for talking about slavery and its legacies of White privilege and racism.

Zebulon Vance Birthplace

All that we experienced earlier in the day prepared us well for our campfire conversation. I got a good idea for how isolated some communities can be. All the students were White and came from communities with little to no diversity. The term red neck came up often when some of the kids described themselves.

Mars Hill University

Many institutions of higher learning owe their existence to the institution of slavery. Members of the Slave Dwelling Project have spent nights on the campuses or sites owned by Clemson, College of Charleston, Furman, Roanoke, Sweet Briar, University of Mississippi and the University of Virginia. We are currently negotiating with Virginia Tech and William & Mary to conduct programs on their campuses in 2020.

Mars Hill University has a unique and interesting story that is hard to believe. During its construction in 1856, the university ran out of money. Mars Hill solution to the problem was to use an enslaved person, Joe Anderson, as collateral.

Bridget Morton used primary sources to teach the student the details of how Mars Hill University used Joe Anderson as collateral.

Oralene Simmons was a descendant of Joe Anderson, the enslaved person who was used as collateral for Mars Hill University. I shared the spotlight with her as she told the story of how she became the first African American to attend Mars Hill University. Unfortunately, there were not very many people in the audience to hear this marvelous story.

I passed on an opportunity to spend a night outside on the campus and opted for a nice comfortable bed instead.

Conclusion

I use the term “changing the narrative” often. This term is catching on with followers of the Slave Dwelling Project. In order to properly change the narrative, the evidence of the existence of enslaved people is needed. This evidence comes from genealogy, archaeology, DNA, the built environment, etc.

Primary sources are also ways of providing that evidence. Wills, census records, bill of sales, Freedman Bureau records, ships manifests, diaries, runaway ads, trial transcripts, newspapers, etc., are all means of primary sources.

Whenever we are confronted with the excuse of antebellum historic sites not having enough evidence of the existence of the enslaved, we must always remind them of primary sources.

Putting the People Back in the Buildings
Prinny Anderson

Prinny Anderson

A few years back, Joseph McGill made an offer to a colleague, a dedicated genealogist and family historian: “We’ll find the buildings. You bring us the people to put in them.” This April, both the Zebulon Vance Birthplace historic site and Mars Hill University brought the people, brought them to the places where they had lived, brought them to life.

At the Vance Birthplace, Kimberly and Lauren introduced at least one person from the period of the Vance family’s residence at each point on the tour itinerary. In the first building, the slave dwelling, we learned about Richard, his wife Aggy, and three of their children, with the size and furnishings of the structure to give us a sense of what their lives might have been like. As we passed the spring house, we heard about the many children of David Vance, Sr, and David Vance, Jr, born on the small plantation. Peering into the smoke house, the story of Sarah Gudger was recounted, the story of a woman who was enslaved on a comparable nearby plantation, describing the many tasks she carried out, in the fields, in the outbuildings like this one, and indoors spinning or carding by the hearth. Moving toward the tool house, more about David Vance, Jr, and his wife Mira was shared. As we examined the tools, we heard about Jim the blacksmith, and in the main house kitchen, we could picture Leah the cook, reportedly the best cook in Madison County. Standing in the main house, we gazed at the cradle that held Mira Vance’s babies and heard stories of how they were cared for by Venus, the nanny.

Zebulon Vance Birthplace

The Vance Birthplace tour put all the people into the buildings and on the grounds, and it mixed them together, enslaved person and enslaver, just as they would have interacted and worked side by side back in the day.

Mars Hill University has been researching both the enslavers and the enslaved people who were critical to its founding. Through primary source material, we saw unmistakable proof of how the good citizens of Mars Hill who commissioned the first university building also bought and sold enslaved children as young as three years old. We learned a great deal about Joe Anderson, the enslaved man owned by one of the founders, who was imprisoned while he served as collateral against the mortgage that was taken out to provide funds to finish construction.

Joe Anderson’s legacy came even more brightly to life while we listened to the story of his great-great-granddaughter, Oralene Simmons. Not only did Ms. Simmons round out our acquaintance with her ancestor, Joe, she also told her own story of sacrifice and triumph. Joe Anderson’s descendant, Miss Oralene, was the first African American to be admitted to and to graduate from Mars Hill University.

Through walking the property, hearing narratives drawn from research, examining the deeds and bills of sale, and listening to the spoken word, the grounds and the buildings of the Vance Birthplace and Mars Hill University were re-populated and brought vividly to life, exactly as Mr. McGill requested.