by Joseph McGill | Oct 31, 2018 | Blog Posts
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...
by Joseph McGill | Oct 15, 2018 | Blog Posts
Sometimes the places I lay my head in former slave dwellings throughout this nation is dictated by invitations to participate in conferences. That was the case when in 2017, I accepted invitations from two of my colleagues to participate on panels at the American...
by Joseph McGill | Oct 7, 2018 | Blog Posts
In uncovering the footprints of the chattel slavery that existed in this nation, several dots are connected by the Slave Dwelling Project in interesting ways. While sleeping is a very simple concept, I’ve spent nights at Monticello and Poplar Forest, both of which...
by Joseph McGill | Sep 9, 2018 | Blog Posts
An idea is just that, an idea, if you fail to set into motion the steps necessary to make that idea a reality. In 2010 the Slave Dwelling Project was just a crazy idea in my head until I had my first sleepover alone in a slave cabin at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens...
by Joseph McGill | Aug 19, 2018 | Blog Posts
The footprints of the chattel slavery that once gripped this nation can be found in many states. In southern states, the built environment of slavery exists in many structures erected prior to 1860. These antebellum structures were either built by the enslaved, or...
by Joseph McGill | Jul 23, 2018 | Blog Posts
The historic built environment of the United States reveals a history of prosperity. You can find this in the architecturally significant buildings that have been preserved. Far less will and resources exist to preserve the buildings that portray sins, missteps and...
by Joseph McGill | Jul 14, 2018 | Blog Posts
Destiny sometimes brings you back to places you’ve been before, moreover, it’s always nice to be invited back to those places. Being invited back often means that you are doing something right. Being invited back is also important because sometimes that message...
by Joseph McGill | Jul 5, 2018 | Blog Posts
Connecticut blocked the importation of slaves in 1774 and began a gradual emancipation of slaves in 1784 with slavery finally abolished in 1848. Usually, when one thinks about the history of Connecticut, slavery is not in the forefront of that thought process. It is...
by Joseph McGill | Jun 29, 2018 | Blog Posts
I love road trips, especially when those road trips include several people and I don’t have to do all the driving. Every year that we develop the schedule for where members of the Slave Dwelling Project will spend nights in extant slave dwellings, it is always our...
by Joseph McGill | Jun 18, 2018 | Blog Posts
Chasing the footprints of the chattel slavery that gripped this nation takes members of the Slave Dwelling Project to some interesting places. Some of these places are welcoming and do a great job of interpreting the stories of the people who were enslaved there,...
