by Joseph McGill | Nov 22, 2017 | Blog Posts
Booker Taliaferro Washington was an American educator, author, orator, and advisor to presidents of the United States. Mr. Washington is best known for his involvement in creating Tuskegee University. So, what does Booker T. Washington have to do with the Slave...
by Joseph McGill | Nov 15, 2017 | Blog Posts
After the Third Annual Slave Dwelling Project Conference which was held in Columbia, South Carolina in September 2016, I felt that we had reached a saturation point. In those past three years, we had never exceeded 150 in attendance at any of the conferences. Board...
by Joseph McGill | Oct 29, 2017 | Blog Posts
Sometimes people contact the Slave Dwelling Project seeking assistance on how to restore their slave dwelling(s). These inquiries usually come from private owners who have the desire but not the means to restore these historic places. Demolition by neglect is the...
by Joseph McGill | Oct 25, 2017 | Blog Posts
As the Slave Dwelling Project continues to evolve, sleeping in slave dwellings is becoming less significant for me. It is not because I’m bored after seven years of spending nights in places where the enslaved Ancestors once inhabited. Sleep is now occupying less time...
by Joseph McGill | Oct 17, 2017 | Blog Posts
I prefer that every slave dwelling ever built was still on the American landscape to remind of the enslaved Ancestors, but that is not the case because we have been a nation that would rather forget about those parts of history that make us uncomfortable. Some slave...
by Joseph McGill | Oct 9, 2017 | Blog Posts
In 2010, when I first started sleeping in extant slave dwellings, I had some strict rules. I vowed that I would not sleep in recreated slave dwellings or relocated slave dwellings or in places where slave dwellings were once located but no longer exist. Seven years...
by Joseph McGill | Oct 1, 2017 | Blog Posts
“Who thinks it would be cool to go on a tour of Charleston kitchen houses? I do!!! Who wants to arrange it? :).” When English Purcell posted these words on Facebook, it was on. It was like she threw down the gauntlet. Up until her posting about Charleston kitchen...
by Joseph McGill | Sep 15, 2017 | Blog Posts
Sleeping in Slave Dwellings: At First They Thought I’d Lost My Mind Interview with Terry James by Prinny Anderson, May 2017 Terry James is a member of the Slave Dwelling Project’s Board of Directors, a fellow USCT Massachusetts 54th re-enactor with Joe McGill, and a...
by Joseph McGill | Jul 15, 2017 | Blog Posts
Sometimes things begin to become routine. That can be good or bad. While sleeping in slave cabins is an effortless act for me, for others, it can mean many things because many people participate in this odd activity for various reasons. Several moving parts must be...
by Joseph McGill | Jun 20, 2017 | Blog Posts
As the Slave Dwelling Project continues to evolve, patterns and themes are beginning to develop. I have spent the night at four institutions of higher learning; Clemson University in Clemson, SC; the College of Charleston in Charleston, SC; Furman University in...
