by Joseph McGill | Mar 4, 2017 | Blog Posts
A simplistic idea of sleeping in slave dwellings has evolved into something that can help heal this great nation of its historical trauma. That historical trauma is the legacy that slavery has left on this nation. The Slave Dwelling Project is now doing far...
by Joseph McGill | Feb 25, 2017 | News
Seven years ago when I started the Slave Dwelling Project, I was persuaded to write blogs by a coworker when we both worked for the National Trust for Historic Preservation. Her compelling reasoning was that it would be my way to document each and every sleepover. I...
by Joseph McGill | Dec 23, 2016 | News
After six years of existence, the mission of the Slave Dwelling Project is evolving therefore, board members of the Project are in the process of contemplating internally how we must proceed into the future. We are working with professional fundraisers and...
by Joseph McGill | Oct 29, 2016 | Blog Posts
When I attended the National Preservation Conference in Savannah, Georgia in 2014, I met Kristen Laise, Executive Director of Belle Grove Plantation in Middletown, Virginia. Kristen and some of her board members attended a Black history tour that was sponsored by the...
by Joseph McGill | Oct 21, 2016 | News
Once upon a time, the powers that was made it a criminal act for the enslaved Ancestors to be educated. To that end, the history of African Americans has been stifled and we have been playing catchup ever since. Historians, genealogist and archivists are assisting in...
by Joseph McGill | Oct 9, 2016 | Blog Posts
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,...
by Joseph McGill | Sep 29, 2016 | Blog Posts
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...
by Joseph McGill | Sep 25, 2016 | Blog Posts
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...
by Joseph McGill | Sep 11, 2016 | Blog Posts
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...
by Joseph McGill | Aug 29, 2016 | Blog Posts
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...
