Inalienable Rights

The Living History arm of The Slave Dwelling Project travels across the United States to present the lives and histories of enslaved people.

Inalienable Rights Living History

Inalienable Rights, the Living History arm of The Slave Dwelling Project, travels across the United States to present the lives and histories of enslaved people. Through storytelling, artisan demonstrations, hearth and open fire cooking and dynamic presentations, visitors are encouraged to talk with the living historians to learn more about the enslaved community beyond the fields. Please see the profile of members of the team below. If interested in working with the Slave Dwelling Project, please reach out to Joseph McGill at slavedwellingproject@gmail.com.

Joseph McGill Jr.

Mr. Joseph McGill, Jr., is the founder of the Slave Dwelling Project. By arranging for people to sleep in extant slave dwellings, the Slave Dwelling Project has brought much needed attention to these often-neglected structures that are vitally important to the American built environment.

Mr. McGill has conducted over 250 overnights in approximately 150 different sites in 25 states and the District of Columbia. He has interacted with the descendants of both the enslaved communities and of the enslavers associated with antebellum historic sites. He speaks with school children and college students, with historical societies, community groups, and members of the public.

Since 2016, Mr. McGill expanded the Slave Dwelling Project to offer a program of living history called “Inalienable Rights: Living History Through the Eyes of the Enslaved.” The Project has conducted 7 conferences since 2013.

Mr. McGill is a Civil War Reenactor who participates in living history presentations, and lectures.

Mr. McGill was a field officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, working to revitalize the Sweet Auburn commercial district in Atlanta, GA and to develop a management plan for the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area.

Mr. McGill served as the Executive Director of the African American Museum located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His responsibilities included seeking funds from grant making entities to support the capital and operating budget of the museum/cultural center and developing programs that interpret the history of African Americans.

Mr. McGill is the former Director of History and Culture at Penn Center, St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Penn School was the first school built during the Civil War for the education of recently freed slaves. As Director, he was responsible for the overall development and implementation of the Center’s program for collecting, preserving, and making public the history of Penn Center and the Sea Island African American history and culture.

Mr. McGill was also employed by the National Park Service, serving as a Park Ranger at Fort Sumter National Monument in Charleston, South Carolina. As a Park Ranger, Mr. McGill gave oral presentations on Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie on and off site. He supervised volunteers and participated in living history presentations.

Mr. McGill appears in the book Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. He is also a member of the South Carolina Humanities Council Speakers Bureau.

Mr. McGill is coauthor of the book: Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery.

Mr. McGill is a native of Kingstree, South Carolina. Upon graduating from high school, he enlisted in the United States Air Force. While in the Air Force, Mr. McGill served as Security Policeman in England, Washington State and Germany.

Mr. McGill holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Professional English from South Carolina State University, Orangeburg, South Carolina.

He is married to the former Vilarin Mozee, and they have one daughter, Jocelyn Mozee McGill.

Corey Alston

Corey Alston is a fifth generation Sweetgrass Basket Weaver. He currently runs the family business in the Charleston City Market. Sweetgrass Basket Weaving has been a major part of the Gullah Geechee Culture, dating back to days of Enslavement. This coastal artform has been recognized as a South Carolina State Handcraft and has been known to be found kept alive the longest along Sweetgrass Basket Makers Highway of South Carolina. This skill is one of the rare arts of our country that is founded nowhere else in America. Gullah Sweetgrass Baskets are a national treasure. 

Tammy Denease

Tammy Denease, is an accomplished Historian, Artist, and Storyteller passionate about amplifying the voices of those who have been overlooked by history. As your Historian Partner, Tammy’s historical interpretation consultations include helping historical sites interpret their stories, and she assists with connecting sites with visitors.

Tammy Denease specializes in bringing to life the lives of very important, yet “hidden” women in history including the following:

  • Joan Jackson – Free woman sold into slavery (early 1700’s)
  • Clo Pratt – Free woman who witnesses the signing of the Yorktown Strategy (1781)
  • Elizabeth MumBet Freeman – one brave act ends Slavery in Massachusetts (1781)
  • Belinda the Afrikan – Sued new government for reparations (1781)
  • Sarah Margu – a child of the Amistad (1839)
  • Elizabeth Keckly  – Dressmaker to Mary Todd Lincoln (1860’s)

Carolyn Evans

Carolyn Evans, Storyteller/Actress, is one of Joe McGill’s Slave Dwelling Project’s Inalienable Rights Players.  SHE BRINGS HISTORY ALIVE! Through her celebrated series, “My Spirit Sings-Women Who Could’ve Sung The Blues But Didn’t,” Syracuse University Drama graduate reprises the roles of both the sung and the unsung sheroe.
Some of the women she portrays are the following:
  • Harriet Tubman – The Love In That Cabin
  • Sojourner Truth – From Birth To Rebirth And Freedom
  • Margru – Child Of The Amistad
  • Mary Ann Cord – Mark Twains’ muse
  • Leer Green – Steamer Trunk To Freedom
  • Harriet Jacobs – A Secret in the Garret
  • Lavinia Bell – A Juneteenth Story
Affiliations:
The North Carolina Association Of Black Storytellers

Tammy Gibson

Tammy Gibson is a black history traveler, storyteller and educator.  Gibson graduated from Chicago State University with a B.A. in African American Studies. Gibson travels around the world locating and documenting black historical sites.  Gibson has visited slave plantations, slept in slave quarters and highlight black cemeteries that are being vandalized and destroyed due the commercial development. Through Gibson’s extensive travels, her mission is to educate the importance of black history that is being erased and whitewashed in history books and historical sites. 
Gibson interprets the role of the enslaved laundress during the antebellum area. A grueling and skilled process, Gibson discuss and demonstrates the daunting task of doing the laundry, including making lye soap, breaching, lifting pounds of clothing that required an incredible amount of strength.

Nicole Moore

Nicole A. Moore is a public historian and interpreter who finds joy in engaging visitors through food. Find her cooking historical and contemporary adaptations of foods made by the enslaved community and join her in conversation as you learn more about the foodways of enslaved Africans and the foods we enjoy today.