The Power of Place and Conversations

My role at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston, SC, has changed.  I am now the History and Culture Coordinator on a full-time basis. Duties include ensuring that the stories of the people who were enslaved at Magnolia Plantation are interpreted throughout all tours given at the site.

Lately, Mother Nature has been trying to steal my joy.  My first trip in 2020 out of the state of South Carolina to sleep in slave dwellings happened in February.  Cold weather prevented me from spending nights in slave cabins at Travellers Rest and Belle Meade Plantations in Nashville, Tennessee. We wisely spent the nights in climate-controlled buildings instead.

Mother Nature was again at work for our first stay of the year at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston, SC.  I was impressed by the number of people who signed up for the campfire conversation and sleepover.  I shut down registration when the number reached thirty-seven.  Nights leading up to the event were unseasonably warm, and Punxsutawney Phil gave us an early Spring forecast.

Then it happened. The forecast for the night of the sleepover was below freezing and a 100 percent chance of rain.  As much as I am dedicated to honoring the enslaved Ancestors by spending nights in slave dwellings, self-preservation is necessary.  I must live to fight, or in this case, sleep another day or night.

What Mother Nature didn’t know was that we have Tom Johnson, Executive Director of Magnolia Plantation and Gardens.  Tom gave us permission to conduct the conversation in the climate-controlled carriage house or the conservatory if they were not set up for an event the next day. I decided the carriage would work best. 

I knew some folks would opt out of the conversation and sleepover due to the weather, and some did.  Despite the bad weather, we were still able to muster about 20 people for the event. Many participants traveled from out of state, and some felt slighted for not getting the opportunity to spend a night in the slave cabins.

The conversation and the sleepover in the carriage house were flawless.

The living history program was also a success. 

Herb Frazier, Marketing Director, Magnolia Plantation and Gardens

Joseph McGill, a history consultant and an interpreter with the Slavery to Freedom Tour at Magnolia, has been named Magnolia’s history and culture coordinator. McGill is also the founder of the non-profit Slave Dwelling Project.

Since the project’s inception a decade ago, McGill has slept in more than 150 slave dwellings in 25 states to highlight the need to preserve extant slave dwellings to tell a full narrative of American history.

McGill’s new position at Magnolia is an outgrowth of Magnolia’s long-standing association with the Slave Dwelling Project, which recently presented its signature program, “Living History, Through the Eyes of the Enslaved,” on Feb. 21 at Magnolia.

The event attracted more than 800 college and middle school students for an up-close lesson on slavery and its impact on the United States. The night before the program, McGill led a discussion on slavery with 18 people in the dimly lit Carriage House at Magnolia.

McGill said in his new role at Magnolia “my mission is to ensure the history and culture of all people who inhabited Magnolia will be disseminated through all interpretation at the site. This interpretation will exist in tours, signage, website and social media.”

Tom Johnson, Magnolia’s executive director, said McGill is well-suited for this expanded position. “Joe has an enormous understanding of Magnolia and the history of the African-American experience in the United States,” Johnson said. “He has the sensitivity to help our guests understand the complexities of slavery and the impact it continues to have on and in our nation.”

Magnolia presents the living history program, which features storytellers and craft demonstrators, to supplement what Charleston-area students are taught about slavery in a city that was once the port of entry for enslaved Africans. It is estimated that 160,000 captured Africans arrived in Charleston from the late 1600s to 1865, said Dr. Bernard Powers, professor emeritus of history at the College of Charleston.

Carolee Williams

Reflections
-History should always be truthful, yet understand that there’s more history and herstory to be learned. 
-Wow to the diversity of people attracted to this event: historians of course but also social workers, furniture makers and cooks(1 in the same), students, theologians and life-long learners on a path and much more an amazing array of American demographics attended- race, sex and ages
-Yet the connections I found in our group of 20 or so were stunning. Connections included: a HS math teacher, MESDA, Old Salem, Thomas Day, Stagville (the aforementioned were all one person), National Park Service, IAAM, land protection, statehouse government affairs and much more. 
-My HBHS (is that an acronym I missed or just made up?), my other education, my family did a good job with my understanding of American history. For sure it has matured, but it was a good foundation. Really: people still go to plantations and ask if the slaves were happy? That’s of course not the point. They weren’t free to make choices, to learn, to use their skills, to make American great out of their own free will. 
-People snore-The Slave Dwelling project sleepover is not the place to go for a good night’s rest, but that was also true for our enslaved ancestors

Cynthia Watson

Last night while you were sleeping in comfort…I was sleeping in a slave cabin. The goal of the Slave Dwelling Project is to bring attention and awareness to protect the slave cabins and their history that remain standing after more than a century here in the United States.

I know that I am a descendant of enslaved people and have often wondered if my descendants were sold in the slave auctions of Charleston, SC. Where did they live and what were their stories? They were stolen from Africa, survived hard labor and built this country (including The White House) on backs of people who look like me. My ancestry is important, my ancestry should never be forgotten and my ancestry deserves preservation. Last night I slept on the floor in a slave cabin. They survived so I could thrive. I am my ancestors wildest dreams…

Kenneth Marolda

From the moment Joe visited my historic preservation class at Clemson University, I was fascinated with the slave dwelling project and was excited to participate in an overnight stay. I finally had the opportunity this past February at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens and it was a wonderfully informative experience. Staying in the 1850s carriage house where enslaved people would have worked, our group had an intense but respectful conversation that delved into many topics related to the daily lives of enslaved people, and the ongoing legacy of the institution of slavery.  In a discussion that lasted over an hour longer than planned, we talked about the culinary traditions of the enslaved, the possibilities and feasibility of financial reparations, cultural and ancestral connections today between African-Americans and Africa, and many more topics. Overall, I think the most powerful thing I came away with is the understanding that the first step to helping a disenfranchised group feel a sense of reinvestment in a political process and social system that has historically oppressed them and been rigged against them, is an honest accounting of the past. I’m incredibly thankful for the opportunity to learn, grow, and share knowledge in this educational space Joe has created.