Reconstructing the Black Archive: South Carolina as Case Study, 1739-1895

FAIN: EH-288094-22

Clemson University (Clemson, SC 29634-0001)
Susanna Ashton (Project Director: February 2022 to present)
Rhondda Robinson Thomas (Co Project Director: February 2022 to present)
Gregg Alan Hecimovich (Co Project Director: February 2022 to present)
Kaniqua Robinson (Co Project Director: February 2022 to present)

A three-week residential institute for 26 higher education faculty to study ways of reconstructing Black histories, using South Carolina as a case study. 

Reconstructing the Black Archive: South Carolina as Case Study, 1739-1895, based primarily at two institutions located in Upstate South Carolina, aims to uncover ways to understand and reconstruct notions about early Black lives. We will create a community of inquiry allowing us to collaboratively learn analytical strategies from interdisciplinary fields of the visual arts, community-focused research, historical studies, and a swath of other creative fields. Our approach is one of biographical mediation whereby we will take institutional documents, statistics, and seemingly inhumane archival evidence and demonstrate ways that the broad humanities and values can be recognized. We aim to resurrect the hidden narratives of the Black experience in our work.