Engaged community learning of historic preservation practices.
Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation through the University of Virginia and the Vernacular Architecture Forum to sponsor and support summer field schools that will focus on African American places and engage Black communities, scholars, and students.
Year One: May 22- June 9, 2023
Year Two: May 20 - June, 7 2024
About the field school:
Our field school focuses on researching and documenting late 19th and early 20th century public buildings and their role within the African American community on John’s Island, SC. During the course of these three-week programs, historic preservation and history faculty, archivists, scholars, and local community educators will teach field school participants about life in this community during the Jim Crow and Civil Rights periods. Through hands-on learning, participants will also learn how to document the physical fabric and cultural narratives associated with the historic buildings and landscapes on this Lowcountry sea island. The first field school was held May 22-June 9 of 2023. We are looking forward to the second year of the field school, which will be held from May 20th until June 7th.
The field school is seeking participants with cultural/historical connections to the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, as well as adult residents of Johns Island and adjacent communities for the second summer. Thanks to this generous funding, the field school features zero-cost tuition and offer stipends to participants. Area residents not available for the full program are invited and compensated to participate in one-day workshops on topics including: building documentation, reading buildings, and photography. There are also public events to learn about what the participants have learned and uncovered.
Summer 2024 Field School Underway
Summer 2024 Field School Underway
Cohort from the 2023 summer session. Please see our ‘work’ tab for more information and inspiration.
Upcoming Public Events
Please join us!
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May 23, 2024
at Hebron Zion Presbyterian Church 2915 Bohicket Road, John’s Island
A panel discussion on the history and built heritage of Johns Island, moderated by Dr. Tamara Butler. Panelists were Chriscilla Cox, Gerald Mackey, Katleen Green, Barbara Goss Brown, and Sammy Ramsey.
May 22 of 2023 the field school hosted:
A panel discussion on the history and built heritage of Johns Island moderated by Dr. Tamara Butler. Panelists were Michael Allen, Nancy Butler, and Josephine Robinson. A light supper followed the panel discussion and audience questions and comments. Catering by Diamond Star Catering. -
June 1, 2024
at Hebron Zion Presbyterian Church
2915 Bohicket Road, John’s IslandField School ‘students’ present their mid-point experiences in the field school. A lunch separates sessions, and a panel on “Music, Protest, and Spirituality” closes the session. Dr. Jon Marcoux moderates the panel of music-subject area experts: Carl Bright, Dr. Carlos Brown, Alphonso Brown.
June 3 of 2023 the field school hosted:
This was a two-part program. Ten field school students will discuss their in-progress work conducting archival research and building documentation for the Progressive Club ruins and Moving Star Hall, two places important in the story of Johns Island civic life in the Reconstruction and Civil Rights eras. Discussion continued over lunch-time refreshments leading into the 12:30 p.m. panel discussion on “Telling Your Story: authors, publishers, and social media experts and their processes” with panelists Alli Crandell, Greg Estevez, Akua Page, and Joshua Parks.
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June 7, 2024
at Johns Island Presbyterian Church 2550 Bohicket Rd, John’s Island
A two-part program where John’s Island Preservation Field School students discuss the story maps that each created as part of the field school. Second, a Preservation Advocacy Panel discusses how to motivate preservation and create change. The event concluded with a closing reception. The Preservation Advocacy Panelists were: Tina Marshall, Brittnay Lavelle Tulla, Chloe Stubber, and John Taylor III.
June 9 of 2023 the field school hosted:
A two-part program where The John’s Island Preservation Field School students discussed their completed three-weeks of work conducting archival research and building documentation for the Progressive Club ruins and Moving Star Hall. Around 2:30 p.m. a Preservation Advocacy Panel discussed how to motivate preservation and create change. The event concluded with a closing reception. The Preservation Advocacy Panelists were: Dr. Jessica Berry, Emily Pigott, Brittany Lavelle Tulla, Dr. Shawn Mitchell, and Chloe Stubber.
Places.
These are the 4 sites we will learn about and through in the 3-week long field schools in the summers of 2023 and 2024
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The Progressive Club was founded by Esau Jenkins and Joe Williams in 1948 as a center for education, voter registration and civil rights on Johns Island. The facility hosted many different functions, including a co-op, lodging for travelers, and recreational space. Today, a diverse group of Islanders are working to revitalize the organization and establish it as a center of history and hope on Johns Island.
more information at: https://progressiveclub.org/
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Around 1917, the members of the Moving Star Young Association built Moving Star Hall as a praise house and meeting space for the religious and charitable organization (Moving Star Association) established on the island.
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Promise Land School is a circa 1910 school building on the west side of Johns Island. In the 1950s, a wing was added on to the building. Septima Poinsette Clark, Avery Institute graduate and Civil Rights advocate, taught at the school 1916-1918 and again in 1927.
More information at: http://ldhi.library.cofc.edu/neatline/show/septima-p-clark-and-public-history-in-charleston#records/1192
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Hebron Center, formerly Hebron Church, was built between 1868 and 1870 by Jackson McGill and John Chisholm, formerly enslaved carpenters. The church was founded during the Reconstruction era, when the white Presbyterian
Church of the South dropped all Black parishioners from their membership rosters.
People.
The individuals pictured above will serve as instructors during the field school. Aaisha Haykal, Georgette Mayo, Erica Veal and Tamara Butler will teach about archival research and interpretation using materials at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. Mary Jo Fairchild will give an overview of oral history and discuss past projects ethically working with communities to capture firsthand accounts of place. Willie Graham will offer a workshop on architectural photography. Robert Greene and Victoria Smalls will present on the historic context of the sites: Smalls focuses on the Reconstruction Era and Greene on the Civil Rights Era. With Jobie Hill and Amalia Leifeste, field school students will learn how to record and analyze the physical fabric of the buildings through measured drawings and building inspection. Jon Marcoux will guide field school students in mapping and landscape analysis of Johns Island. The field school will also have 'community educators' who speak with field school students about lived experiences and stories past to them related to the places of study on Johns Island.
Recording of our virtual meeting discussing the field school
If you would like to hear more about the plans shaping up for the 3-week long field schools in summer 2023 and 2024, click on the link above to be directed to a recording of the zoom meeting we held on May 19th to share our plans and get feedback on the direction of the project. The project was also featured on the local news: Live 5 News https://www.live5news.com/video/2022/08/22/video-historic-preservation-course-coming-johns-island-3/
Presentation slides describing the project
If you would like to read more about the outline of this project click on the link above to be directed to a .pdf of the slides we used to describe the project.