UPCOMING EVENTS:
Jubilee Project – May Events
This is the last week you can get to see the “Witness to History” exhibition of Civil Rights era photographs by James Karales at the Gibbes Museum on Meeting Street in downtown Charleston. The exhibition’s last day is May 12th. http://www.gibbesmuseum.org/explore/cur_exhibit2.php?id=97.
Other events at partner-sites around the state this month include the following:
May 14-18–Lift Every Voice Project, Columbia, SC
The forum, “Lift Every Voice,” will take place at the Historic Zion Baptist Church on the 15, 16, and 17 of May. The last day of the forum, Saturday, May 18, will be held at the SC Archives and History Center (lots of parking at both sites). The opening exhibit, reception and conversations with photographer Cecil Williams and USC History professor Bobby Donaldson will occur at USC’s McMaster Gallery on the 14th. For more information about the forum, visit the web site created by the USC Center for Digital History: http://www.lifteveryvoiceproject.org/.
May 18—Penn Center, Saint Helena Island, SC—The Penn Center 1862 Circle Gala
At the 10th annual 1862 Circle gala, two individuals and one local organization dedicated to the promotion of the Gullah Geechee people will be inducted into the Circle: Dr Joseph Opala, Mr. Ron Daise, and the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Beaufort. The gala begins at 6pm at the Sonesta Resort on Hilton Head Island, and costs $100 per person. The College of Charleston-owned exhibition of Dr. Opala’s work on Bunce Island an eighteenth-century slave-trading fort in the Sierra Leone River will be on display at the Penn Center through the end of May.
May 31st-June 1st Sweetgrass Cultural Arts Festival, Mount Pleasant, SC
The annual Sweetgrass Festival celebrates Gullah Geechee cultural heritage and provides the most extensive showcase of sweetgrass baskets in the Lowcountry area. This year’s event features an assortment of unique handmade arts & crafts, paintings, live performances, and documentary films. Festival-goers can attend performances of gospel songs and praise dance, storytelling and Gullah Geechee skits, basket-making demonstrations and the Adande African Drummers and Dancers. Visitors will be treated to a variety of authentic Gullah cuisine, classic barbeque, fish, chicken and beverages offered for sale by more than 15 Lowcountry restaurants and food vendors. Numerous cookbooks and other Gullah Geechee related publications will be on sale. Child- and other family-friendly activities include a waterslide. Admission and parking are free. The festival is a family event and no alcohol is sold. Animals, skateboards, and bicycles are not allowed. Businesses interested in becoming a sponsor for the event should contact Thomasena Stokes-Marshall at (843) 856.9732. Web-site at http://www.sweetgrassfestival.org/index.html.
PAST EVENTS:
April 9, 2013 ‘Send Back the Money!‘ The Free Church of Scotland and American Slavery, Iain Whyte at 6:00 pm, Addlestone Library, Room 227
April 10, 2013 Janie Mitchell, Reliable Cook: An Ex-Slave’s Recipe for Living, Lisa Foster and Mary Lou Coombs at 6:00pm, Addlestone Library, Room 227
The Friends of the Addlestone Library will host Lisa Foster and Mary Lou Coombs in a discussion of their book, Janie Mitchell, Reliable Cook: An Ex-slave’s Recipes for Living.
A non-fiction account of an ex-slave’s life, this story gives a snapshot view of Charleston from 1862-1931 through the eyes of Janie Mitchell based on her own writings. Marie Lou Coombs, whose family employed Janie in her later years, grew up hearing stories of Janie and reading her journal. Lisa Foster crafted Janie’s journal into a compelling story, told in the diarist’s own voice.
Janie Mitchell, Reliable Cook: An Ex-Slave’s Recipe for Living chronicles Janie’s life as well as her relationship with her owners, the Rutledge family, and her later employment with other Charleston families.
March 20-24, 2013 African Literature Associate conference http://claw.cofc.edu/ala/conference.html
January 1, 2013 The annual Emancipation Day Parade will be followed by a special church service in Morris Brown AME Church.
Where: City of Charleston and Morris Brown AME Church
You can also follow other Jubilee Project events here: http://jubileeprojectsc.wordpress.com/category/jubilee-project/
December 31, 2012 – January 1, 2013 Watch Night: The annual City of Charleston-run New Year’s Eve celebration will be followed by “Watch Night” services all around Charleston. On the stroke of midnight churches with bells will ring them out loud and clear to celebrate the Emancipation Proclamation.
Where: City of Charleston and local churches
December 12, 2012
Join Dr. Christopher Day for his lecture on differing outcomes for rebel groups initiating civil wars in sub-Saharan Africa. Invited as a guest speaker for the Cultural Knowledge Consortium’s Speaker Series, Dr. Day will present his research at 9am through a web-based seminar: https://connect.dco.dod.mil/ckcspeakers.
November 7-8, 2012:
Penn Center Heritage Days, click here for a review of the events
September 21-22, 2012:
“The Fire Every Time: Reframing Black Power across the 20th century and Beyond”
http://avery.cofc.edu/programs/black-power-conference/
September 27 – October 7, 2012:
MOJA Arts Festival
http://www.mojafestival.com/home/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/2012MOJA-Program-Book.pdf
If you know of an African related event in the Charleston area give the details as a “comment” below, or simply email the details to Lauren Saulino at: saulinole@cofc.edu.