Brown Bag presentation by Daron Calhoun II, “Politics of Philanthropy: Henry Lyman Morehouse, the American Baptist Home Mission Society and the Naming of Morehouse College,” Avery Research Center, 22 January 2014. Calhoun is an Avery graduate assistant and graduate student in the joint College of Charleston-Citadel M.A. History program.
Since September 2013, the Avery Research Center has been proud to host an ongoing monthly Brown Bag Presentation Series. For those not familiar with the format, the idea is to bring your own “brown bag” lunch and enjoy presentations relevant to African American history and culture from local and visiting scholars, artists, and community leaders. The presentation style is often informal, and includes lively discussions with the presenters. Highlights so far have included Dr. Patricia Lessane and Dr. Conseula Francis discussing the 2013 Avery conference Unleashing the Black Erotic: Gender and Sexuality—Passion, Power, and Praxis; “Black Studies Beyond Ethnography” by Dr. Sabine Broeck; “The Ethics of Conducting Oral Histories” by Eileen Callahan; and “Researching Slavery at the University of South Carolina and Presenting it to the Public: Building the ‘Slavery at South Carolina College’ Website” by Dr. Robert Weyeneth, Evan Kutzler, and Amanda Noll from the University of South Carolina. Most recently, one of our very own Avery graduate assistants—Daron Calhoun—gave a presentation on his M.A. thesis research, entitled “Politics of Philanthropy: Henry Lyman Morehouse, the American Baptist Home Mission Society and the Naming of Morehouse College.” His work examines the paternalistic leadership of northern missionary organizations who came to the U.S. South to develop African American schools in the decades after Emancipation, and this presentation specifically considered the early development of Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, and the decision to change the school’s name from Atlanta Baptist College to Morehouse College in 1913. In our next Avery Brown Bag presentation, entitled “The Art of Protest,” local artist Karole Turner Campbell will describe a series of paintings she is developing that are inspired by the tragic Trayvon Martin shooting and the trial of George Zimmerman that took place in June and July 2013. This presentation will be held on February 26th, the anniversary of Martin’s death, from 12-1:15 pm in the McKinley Washington Auditorium.
To learn about upcoming Brown Bag presentations and other public events held at Avery, please see our Winter/Spring Programs calendar at: http://avery.cofc.edu/programs/
If you have questions about the Avery Brown Bag Series, or would like to organize a presentation, please contact Mary Battle at battlemp@cofc.edu