Project Highlights

In preparation for today’s wrap-up discussion I’ve drawn up a list of highlights of the Jubilee Project from September 2012 — the anniversary of the publication of the Emancipation Proclamation — to now — the anniversary of the Gettysburg Address. It’s a pretty long list, but I think worth publishing in full.

Jubilee Project—some highlights so far

September 2012—Avery Center Black Power conference

October 2012—College of Charleston Theatre Department, Flyin’ West

–SC State University, Stanback Museum, “Africa Revisited” exhibition

–Upcountry History Museum, “Freedom Stories” mini-conference

November 2012—Penn Center, Annual Heritage Days, 150th anniversary celebration

New Year’s Eve/Day—Watch Night Services; Emancipation Day parade

January 2013—Gibbes Museum, “Witness to History” exhibition

–Charleston Symphony Orchestra Spiritual Ensemble, “Freedom Rides On” concert

–Clemson University, Integration at Clemson commemoration

–Southern American Studies Association conference

–St. Helena Branch Library, “Reflections of St Helena Island” presentation

February 2013—CSO Spiritual Ensemble, “Ode to the Fisk Jubilee Singers” concert

–College of Charleston, “Unity through Song,” Claflin University Concert Choir

–Magnolia Plantation, ASALH luncheon

–Charleston Stage, A Woman Called Truth

Charleston County Park and Recreation Commission, “Heritage Days”

–Clark Atlanta University, WEB Du Bois conference

–College of Charleston, “Education for Emancipation” seminar

–College of Charleston, Nancy McGinley issues an apology on behalf of CCSD at College of Charleston’s “Education for Emancipation” seminar commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the desegregation of South Carolina public schools

–Charleston Preservation Society, Civil Rights Era Panel Exhibit Opening

–Caw Caw Interpretive Center, “Rice and Liberty: The Stono Rebellion”

–Riley Center for Livable Communities, “Tru Emancipation een de Gullah/Geechee Nation”

–Penn Center, “Tribute to the Civil Rights Movement”

March 2013—Agnes Scott College, Collegium for African American Research conference

–College of Charleston, African Literature Association conference (including “I Have Known Rivers” ceremony)

–College of Charleston, “African American Belonging and Tourism Justice” lecture

–PURE Theatre, The Mountaintop

April 2013—College of Charleston/Circular Church, Fisk Jubilee Singers

–Ella Baker Day symposium

–College of Charleston, “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” reading

–Lecture by Edna Medford at 77th Annual Meeting of the University of South Carolina’s South Caroliniana Society

–Preservation Society, Thomas Mayhem Pinckney Alliance Reception

–Preservation Society, Modern Civil Rights Era site marker unveiling

–Charleston, Charleston Area Justice Ministry kick-off event

May 2013—Columbia, The Institute for Museum and Library Services (IMLS) “Lift Every Voice” forum on collecting, archiving, preserving and teaching the Civil Rights movement

May/June 2013—Mount Pleasant, Sweetgrass Cultural Arts Festival

–Circular Church/Piccolo Spoleto Festival, Becoming Harriet Tubman

July 2013—Reenactment of Assault on Fort Wagner

–Fort Sumter/Fort Moultrie Trust, Fort Wagner panel discussion

–City of Charleston, Unveiling of plaque commemorating USCT role in Assault on Fort Wagner

August 2013–Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music and Movement Festival 2013

–College of Charleston, Exhibition in honor of WEB Du Bois

–College of Charleston, Commemoration of March on Washington

–Slave Dwelling Project, overnight stay at College of Charleston

–Avery Center, “Unenslaved” exhibition, paintings by Jonathan Green

– Preservation Society, S.H. Kress historic site marker unveiling

September 2013— Claflin University, “From Brown (1954) to Brown (1963) and Beyond:  Challenges of Advancing Educational Equity in South Carolina” symposium

–Preservation Society, Progressive Club historic site marker unveiling

–University of South Carolina, Desegregation Commemoration (including  appearances by Andrew Young, Nikky Finney, et al.)

–McKissick Museum, “If You Miss Me at the Back of the Bus” exhibition

–College of Charleston/Middleton Place, Lowcountry Rice Culture forum

October 2013—Preservation Society, Hospital Workers’ Strike historic site marker unveiling

– Emanuel AME Church, Charleston, Passages art show and sale

November 2013—College of Charleston, Gettysburg Address panel discussion

–Avery Center, Slavery at USC presentation

–Penn Center, Annual Heritage Days Celebration, “Eyes Still on the Prize” symposium

–SC State, Civil Rights: Then, Now, and When…?

 Jubilee Project forthcoming events

2014 Brown at 60/ Civil Rights Act at 50

2014    Slave Dwelling Project conference, Savannah, GA

2015 Decoration Day at 150

2016 Port Cities and Public Memory conference

2017 50 Years of Desegregation at College of Charleston

2018 Reconstruction Revisited: South Carolina’s Progressive Constitution (1868)

Filed under: Jubilee Project

150th Anniversary of the Gettysburg Address

At this point, we have posted quite a few videos of people performing the Gettysburg Address. But with today as the anniversary of Lincoln’s speech, we thought Johnny Cash’s more musical interpretation makes for a nice soundtrack to accompany some facts about the Gettysburg Address.

  1. Lincoln DID prepare for his speech. Despite the contrary popular myth, Lincoln had begun researching and drafting his speech before leaving Washington D.C. While he only had a few weeks to prepare, most scholars agree that he did not wait until the train ride to begin considering his remarks.
  2. Lincoln delivered his remarks to a crowd of 15,000 people.
  3. William R. Rathvon is the only known person of that crowd of 15,000 to leave a recording detailing his experience, including a recitation of the address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU6UacteZus
  4. While there are five known manuscripts for the Gettysburg Address, they all contain slight variations so we don’t really know what Lincoln said exactly (but we have a pretty good idea). Most scholars follow the Bliss manuscript as the standard.
  5. Lincoln was not the only person delivering a speech that day; Lincoln was not even the headliner. That honor went to Edward Everett who spoke for two hours that day. Lincoln spoke for a little over two minutes; the standard version of the speech runs to only 272 words.

Filed under: Jubilee Project