Participation Type
Workshop
Session Title
People Not Property:Enslavement Bills of Sale in the Secondary and College Classroom
Session Abstract or Summary
People Not Property: Enslavement Bills of Sale in the Secondary and College Classroom will address the formation of this twenty year project, the potential of its impact on the history of local communities both in the past and the present, and how these primary source documents may be used in secondary and college pedagogy. Currently, some thirteen counties in North Carolina have completed or are in the process of locating these records including Buncombe, Madison, and Iredell Counties. Details of other county records that follow state mandated protocols in the Appalachian Region will also be covered. Participants will also learn how to visit their local Register of Deeds to learn how to access these documents. People Not Property is now a state-wide project managed by the University of North Carolina Greensboro and the Digital Library for American Slavery. UNC Greensboro recently received a grant of $294,000 from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission of the National Archives to pilot this project. When completed, People Not Property: Slave Deeds of North Carolina will include robust metadata, high-resolution images, and full-text searchable transcripts. The goal is for the project to include all former slave holding states by creating a central location for accessing and researching slave deeds from across the Southern United States including Appalachia.
This workshop is related to (at least) these goals of the ASA:
This workshop is related to
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promoting dialogue, teaching, and education as well as exploring regional needs and diverse populations
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engaging ASA members in regional needs and diverse populations
Presentation #1 Title
People Not Property
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Deborah Miles will talk about the genesis of the project beginning in 1999 and current research efforts in states connected to Appalachia as well as their connections to Americans of both African and European heritages.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
Deborah Miles is the recently retired Executive Director of the UNC Asheville Center for Diversity Education Through the work of the Center in K-12 schools, at UNC Asheville, and in the broader community she was instrumental in the creation of 12 local history exhibits including An Unmarked Trail: Stories of African Americans in Buncombe County. It was through that research that the enslavement bills of sale for much of WNC were located.
Presentation #2 Title
People Not Property
Presentation #2 Abstract or Summary
Darin Waters will address issues surrounding the construction of the nation’s collective historical memory, exploring the impact that that memory has on the present and how Bills of Sale for enslaved people add multiple layers to that collective meaning making.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
Darin Waters if an Associate Professor of History and the Executive Director of the Office of Community Engagement at UNC Asheville. He received his doctorate from the University of Chapel Hill in 2012 with a research focus on the history of African Americans in Asheville and western North Carolina. Most recently, Dr. Waters has included research surrounding the construction of nation’s historical memory exploring the meaning that that memory has on the present.
Presentation #3 Title
People Not Property
Presentation #3 Abstract or Summary
Christopher Lawton will speak to innovative ways he works with place-making an historical meaning in relation to primary source documents in the secondary and college classroom.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Christopher Lawton is co-founder and executive director of the non-profit Georgia Virtual History Project through the Willson Center for the Humanities at the University of Georgia. He is also the director of experiential learning and public humanities in the Putnam County Charter School System. His dissertation on antebellum Georgia (UGA, 2011) was awarded the St. George Tucker Society’s Bradford Prize for best dissertation on the U.S. South.
Presentation #4 Title
People Not Property
Presentation #4 Abstract or Summary
Eric Grant will lead a conversation in the use of the documents in the secondary and college classroom including a close read of at least three documents.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Eric Grant is the Secondary English Language Arts and Social Studies Curriculum Specialist for Buncombe County Schools. Formerly a teacher at AB Tech Early College, he worked with colleagues to develop curriculum around using the digital images of Buncombe County Slave Deeds to study primary source documents in the classroom. In 2012 he was the western North Carolina Teacher of the Year.
People Not Property
Deborah Miles will talk about the genesis of the project beginning in 1999 and current research efforts in states connected to Appalachia as well as their connections to Americans of both African and European heritages.
