Inquiry Question: Why have African American freedom movements been omitted and not adequately addressed in social studies and other content areas?

 

9:00-9:45         Participant Introductions and Overview of Institute

 

Participants will engage in a group discussion on the need for the institute, what is working in their classrooms, where there are still gaps in African American studies, and their expectations of Institute. Administer a short survey to assess knowledge and preparation to teach African American culture, the Freedom Movement, and related SC historical sites. Distribute list of standards and resource packages.

 

9:45-10:15       South Carolina Social Studies Standards Dr. Chris Turpin

 

10:20-11:20     Connecting African and African American History and Culture/Principles of Black Education and Freedom Movements

 

Dr. Gloria Boutte 11:20-11:35     Break and Snacks

 

11:35-12:40    Planning Critical Inquiry Instructional Plans Using Social Studies Standards Dr. LaGarrett King, University of Missouri

 

12:40-1:45       Lunch—(Delivered)

 

1:45-2:45         Blacks and Freedom: From Enslavement to the Present Dr. LaGarrett King, Assistant Professor of Social Studies Education, University of Missouri

 

2:45-3:00         Snacks
Move to Museum of Education

 

3:00-4:00         Dr. Jon Hale—Freedom Schools

 

4:00-4:45         Freedom Songs: From Enslavement to the Present Dr. Evelyn Bethune (Granddaughter of Mary McCleod Bethune)

 

4:45-5:30 Small Group Discussion—Reflections on how information from today can be used. Revisit inquiry question and Social Studies standards. Day One Closing & Overview of Tuesday (Assisted by Drs. Boutte, Jenkins, King, and Bethune)

 

5:45-7:15         Dinner (Harambee —Ethiopian restaurant)—Learn about collaborations between Ethiopians and Black American student movements from the turn of the 20th century to the aftermath of Ethiopia’s 1975 revolution

Inquiry Question: In what ways were South Carolinians involved in Freedom Movements in the 20th and 21st centuries?

 

9:00-10:00       Dawn Dawson-House, SC Department of Parks, Recreation, & Tourism Negro Motorist Green Book—Focus on Upstate Area

10:00-11:00     Freedom School speaker—Carol Singletary 11:00-11:15 followed by snacks

11:15-12:15     Out of the Box in Dixie: Conversation with Cecil Williams Moderated by Dr. Toby Jenkins

 

12:15-1:30       WORKING LUNCH

Strategies of Resistance, Survival, and Preservation in the South from Slavery to Present: Dr. Bobby Donaldson, Associate Professor of History & African American Studies, University of South Carolina

 

1:30-3:30         Columbia SC 63’s Main Street Walking Tour and USC Library Exhibit Tour Columbia’s Main Street was the stage for a number of defining moments during the Civil Rights Movement of 1963. A young domestic worker was ejected from a city bus for trying to exit off the front instead of the back at the corner of Main and Washington; sit-ins occurred regularly at lunch counters like Kress near the corner of Main and Hampton; and marches and protests filled the SC State House grounds at the state’s seat of government, which anchors Main Street.

Capturing and sharing a city’s story not only allows for locals to better understand their community’s historical significance, but gives visitors the opportunity to see below the surface and experience a destination from the inside out.

Columbia SC 63’s Main Street Tour takes visitors on a journey through some of Columbia’s Civil Rights noteworthy and moving stories. Currently, seven markers serve as reminders of pivotal incidents that occurred along Main Street. As Columbia SC 63 continues to uncover more stories, additional markers will be added in an effort to remember, but not repeat.

 

4:00                  Work session—initial inquiry ideas and planning

 

5:00                  Dinner on your own

 

Inquiry question: What can we learn about the roles that African American women have/do played/play in Freedom Movements?

 

8:00 Meet at USC and travel to Robert Mills where tour begins. 8:15-9:15         Visit the Modjeska Simkins House

Built between 1890 and 1895, this one-story cottage was home to Modjeska Monteith Simkins, considered "the matriarch of Civil Rights activists of South Carolina," from 1932 until her death on April 5, 1992.

Note of Interest: Ms. Simkins was the aunt of Dr. Henrie Montieth Treadwell, the first African American student admitted to USC in 1963. 

 

9:30-10:30       Visit the Mann-Simons Site

While only one house stands today, the Mann-Simons Site historically was a collection of commercial and domestic spaces owned and operated by the same African American family from at least 1843 until 1970. Midwife Celia Mann and boatman Ben Delane made this site their home by the early 1840s. Members of Columbia's small population of free people of color, the couple challenged social norms at a time in which most Africans and African Americans were enslaved. Successive generations of their family negotiated the eras in which the capital city evolved from Jim Crow into the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s. Threat of demolition in 1970 galvanized a grassroots movement that saved the remaining structure, which opened as a house museum in 1978.

 

11:00-12:00       Travel to Mary Mcleod Bethune House; Mayesville, SC. Boxed Lunch

 

1:00-4:00         Dr. Evelyn Bethune will provide an interactive tour and lecture. Mr. Titus Duren will also discuss segregated schools.

 

5:00                 Arrive at USC

 

5:00                 Dinner on your own

Inquiry Question: How has change been a constant theme in African American Freedom Movements?

 

8:00am            Meet at USC to Depart for the Penn Center 11:00am          Arrive at Penn Center

 

11:30               Lunch

 

1:30-3:30        Penn Center Museum and Brick Baptist Church

Begun in 1862 as Penn School, an experimental program to educate Sea Island slaves freed at the beginning of the Civil War, it is the oldest and most persistent survivor of the Port Royal Experiment. The first principals were Northern missionaries Laura Towne and Ellen Murray. Both spent the next forty years of their lives living among and educating former Sea Island slaves, the Gullah people of the South Carolina Low Country. During the 1960s, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference chose Penn as a training site for retreat and strategic planning for the Civil Rights Movement. Today, it fosters a vision of shared culture, preserved history and attainable world harmony. Its mission is to preserve the unique history, culture and environment of the Sea Islands through serving as a local, national and international resource center, and by acting as a catalyst for the development of programs for self- sufficiency.

For several decades, the Penn Center has served as a planning, mobilization and educational retreat for many political groups, schools, and educators. Its residence on St Helena Island serves as both a respite and quiet thinking space and a source of historical memory and inspiration.

Brick Baptist Church’s heritage is woven into the rich tapestry of African American culture and history of the South Carolina Sea Islands. Built by slaves in 1855, Brick Baptist Church is the oldest church on St. Helena Island. The two-story building is constructed of mortar and bricks built around a spacious sanctuary. An open balcony was used for the slaves who stood during the services, always out of view of the white plantation owners who sat on the lower level.

In 1861, after the day of “big gun shoot”, the fall of Port Royal and the insurgence of the Yankees signaled the end of a brutal era in American history—the end of the Civil War and slavery. Later when the government sold abandoned plantations and land holdings to freed slaves, Brick Baptist Church was turned over to 8000 former slaves as their place of worship. There were more than 1000 members, with more being converted and baptized every three months.

The legacy of Brick Baptist Church is closely connected to historical Penn School, established as one of the first schools for freed slaves. In October 1862, Laura M. Towne and Ellen Murray, Penn School co-founders, opened their school at The Oaks Plantation with nine students, and later moved to Brick Baptist Church when enrollment increased to 132 students. Charlotte Forten, the first African-American teacher, taught at Penn School until 1864.

For more than a century and a half, Brick Baptist Church has endured and prospered through the word of God. The church has also served as a catalyst for change and a cornerstone of religious and family values. Brick Baptist Church is focused on becoming a teaching church, offering religious instruction for youth, establishing foreign missions, building community outreach, increasing membership, designing a scripturally-based vision, and endeavoring to spread the gospel throughout the world.

 

3:30-5:00         Black History & Cultural Tour of the Island & Visit to the Rosenwald School (snacks served on bus tour)

Two-hour narrated travel through hidden paths of the subtropical traditional landscape. Fourth generation Gullah Family members who relate first hand stories of traditional food ways, family life and the Gullah language, will guide you. Gullah Family Compounds, Old Debarkation Point (used before the island’s connection to the mainland), Old One-room School House, Plantation Tabby Ruins, Historic Marker of First Freedom Village, the Emancipation Tree, and Old Praise House are all included on the tour.

 

5:00                 Gullah Island Dinner at the Penn Center

 

7:00                 Leave for Columbia

 

9:30                 Arrive in Columbia

Inquiry Question: How can we synthesize and apply the information and experiences from the institute to teach about African American Freedom movements in substantive, engaging, and culturally relevant ways?

 

9:00-10:00       Photo Elicitation as Social Action Pedagogy: Connecting the Present & Past through Images Dr. Toby Jenkins, Associate Professor in Curriculum and Instruction, USC

 

11:00-12:00     Workgroup Instructional Planning Session: Participants will continue to work through their instructional plans. Participants will be guided by Dr. King and Dr. Boutte who will serve as instructional coaches for refining their inquiry-based instructional plans and ensuring that Social Studies Standards are met. Books, text sets, and resources will be on display in the room.

 

12:00               Working Lunch: Large Group Processing & Lunch: Sharing Plans and Getting Feedback. Participants will share what they have written thus gain feedback, ideas and suggestions from the larger group. We will collaboratively work to ensure each plan is inquiry-based, creative, intentional, and aligned with standards.

 

1:30-4:00         Revisions and Finalizing Plans: Participants will reconvene to incorporate suggestions and feedback and finalize their instructional plans. All participants must submit lesson plans by the end of the day.