The Medallion, Volume 48, Number 5-6, May/June 2011 Page: 3
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Challenging History
THC Keynote Speaker Promotes Undertold Heritage with Slave Cabin ProjectJoseph McGill, Jr., sleeps in slave
cabins. It is not a comfortable
experience (physically or emotionally),
but he believes that in life,
greater challenges bring
greater rewards.
McGill works as a
program officer with the
National Trust for Historic
Preservation's Southern
Field Office in Charleston,
South Carolina. Like many
preservationists, his
free time is spent as an
advocate, heritage traveler, and
history junkie.
During the National Trust's
October 2010 conference in Austin,
Texas Historical Commission (THC)
staff attended McGill's session about
his Slave Cabin Project. McGill has
been sleeping in slave cabins in
South Carolina and Alabama to draw
attention to these seldom-preserved
structures. During his site visits,
he engages host communities in
broader discussions about heritage,
preservation, and culture, and what it
means to save the real places that tell
the real stories.
McGill's passion for connecting
with history, experiencing the power
of place, and sharing those stories
with a broader audience resonated
with the attendees' collective
preservation mission. As a result,
he was asked to serve as keynote
speaker for the THC's 2011 Annual
Historic Preservation Conference
in April. In addition to featuring the
important work associated with
the Slave Cabin Project, THC staff
determined it would be an opportunity
for preservationists to discuss being
more inclusive when telling their
stories and preserving their resources.
"Part of the problem, is that
we've been teaching people to tell thehappy part of the story, while the pa
that are shameful or less significant
become footnotes," McGill said in
his keynote speech. "I
decided to use all my
pent-up energy about this
not to complain, but to
do something. I became
the voice of these for-
gotten buildings."
In anticipation of
i McGill's arrival, THC staff
searched for standing
slave quarters in Texas
to contribute to the collection of his
experiences. Ravaged by weather an
neglect, it appeared most of the slav
cabins on Texas plantations had bee
demolished over time. However, two
sites were identified and selected for
McGill's March 2011 visit.
Days before his conference
keynote address, McGill slept in two
significant examples of slave cabins
in Texas-the Egypt Plantation in
Wharton County and the Seward
Plantation in Washington County. Bc
plantations are owned and cared for
descendants of the original plantatio
families. Hank and Peggy Ward,
owners of the Seward Plantation, an
Bud Northington, owner of the Egyp
Plantation, are deeply committed
to preserving their respective
THC annual
conference keynote
speaker Joseph
McGill spent
the night in
this cabin on the
Egypt Plantation
northwest of
Houston as
part ofhis Slave .-
Cabin Project.rts plantations and the history each
property holds.
These owners, like McGill,
recognize that without these structures,
the stories of enslaved African
s Americans are inevitably threatened
with dismissal or are forgotten.
McGill's visit to Texas brought home
the rarity of this building type within
the statewide inventory of cultural and
historic resources.
"With this in mind, our challenge
is to find these important places
and to accurately and eloquently tell
these important stories," says Bratten
d Thomason, director of the THC's
e History Programs Division. "The
n reward is establishing a connection to
history that elevates our self-worth and
r respect for others."
For more information on McGill's
Slave Cabin Project and his experience
in Texas, visit the Statewide
Preservation Plan for Texas online at
www.preservationconnection.com. This
website can also be used as a resource
)th for sharing information about existing
by structures in Texas still tied to slavery.
n
This article was written by Amy Hammons and
d Tracey Silverman, program committee co-chairs
t for the THCs 2011 annual conference.
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Texas Historical Commission. The Medallion, Volume 48, Number 5-6, May/June 2011, periodical, May 2011; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth309007/m1/3/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Commission.