For the past 15 years, Joe McGill has been sleeping in former slave dwellings throughout the United States. His adventures are now chronicled in the book Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery. Join us at the Horry County Museum at 1 PM on Saturday, July 19th as McGill discusses why this simple act is still being requested by historic sites of enslavement.
Joseph McGill, Jr., is the founder of the Slave Dwelling Project. By arranging for people to sleep in extant slave dwellings, this project has brought much needed attention to these often-neglected structures that are vitally important to the American built environment. He has conducted over 250 overnights in approximately 150 different sites in 25 states and the District of Columbia. He has interacted with the descendants of both the enslaved communities and of the enslavers associated with antebellum historic sites. He speaks with school children and college students, with historical societies, community groups, and members of the public.
Since 2016, McGill has expanded the Slave Dwelling Project to offer a program of living history called “Inalienable Rights: Living History Through the Eyes of the Enslaved.” The Project has conducted 7 conferences since 2013. Mr. McGill was a field officer for the National Trust for Historic Preservation, working to revitalize the Sweet Auburn commercial district in Atlanta, GA and to develop a management plan for the Mississippi Delta National Heritage Area.
Mr. McGill served as the Executive Director of the African American Museum located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He is also the former Director of History and Culture at Penn Center, St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Penn School was the first school built during the Civil War for the education of recently freed slaves.
Mr. McGill appears in the book Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horwitz. He is also a member of the South Carolina Humanities Council Speakers Bureau.
This event will be held at the Horry County Museum located at 805 Main Street, Conway, S.C. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call 843-915-5320 or email hcg.museum@horrycountysc.gov. For more information about our programs, visit the museum website at www.horrycountymuseum.org.