Sunday, November 10, 2024

Black History Month: Slave quarters stay a ‘life-changing experience’ for UNCW students

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Students in UNCW’s Public History Program join Joseph McGill Jr., founder of The Slave Dwelling Project, fourth from left, and others outside the Bellamy Mansion slave quarters building, which was the focus of a recent two-day event. Photo courtesy UNCW Public History Program.

Black History Month is a week underway, with events aimed at recognizing the contributions and heritage of African-Americans continuing locally and nationally. But for a group of students at UNC-Wilmington, an opportunity to learn from and immerse themselves in that history came a week in advance of the monthlong observance.

Students in the university’s public history program took part in a two-day, overnight event that saw them spend the night in the recently restored slave quarters building at the Civil War-era Bellamy Mansion. The program was part of The Slave Dwelling Project, a nonprofit initiative started by Joseph McGill Jr., a preservationist and activist.

McGill’s goal is to visit and spend the night in every structure still standing in the country that once housed enslaved people. And while he had stayed at the Bellamy’s quarters before—an unusual building for its condition and urban location—the overnight program, held Jan. 22, was a first-time experience for the history students, one of whom described it as “life-changing.”

“It put a kind of perspective on everything here,” said Caitlin Butler, one of six students who stayed the night in the building. “I want to take away from that and talk to other people and encourage them to learn about slave history.

“African-American students, white students; it doesn’t really matter,” she said. “Everybody deserves to learn about this history. Everybody deserves to learn where they came from.”

Butler was one of several participants who recounted the experience at a panel discussion the following day. Taking part in the discussion, in addition to McGill, were Nana Amponsah, assistant professor of African history at UNCW; Janet Davidson, historian at Cape Fear Museum; and Donyell Roseboro, associate professor of instructional technology and secondary education at UNCW.

Related story: ‘Slave Dwelling Project’ to focus on restored Bellamy building

The speakers emphasized the importance of not only learning about the history but preserving it, as well—a goal of the Slave Dwelling Project, which aims to assist property owners in protecting and preserving those dwellings that remain.

“When we save the buildings, it’s hard to deny the story,” McGill said. “It’s certainly easier to interpret a place that’s there than a sign that says ‘Here once stood…’—if you can get the sign.

The slave quarters building at Bellamy Mansion Museum, which is opening the restored building for tours this Sunday. Photos by Jonathan Spiers.
The slave quarters building at the Bellamy Mansion during the final phase of its restoration. The 19th-century building was reopened to tours last fall. File photo.

“We have been in so much denial of this history that if we can bring up the possibility of getting a sign that said ‘Here once stood,’ we meet resistance,” he said. “So the fact that these places are still here, we need to do our part, all that is within our capabilities, to ensure that they are preserved.

“You students who stayed in the space with us last night: you are now ambassadors,” McGill said.

Bonnie Soper, a first-year graduate student in the program, recounted the experience as a sobering reminder of the lives slaves led and their perspectives on the world. While the Bellamy building was nicer than most, with brick walls and glass windows in the heart of Wilmington, Soper noted the mansion that housed its occupants’ owners loomed large above them—a stark contrast.

“When you’re in the slave dwelling at the Bellamy, the whole night, all you see is the Bellamy Mansion,” Soper said. “And there are no back windows, because they wanted to be able to see their slaves at all times, to be able access them at all times, and it was this 24-7 thing.

“You really get that feeling when you’re there,” Soper said, “because the mansion’s just looming over you, and all you see is it all night. So it made it really concrete and easier to understand.”

And that, Soper said, was the point of the program—providing a perspective she can now share with others.

“What the whole project is about is to bring attention to preservation, and it really did make that concrete for me: how important it is to preserve spaces,” she said. “Because it’s one thing to talk about it, and it’s another thing to see it and go inside of it and understand.”

Following a 10-year restoration, the slave quarters building was reopened to tours last fall and is now used as an educational tool for the Bellamy Mansion Museum. More information about the building, its restoration and public tours is available on the Bellamy’s website.

In addition to the Bellamy, at least one other slave quarters building stands in Wilmington—at the Latimer House on Third Street, currently home to the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society. While the house, built in 1852, is open to tours, the dwelling is a residence and not open to the public.

Other buildings of significance to African-American history are listed in a brochure the City of Wilmington has produced. That brochure, which features such places as Wilmington National Cemetery, City Hall/Thalian Hall and The Wilmington Journal office, can be viewed here.

More information on The Slave Dwelling Project can be found on its website.

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Jonathan Spiers is a reporter for Port City Daily. He can be reached at (910) 772-6313 or jonathan.s@portcitydaily.com. On Twitter: @jrspiers

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