Day 4: Smooching for the Cause

Well, I'm not really sure it was for THE cause; it was really just because. But that's good enough, right?

In the morning we got a bit of a breakdown of what the intention of the workshop was. There are a lot of folks in the group who teach history at some level, so they probably didn't need it. I think it was more for the likes of me who does not know a lot of this history. So...

We're using this definition of entrepreneur: the pursuit of opportunity beyond one's resources controlled, beyond what one should be able to achieve. This, I'm coming to find out is a large part of the enslaved population, a group who didn't even own themselves! In fact, these folks made something out of less than nothing! Even the "free blacks," which has to be in quotes because even these persons were socially and legally circumscribed. Because "free blacks" were not a threat to a white supremacist society they were tolerated. In fact, it seems that whites used the "free blacks" to prove that there is equality--which is just absurd!

Afterwards we broke up into our smaller groups. We were tasked to produce a 20 minute presentation on a curriculum from the Crafting Freedom web site. Our three goals were to describe the enslaved person, give an overview of the curriculum, and then customize that curriculum in some way. Our group was on task and divided up into three partnerships.

For my part, I had to come up with a historical overview of him, Mr. William Henry Singleton. Mr. Singleton was an amazing man who endured and overcame much, including running home to his mother after being sold and bought, a trip of over 100 miles away. When he was 7! I was picking my nose, crying, and couldn't find my way to the bathroom when I was 7! He fought for the Union Army after escaping from his servitude in the Confederate one. He taught himself to read and write after the war. The list of the impressive deeds of this man just go on.

We came to the conclusion that this man would have been remarkable regardless of how he came to the planet! Here is our presentation.

After a BBQ lunch--who's lucky enough to get barbecued turkey?! Oh yeah!--we went to Burwell School in Hillsborough, NC. The building alone would've been pretty cool because it is so old and pretty. But there was a lot more to see than just the building.

The big house in front of this beautiful little brick schoolhouse was just as pretty! It is amazing to think that it was a boarding house for 10-25 girls per year because it was originally a two bedroom house. It was eventually expanded so that there was a master bedroom added and two rooms downstairs added. Still, it would have been so tight!

The schoolhouse had these adorable slates in there. Yeah. I'll use them, thank you.

Another great thing about the house is that one of the persons to whom this study is molded worked here. Ms. Elizabeth (Hobbs) Keckly came here when she was about 17. She was a dressmaker who eventually had a troop of girls working for her. She was so good at making dresses look good on women that she became really desirable. In fact, she made dresses for both Mrs. Jefferson Davis and Mrs. Mary Todd Lincoln.

The dresses were made up of at least five layers. One of the participants got to dress up in one of the outfits from the mid 19th century. It was no small feet, and it took two other folks to help her get into it! The layers just kept coming, but she didn't even put on all of the the layers that there are! She definitely didn't put on the stockings.

When she was done she asked the docent how much the close weighed. The docent turned it back on her. The girl replied, "Girl, I think I'm a thick 150 now!" We all laughed for a while at that!

I won't lie, there might be something to that modesty thing that can drive a guy crazy. Maybe it was the nice porch or the beautiful weather or just a pretty woman. A boy just couldn't resist a smooch.

Ms. Keckly was absolutely an enslaved person who crafted her freedom, as well as that of her son. Beyond that, Keckly went on to teach women to design and sew so that they could find their own independence. Another truly remarkable person!

An interesting project that is going on is that the Smithsonian gave details of a Keckly dress that was made for Mrs. Lincoln so that it could be reproduced by a dressmaker here and put on display at the museum. The designer is keeping to the design as much as she can, but she is using machines to do the sewing.

That is kind of disappointing, I think. Why go through all of that. It would be much more impressive to do it the way Keckly originally did. The woman who is doing the project said that she just is incapable of doing it that way. Well...

The grounds are really nice, too. There is a nice garden where the kitchen building used to be; they had separate buildings so that there houses wouldn't burn down if the kitchen did. After the house was renovated the kitchen was moved inside. There was the most beautiful smelling gardenia bush. I love gardenia. At times jasmine is my favorite, but not this one!

After we were done I went for a nice run. It was a street route, but there were few cars. It was a pretty neighborhood once I got out of the apartment complex. It was hot and wet and sunny. Perfect for running!

I stayed up until after midnight having a great conversation about religion and love and life. There was so much disagreement, even to the point where one woman thought me incredulous. But there was so much empathy and compassion between us all that I definitely grew from the experience. I didn't see that coming!