MIddleton Place is a historic plantation site just outside of Charleston that has for years told the stories of Africans, African Americans, and Europeans who lived at the site throughout its history, both enslaved and free. Since the early 2000s, the site has begun to engage more with its Black descendent community through reunion events and genealogy services. An NEH SHARP grant in 2021 is helping with pandemic recovery and allowing the site to revamp two of its central exhibitions in order to tell a fuller story of enslavement and deepen that engagement.
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The two exhibitions to be revamped are Eliza’s House, a Freedman’s Cabin constructed in 1870 named after the last person to live there; and the Stableyard, an outdoor space featuring exhibits on crops, such as rice and indigo, and workshops that house blacksmiths, coopers, and other artisans. The new exhibit at Eliza’s House will explore the institution of slavery through the eyes of the enslaved as well as draw attention to the Middleton family’s deep involvement in the slave trade. The centerpiece of the display will include a list of approximately 3,200 names of enslaved people held by the Middleton family from 1739 to 1865. This exhibit will, in part, serve to correct earlier narratives that downplayed the horrors of slavery: “We’re not going to be afraid of the history,” said project director Jeff Neale. The Stableyard, in addition to incorporating hands-on activities into its exhibits, will feature new gardens that showcase the kinds of food and medicinal crops enslaved people would have planted on their own plots. Outdoor exhibits will also feature enslaved watermen, coachmen, and other African Americans whose work and culture helped to shape not only Middleton Place but the Carolina Low Country as a whole.
NEH funding was crucial in financing the extensive research and materials that will make the updated exhibitions come alive. It also allowed Middleton Place to deepen connections with African American descendants of the site; one of whom, Dr. Robert Bellinger, serves as an ongoing consultant and is helping guide interpretation. By including the voices of the descendent community, Middleton Place is able to tell a fuller, more inclusive story of the site and its legacy.