African American History Celebration 2016

BOWs celebrated African American History Week during our Spring Break "School's Out" Program from March 28 - April 2, 2016.

During Spring Break Week, children in the Dorchester Terrace/Waylyn neighborhoods of North Charleston experienced ventures about the important contributions and achievements of African Americans from the Civil War forward. This project was an opportunity offered to children, parents and neighbors living in the surrounding neighborhood of BOWs Meeting Place.

The African American History Celebration Week included local history and was funded in part by the Coastal Community Foundation’s UNITY grant. The week started with a first time visit to the Angel Oak Tree Park for all the children and some of the adults. After lunch on Tuesday, we visited the Avery Research Center with Curtis Franks, Curator, Coordinator of Public Programs. The Avery Tour highlighted the African American experience in the Charleston and Tri-County communities.

A special field trip was made on Thursday to Hampton Park where Dr. Kerry Taylor, Professor of History at The Citadel, talked to our group about the history of the park dating back to the Civil War when freed slaves honored fallen Union soldiers. It was surprisingly learned that the National Memorial Day holiday in late May was started in Charleston, SC in honor of the Union Soldiers who lost their lives fighting to end slavery.

The midweek activities also included a balloon workshop making animals presented by Fred Phillips, Wild Ideaz. A two hour session with Gene Furchgott and a staff member, Mike, of Yo Art, taught a photo team of five (5) children to use the iPad app "iMovie" and techniques for taking pictures and making movie presentations with the pictures from our various trips.

The week culminated on Saturday in a trip to the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum in Savannah, GA where our group of 30+ children and their adult companions had special, private tour guides to capture the essence of the African American experience as depicted at the museum about Savannah and other areas during earlier historic African American struggles.