Historic Columbus
Columbus, Georgia
Components: Indoor and outdoor interpretive panels; Docent materials; Education program
The Historic Columbus Foundation owns several historic properties including an early trader's log cabin and an antebellum slave cabin. Until recently their slave cabin was poorly furnished and interpreted. Today, Elizabeth Barker, assistant director, says encouraging visitors to move on to the next venue is difficult; they just want to read the interpretive panels or listen to the docents talk about the lives of the enslaved African Americans.
The exhibit panels include titles such as Enslaved Life in Columbus, Where We Lived, and Us Chillun. Another panel uses the words of a former Columbus slave, Mary Gladdy. Out in the garden, an interpretive panel entitled Marster's Big Old Garden tells the story of how slaves received and used various types of food.
We created a brochure about the cabin and also advised the staff about decorating the cabin to re-create a more appropriate historical living space. The addition of relevant furnishings allows visitors to compare the slave cabin settings to those of the main houses.
Another aspect of this project involved creating docent materials for visiting school classes. Educational activities for second- to fourth-graders revolve around a series of pictures of slave children and include follow-up classroom activities. The seventh- to eighth-grade docent-directed activities use the words of former slaves recorded many years later to lead students in an analysis of slavery-related issues. The follow-up classroom activities include a short play and research topics.