» Johns Island Field School Listening Sessions in August 2022
Funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation through the University of Virginia and the Vernacular Architecture Forum to sponsor and support summer field schools that will focus on African American places and engage Black communities, scholars, and students.
The first school will be held May 22- June 9, 2023.
Avery Research Center’s Involvement with the school
Members of the Avery Research Center staff and faculty are involved in the planning, promotion, curriculum development, and teaching of the sessions.
Aaisha Haykal, Georgette Mayo, Erica Veal and Tamara Butler will teach about archival research and interpretation using materials at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture.
Who else is involved in the school?
Mary Jo Fairchild will give an overview of oral history and discuss past projects ethically working with communities to capture firsthand accounts of place. Willie Graham will offer a workshop on architectural photography. Robert Greene and Victoria Smalls will present on the historic context of the sites: Smalls focuses on the Reconstruction Era and Greene on the Civil Rights Era. With Jobie Hill and Amalia Leifeste, field school students will learn how to record and analyze the physical fabric of the buildings through measured drawings and building inspection. Jon Marcoux will guide field school students in mapping and landscape analysis of Johns Island. The field school will also have ‘community educators’ who speak with field school students about lived experiences and stories past to them related to the places of study on Johns Island.
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