You’ve always wanted to camp on the Historic Arkansas Museum grounds. Or at least I have. Thanks to Preserve Arkansas, the Black History Commission of Arkansas, the Arkansas Archeological Survey, the Butler Center for Arkansas Studies and the Arkansas Humanities Council, there will be an opportunity to do just that AND learn about the importance of slave dwellings to the interpretation of African-American history and their role in heritage tourism.
On Friday at 5:30 p.m., libations and samples of the antebellum cuisine of the enslaved will be served; a lecture by Dr. Jodi Skipper of the University of Mississippi on roots tourism in the United States will follow. Then Joseph McGill, the founder of the Slave Dwelling Project and whom people will remember from last year’s “Behind the Big House” event, will give a Fireside Chat with Joseph McGill of the Slave Dwelling Project before bedding down in the Brownlee Kitchen.
A lecture on documenting and preserving slave dwellings and a genealogy workshop will be part of Saturday’s half-day programming.
Prospective campers should RSVP to info@preservearkansas.org. Educators may receive professional development hours. For more information, email rpatton@preservearkansas.org. LNP