Postcards from Middleton Place: UWI History Graduates in South Carolina

Postcards from Middleton Place: UWI History Graduates in South Carolina

By, Dr. Tara Inniss 

The Department of History and Philosophy is immensely proud of its graduates as they continue the critical work of making Caribbean history and heritage relevant for new generations of Caribbean people. Our distinctive heritage can help Caribbean people learn about and appreciate the vast connections that our corner of the globe shares with so many regions around the world.

Kakiya Doyle and Gloria Sandiford

For the past two summers, graduates of the Department of History and Philosophy's postgraduate programmes have availed themselves of a unique opportunity to shadow curators and heritage managers at one of South Carolina's premiere heritage tourism attractions. Invited to participate in the 4-week programme, both Dr. Gloria Sandiford and Ms. Zakiya Doyle conducted study visits to Middleton Place (www.middletonplace.org) with the assistance of the site’s Vice President and Chief Operations Officer, Mr. Tracey Todd.

Dr. Gloria Sandiford was the first UWI Cave Hill graduate intern at Middleton Place in 2013. She is a PhD graduate in History whose doctoral thesis examined Georgetown's modern dilemmas with the interpretation and preservation of its colonial heritage in Guyana. This past summer, Ms. Zakiya Doyle, a graduate of the MA Heritage Studies programme who now teaches at The St. Michael School in Barbados, was selected to follow Gloria's lead and was the second CARICOM national to spend some time on one of South Carolina's former rice plantations.

The historical connections between South Carolina and Barbados date back to the 1670s when a group of Barbadian settlers and their enslaved workers re-settled in the present-day Carolina Lowcountry around the port city of Charleston, South Carolina. The connection is encapsulated in the history of the Middleton family and its progenitor, Edward Middleton, who emigrated from England to Barbados in the mid-17^th century. In 1678, he moved to South Carolina after receiving large land grants near Goose Creek. Successive generations of Middletons and their slaves continued to inhabit the area. Within a century, the family became one of the wealthiest landowners in South Carolina, owning in excess of 50,000 acres and 800 enslaved persons. The Middletons became one of South Carolina’s most prominent families and during the Civil War (1861-65) some members of the family fought as unionists and others in defence of the secessionist cause.

Begun in 1741, Middleton Place was the headquarters of the prominent Middleton family and today it contains America’s oldest landscaped gardens, an important House Museum and an outdoor living history museum called the Plantation Stableyards. Well entrenched in the history of the United States, Middleton Place was the home to one of the signatories to the Declaration of Independence, Arthur Middleton (1742-87). Providing some insights into the living history of the former plantation, several re-enactments and museum displays take visitors back into time to experience the working life of the stableyards where enslaved Africans once worked as fieldhands and artisans.

Both graduates have produced reports of their experience at Middleton Place and will present their observations at a special History Forum seminar entitled, “Postcards from Middleton Place: UWI History Graduates in South Carolina.” 

Oak Tree at Middleton Place, South Carolina

Gloria’s visit included several tours of the property, including an evaluation of its landscape and outdoor living history. Reporting that the enslaved experience and South Carolina’s rice history’s African connection were integrated into the tour script, Gloria found that the tour of the stableyard was “edifying.” She further related that the tours interpreting the heritage of enslaved Africans were engaging and brought the experience to life. Gloria’s visit took her to other heritage sites such as the Old Slave Mart Museum, Aiken-Rhett House Museum, Charleston Museum and First Baptist Church. Of her informal education during her stay, Gloria says, “I was totally bowled over by the friendliness I encountered on the streets and shops of Charleston… I must confess I fell in love with the city of Charleston.” She found greater connections with her hometown of Georgetown, Guyana than with Bridgetown, Barbados: “Just like Charleston, Georgetown is low-lying, prone to flooding and protected by a sea wall.” The street layout with its tree-lined sidewalks and wooden architecture was reminiscent of Georgetown at the turn of the 20^th century.

Middleton Place, South Carolina 

Zakiya’s visit was spent shadowing specialists who look after the gardens and the museum’s collections to ensure their safekeeping and preservation. She was impressed with the meticulous management of the site but was particularly struck with the number of teaching materials available for teachers and students visiting the property: “As a teacher I have learned that having this kind of information beforehand is important as it prepares you to be engaging and knowledgeable about what is taking place during the tour… and introduce lessons related to the field trip in the classroom.” Zakiya believes the internship was a “fantastic” opportunity which should help her to integrate authentic learning experiences in the classroom.

Drawing on experience gained from UWI’s history and heritage programmes, both Gloria and Zakiya made recommendations to improve the visitor experience at Middleton Place. Zakiya, for example, recommended that more feedback mechanisms for visitors be introduced and indicated that greater representation of the role of African women in rice processing techniques was needed. Mr. Tracey Todd, the internship coordinator, has been most impressed with the knowledge and expertise of our graduates and is looking forward to continuing the programme so that the Barbados-Carolina connection can be maintained to provide an arena for exchange and development.

The Department of History and Philosophy is committed to ensuring that our graduates continue to hone their skills as they prepare for the 21^st century global job market. History and Philosophy graduates continue to be sought after as participants in heritage internship schemes such as these and in the workplace as educators, heritage practitioners, policy analysts, and researchers in a number of career paths in history and heritage and much further afield -- in law, journalism, finance, banking, and international relations. We hope to share some more postcards from our global graduates in the near future.