Jobie Hill
2021 Fitch Mid-Career Fellow
The Silenced Voices in Interpreting Sites of Slavery
The Silenced Voices in Interpreting Sites of Slavery project (Silenced Voices) is designed to transform public perspectives and set new interpretation standards for historic sites of slavery. The missing voices from contemporary interpretations are those from descendants of enslaved communities. Working at one of the busiest historic sites of slavery in the United States reminded me that for far too long the histories of many non-white Americans have been told to us and not by us; and that the interpretation and preservation of the living and working environments of enslaved people need to be challenged and the methodologies used to research and interpret those environments need to be updated.
Image: “The Wash Place.” Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, HABS AL-23.