The Georgetown Memory Project with Judy Riffel and Patricia Bayonne-Johnson

05/20/16 • 56 min

Join Genealogist Judy Riffel and Patricia Bayonne-Johnson- a descendant of one of the Georgetown slaves for a discussion of the Georgetown Memory project. The Georgetown slaves were unusual in two ways, according to Georgetown Memory Project Founder Richard Cellini. First, they were baptized by Jesuits and kept the faith; second, they had both first and last names, whereas most slaves only had one name. During her search, the last name Butler stood out to Bayonne-Johnson. Judy Riffel is a professional genealogist with over thirty-five years experience. Based in Baton Rouge, she specializes in Louisiana records and research. Judy has done genealogical and historical research for numerous television shows and documentaries. Her work has appeared on Who Do You Think You Are?, Finding Your Roots, Genealogy Roadshow, The Dead Files, and Killer Profile. She is the lead genealogist in the Georgetown Memory Project Patricia Bayonne-Johnson, a 75-year-old retired biology teacher lives in Spokane, Wash., after growing up in New Orleans and living for 40 years in the San Francisco Bay Area. Today, she volunteers and travels — and in her spare time, researches her past.

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Slaves Waiting For Sale with Maurie D. McInnis

Slaves Waiting For Sale In 1853, Eyre Crowe, a young British artist, visited a slave auction in Richmond, Virginia. Harrowed by what he witnessed, he captured the scene in sketches that he would later develop into a series of illustrations and paintings, including the culminating painting, Slaves Waiting for Sale, Richmond, Virginia. This innovative book uses Crowe’s paintings to explore the texture of the slave trade in Richmond, Charleston, and New Orleans, the evolving iconography of abolitionist art, and the role of visual culture in the transatlantic world of abolitionism. Tracing Crowe’s trajectory from Richmond across the American South and back to London—where his paintings were exhibited just a few weeks after the start of the Civil War—Maurie D. McInnis illuminates not only how his abolitionist art was inspired and made, but also how it influenced the international public’s grasp of slavery in America. With almost 140 illustrations, Slaves Waiting for Sale brings a fresh perspective to the American slave trade and abolitionism as we enter the sesquicentennial of the Civil War. Maurie McInnis is professor of Art History and American Studies at the University of Virginia and will begin as provost at the University of Texas at Austin on July 1. She is the author of several books about art and the politics of slavery, most recently Slaves Waiting for Sale: Abolitionist Art and the American Slave Trade (2011). She also curated, “To Be Sold: Virginia and the American Slave Trade,” an exhibition at the Library of Virginia from Oct. 2014-May 2015.
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Slavery at James Madison's Montpelier with Zann Nelson and Elizabeth Chew

Join Zann Nelson and Elizabeth Chew for a discussion on the following topics: African American research in Virginia: (challenges, what works, successes) Why is it important? How Montpelier's African American heritage project differs from other plantations and how it relates to the ongoing discussions about the Constitution. Zann Nelson is an award-winning freelance writer specializing in African American historical investigations. She is the former president of the preservation nonprofit organization, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield, Inc., the current president of History Quest, co-founder of the African American Heritage Alliance, and is currently the Consultant for “The African Americans of the Montpelier Community Project.” Elizabeth Chew is Vice President for Museum Programs at James Madison's Montpelier. She has worked in the museum field for thirty years, focusing on the interpretation of women's and African American history. At Monticello, where she was Curator for 13 years, she co-organized, with Rex Ellis, the exhibition "Slavery at Jefferson's Monticello: Paradox of Liberty" for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. At Montpelier, she oversees the documentary and archaeological research into the identities and stories of the enslaved people on the plantation.
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