CLAW History
In 1994, the College established the Program in the Carolina Lowcountry and the Atlantic World to promote scholarship on the Lowcountry, the Atlantic World, and the connections between the two, to strengthen the College’s instructional program, and to promote public understanding of the region and its place in a broader international context.
What's New?
CLAW Appoints New Director
Dr. Simon Lewis is stepping down as Director of the Program in Carolina Lowcountry & Atlantic Studies (CLAW). Simon has served as the director or co-director of the CLAW program for the last seven years and has been affiliated with the program for more than a decade. During that time, it has hosted more than a dozen academic conferences, participated in numerous cultural heritage grants, and sponsored countless lectures and exhibits. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Simon for his work and dedication in building the CLAW program into a national leader in public programming, research, and community outreach. Although he will be taking a well earned break on sabbatical next year, Simon has agreed to stay on as Associate Director.
We would also like to announce that, effective July 1, Dr. John White will take over as the Director of CLAW. A member of the library faculty, John is the project Director of the Lowcountry Digital Library. He earned his Ph.D. in History from the University of Florida in 2006. His book, Forging a New Consensus: White Resistance and Desegregation in South Carolina, 1944-1964,is under contract with the University of South Carolina Press.
Hines Prize: Call for Manuscripts
Do you have a manuscript in hand or in preparation that would fit the scope of our book series? Do you know others who do?
If your manuscript is for a first book you should consider entering it for the competition for the fourth biennial award of the Hines Prize given to the best first book relating to any aspect of the Carolina Lowcountry and/or the Atlantic World.
The prize carries a cash award of $1,000 and preferential consideration by the University of South Carolina Press for the Program's book series.
The Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Book Series
Next Deadline: May 1, 2011
For Students:
Student Research Travel Grants (click for information)
For Educators:
Are you looking for books, websites and information about the Transatlantic Slave Trade? Visit our extensive bibliography and links pages.
UNESCO’s African Passages
In 2004, the Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project (TST) of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) encouraged each participating member state to develop a “Site of Memory” website about their region as an educational resource for teachers and other educators around the world. An important aim of UNESCO’s Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project is the preservation and protection of places of memory related to the Slave Trade. Over 100 schools in 23 nations around the Atlantic World participate in this project.
A “site of memory” is a contemporary geographic or physical location with cultural, spiritual, or historic elements that can be interpreted to teach some or all of the themes of the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It can include buildings, the natural environment or the site of a significant event.
UNESCO’s African Passages is intended to be a prototype “Site of Memory” website. Focusing on the Ashley River Historic District of the Lowcountry surrounding Charleston, South Carolina, it explores the journey of Africans from freedom to slavery, the transformation of the landscape and development of wealth generated by the work of enslaved Africans, and the surviving traditions of those individuals in contemporary South Carolina.
UNESCO’s African Passages is a multimedia presentation and demonstrates not only the past contributions of enslaved people but reveals as well the enduring legacy of those contributions—in people, in music, in naming practices, in the built environment—as part of our effort to reveal the "living" past. Created and refined through a collaboration of academic and public historians, historic site and museum professionals, interested individuals and educators from around the world, this website contains spoken word and musical recordings, a series of primary documents—including maps and plantation records, as well as a detailed educational component with lesson plans and additional activities for teachers’ use in integrating the materials into their classrooms.
Related Links:
The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
www.unesco.org
More about UNESCO’s Transatlantic Slave Trade Education Project
www.unesco.org/education/asp/tst
The UNESCO Slave Route Project
www.unesco.org/culture/slaveroute
