2023 Research Symposium

Day One - Monday, October 9

8:00am - 3:00pm | Registration

Hendrix Center Atrium on 1st floor and Balcony on 2nd floor

Field Trips to Local Historic Cemeteries

All field trips are FREE and included in the symposium registration. Note that Field Trip #1 and Field Trip #2 begin at the same time, so you can only choose to attend one during registration.

9:00am - 10:30am

Field Trip #1 - King’s Chapel AME Church Cemetery and St. Paul’s Episcopal Church Cemetery (FREE)

• King's Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church Cemetery is an active historic cemetery owned by King’s Chapel AME Church. The church was organized in 1865, and the African American cemetery dates to the pre-civil war era. The cemetery holds the remains of enslaved African Americans and veterans dating back to World War II. The stone monument was constructed in 1993 to commemorate the restoration of the cemetery.
• St. Paul's Episcopal Church Cemetery is an active burial site for members and family members of St. Paul's and Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Clemson. St. Paul's was founded in 1819 by a group of wealthy planters, enslavers, and successful merchants and tradesmen living in and around Pendleton Village. There are several historical figures from the heyday of the Upstate's political and social prominence buried in the churchyard, including Charles Coatesworth Pinckney, Floride Calhoun, Anna Calhoun and Thomas Green Clemson. There are four Black burials recorded in the St. Paul's register, all located in the same plot, and all dating between 1866 and 1880.

This field trip takes place outside. Meet in the Hendrix Atrium on the first floor at the entrance near the food court 15 minutes before your departure time. Shuttle transportation is provided to and from the field trip location. Comfortable tennis shoes, sun protection, bug spray, and bottled water are encouraged.

OR

9:00am - 10:30am

Field Trip #2 - New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery and Hopewell Plantation Cemetery (FREE)

• New Hope Baptist Church opened as Little Hope Baptist Church in Clemson, SC, in 1915. Nicknamed "Little Abel," this church was established by former members of Abel Baptist Church in Clemson, SC. In 1918, Reverend Harrison Wiggins renamed the church New Hope Baptist. Since its founding, New Hope Baptist Church has had two location updates in 1938 and 1973. New Hope Baptist Church Cemetery has been neglected for several years, with headstones dating back to the early to mid-1900s. There once was a cemetery marker in the early 1980s denoting the church’s founding, but it is now gone, and the cemetery is not under perpetual care. There are fieldstones, headstones, and unmarked graves that previous surveyors could not reach. In addition, university housing areas have severely impacted the historic Black burial ground.
• General Andrew Pickens established the Hopewell Plantation on the land granted to him for his service in the Revolutionary War. The original cemetery for enslaved African Americans is located near the current Hopewell house off West Cherry Road in Clemson, SC. Subsequent owners of the Hopewell Plantation, including Andrew Pickens, Jr., also enslaved African Americans, who might be buried in the cemetery.

This field trip takes place outside. Meet in the Hendrix Atrium on the first floor at the entrance near the food court 15 minutes before the start of your tour. Shuttle transportation is provided to and from the field trip location. It requires walking on unpaved pathways in a hilly and wooded area. Comfortable tennis shoes, long pants, long sleeves, and hats/head coverings are encouraged. Bottled water, sun protection, and bug spray are also encouraged.

11:00am - 12:00pm

Field Trip #3 – Woodland Cemetery and African American Burial Ground (FREE)

Take a one-hour guided tour of Woodland Cemetery and the African American Burial Ground on Clemson University’s campus. More than 1,000 souls rest in this sacred ground. The Clemson Board of Trustees founded Woodland Cemetery in 1924 as a segregated cemetery for white employees. It is the burial place for over 600 Clemson employees and their families, including past Clemson presidents and professors. Between July 2020 and January 2022, ground penetrating radar (GPR) recovered over 500 unmarked graves in the cemetery. These graves are believed to belong to African and African American enslaved persons, sharecroppers, domestic workers, tenant farmers, convicted laborers, and wage workers and their families who lived and died on the land from the antebellum period through the Jim Crow era.

Meet at the Hendrix Center Atrium 10 minutes before the start of your tour. This tour is outside and requires walking on paved pathways. Comfortable tennis shoes, sun protection, and bottled water are encouraged.

12:00pm - 1:00pm | Lunch Break

Enjoy lunch on your own and network with fellow participants. The Hendrix Center has several dining options. Explore this campus dining map for more information.

Symposium Workshops

Each workshop costs $15, and registration is required. Note that Workshop #1 is three hours long, so during registration you can choose to attend that workshop or the later workshops.

1:00pm - 4:00pm

Workshop #1 - The Do's and Don'ts of Historic Cemetery and Headstone Preservation ($15)

Old Stone Church Cemetery, Clemson, SC

Dr. David Markus, Assistant Professor in the Clemson University Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Criminal Justice
Do you have a historic cemetery and don't know where to start? This hands-on workshop covers how to treat cemeteries as cultural resources and focuses on practical methods for managing historic cemeteries. It will cover laws that protect marked and unmarked burials and how to appropriately record historic cemeteries. This workshop will take place at the historic cemetery at Old Stone Church, Clemson, SC, and include in-field training for recording cemetery landscapes, headstone documentation, and cleaning headstones with historic materials safe biologic solutions.

This workshop takes place outside. Meet in the Hendrix Atrium on the first floor at the entrance near the food court 15 minutes before the start of the workshop. Shuttle transportation is provided to and from the workshop location. Bottled water and sun protection are encouraged.

OR

1:00pm - 2:15pm

Workshop #2 - Genealogy and Cemeteries ($15)

Hendrix Center, Meeting Room B

Deborah Robinson, Genealogist for the Woodland Cemetery and African American Burial Ground Historic Preservation Project at Clemson University
The recovery of more than 500 unmarked graves in 2020 added another dimension to the cemetery project's research. Its primary purpose is to document the cemetery's history and seek multiple means to honor all buried in the graves—with emphasis on all. Including the more than 600 white Clemson employees and their families in marked graves, the genealogy segment of the cemetery project exists to also add additional context by researching the lives and stories of the enslaved African Americans, sharecroppers, domestic and convicted laborers, and wage workers, including their families, who do not have the benefit of headstones. Through careful study and documentation, we're researching lines of descent to identify current family members by gathering genealogical information from vital records, city directories, court records, photographs, publications, oral history interviews, museum collections, and historical societies. The common thread that weaves through all those interred in the cemetery is they each played an integral part in the university's current existence. Clemson Libraries' Special Collections and Archives, including the Black Heritage in the Upper Piedmont of South Carolina Collection, is a valuable resource in our efforts to recognize the lives and contributions of those whose legacies have been overlooked.

2:30pm - 3:45pm

Workshop #3 - The Cemetery at McLeod: Expanding the Family Story ($15)

Hendrix Center, Meeting Room B

Rev. Toby Smith, Cultural History Interpretation Coordinator at the McLeod Plantation Historic Site in Charleston, SC
The cemetery attached to McLeod Plantation on James Island continues to reveal stories of the lives and times of enslaved and free men and women. Most recently, discussion has focused on the likely resting places of the Indigenous. In this workshop, participants will explore this sacred space, examine the history, hear the stories of those who are resting there, and be introduced to a few descendants. We will also examine the cemeteries on James Island and a few other special locations in Charleston.

4:00pm - 5:15pm

Workshop #4 - Scrolling in their Graves: Finding Your Ancestors in the Internet Era ($15)

Hendrix Center, Meeting Room B

Josh Johnson, Site Coordinator at the Agricultural Museum of South Carolina in Pendleton, SC
This workshop will offer tips and tricks to both beginning and advanced genealogists for building a family tree and finding those ancestors who just don’t want to be found. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop to this workshop.

6:00pm | Hendrix Center Ballrooms

Keynote Presentation: Retrospective of My Work

Curtis Patterson, Sculptor

A native of Shreveport, Louisiana, Curtis Patterson understood the importance of working with his hands as the grandson of a master carpenter. His earlier art involved paintings, wood, and ceramic pieces and later evolved into steel statues and cast iron large-scale projects. His previous public works include the Andrew Young Tribute in Atlanta, Georgia, "the Celebration of a Champion" Monument to Jesse Owens at Ohio State University, the "Equine Rhythm" statue at the Texas Horse Park in Dallas, TX, and "Spiral Justice" at the State Capital Grounds in St. Paul, Minnesota.

This Keynote Presentation is free and open to the public.