Telfair Museums to Present Series of Free Virtual African American History Programs:

 12 Virtual Discussions Are Part of Museum's Multiyear Legacy of Slavery in Savannah Initiative.

Once a month for one year, the museum will host a leading African American history

scholar in a Zoom discussion and Q&A centered around a book that scholar has

written. Topics will include stolen labor, lynching, life in the Jim Crow South,

educational reconstruction, historical black colleges, the formation of the Civil

Rights movement and the NAACP, and more.

 "When we completed the reinterpretation of the Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters

in 2018, we knew the story didn't end in 1840," said Shannon Browning-Mullis,

Telfair's curator of history and decorative arts, who is leading the project.

"Slavery and its lingering effects are still manifesting in our communities today.

We've invited a nationally renowned group of historians to help us understand these

legacies of oppression-it's a small step in working toward justice."

 The 12 programs are free and open to the public. For participants who wish to read

the related books ahead of time, Telfair is partnering with Live Oak Public

Libraries and The Book Lady Bookstore, 6 E. Liberty St., which will have copies

available for checkout and for purchase. Additional library partnerships will be

announced.

The series is part of the museum's multiyear Legacy of Slavery in Savannah

initiative, which also will include a symposium in late 2021, exhibitions of

contemporary works by black artists, community partnerships, and a related

publication from the University of Georgia Press coedited by scholars Melissa Cooper

and Talitha LeFlouria, who are both presenting as part of the virtual series.

Already, Cooper and LeFlouria are working with Savannah residents to collect oral

histories focused on the African American experience here.