Special Field Order No. 15 placard in Madison Square

Special Field Order No. 15 placard in Madison Square

Memorialization of Urban Slavery in Southern Coastal Cities

slavery; memorials

This placard memorializes General WilliamTecumseh Sherman's Special Field Orders No. 15, which would eventually become known as the "Forty Acres and a Mule" promise. In January 1865, Sherman met with 20 black ministers at his headquarters, now known at the Green-Meldrim House. The order would stipulate that blacks would receive land along the Sea Coast Islands of GA, SC, and NC. This placard is across the street from the Green-Meldrim House in Madison Square.

This project was funded by Bernard and Anne Spitzer Travel Fellowship for research projects involving travel abroad and incorporating the study of architecture, landscape architecture, or urbanism.

My goal was to research, witness, and record how each of my chosen Southern port cities has dealt with its past in regards to urban slavery, and to begin making a record of this history. Although all of the locations I visited were major hubs of the American slave trade, these cities remain mostly lacking in admitting their full and complete history. The inaccurate and incomplete narratives, lack of memorials, and white-washed histories designed to appeal to the tourist industry do not tell the stories of the slaves in an unbiased and forthright way. So much of what I witnessed revolved around a very racially divided tourist industry, but I know that change is possible. The story of urban slavery is not just the story of African Americans in the United States, but the story of all of us, and the more we can understand this, the better off we all will be.

Whang, Maura

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Whang, Maura

Architecture and City Planning

T0544

Savannah, GA