Black History Month at The Citadel

The Why and the How: The Making of the International African American Museum

Tuesday, Feb. 2
3 – 4 p.m.
International African American Museum, 10 Wharfside St., Charleston
Free; closed to the public, open to media

The former leader of the City of Charleston, Joseph Riley Jr., ’64, will lead off The Citadel’s recognition of Black History Month.

Riley, who served as mayor for more than four decades, is now a professor of American Government and Public Policy for his alma mater, the Military College of South Carolina.

On the second day of Black History Month, Riley and Citadel history professor Kerry Taylor, Ph.D., will take their interdisciplinary class — filled with cadets studying History and Political Science — to visit the future site of the International African American Museum (IAAM).

Taylor, who specializes in African American history, is the director of the Charleston Oral History program.

Elijah Heyward, the chief operating officer for the IAAM, will lead the classes on a tour of the Museum, which is still under construction.

“I believe for the students this will be a most meaningful college experience, for they will study a project that is under constriction and learn much about our nation’s long-hidden history,” said Riley. “Upon graduation, in years to come, I have no doubt the Museum will be part of their return visits to Charleston.”

This collaborative course, while offering Citadel cadets the unique opportunity to learn African American history through the establishment of the IAAM, is as much a study of history as it is a study of the making of history, drawing additionally on the disciplines of marketing, finance, architecture and design, civil engineering, public policy, and project management.

Riley and Taylor are also planning a second visit to the Museum later in the semester.

A Black History Month Virtual Presentation of the Freedom House Medics

Tuesday, Feb. 16
6:30 p.m.
Virtual via Zoom (Meeting ID: 935 7497 9093 | Passcode: 825805)  
Free; open to the public

On Saturday, Feb. 16, The Citadel Health Careers Society will host guest speakers author Kevin Hazzard, ’99, and Freedom House medic John Moon for a virtual discussion about the struggles and the triumphs of Pittsburgh’s Freedom House medics, an all-Black group of paramedics who made history as they fought for recognition during the heart of the Civil Rights movement.

Hazzard, a former paramedic and the author of A Thousand Naked Strangers, is currently writing a book about the Freedom House medics.  You can read more about the Freedom House medics in a Hazzard’s feature story “The First Responders,” which appeared in the Atavist Magazine.

The event, which will be steamed via Zoom, is free and open to the public.

Click here to join the Zoom meeting.

Discussion of “Denmark Vesey’s Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy”

Thursday, Feb. 18 and Wednesday, Feb 24
3 p.m.
Virtual, via Zoom
Free; open to the public

Before a monument honoring him was erected in Hampton Park, near The eastern border of The Citadel campus, Denmark Vesey was a formerly enslaved person accused of planning a major slave revolt in Charleston.

In honor of Black History Month — 199 years after his execution — The Citadel is working with the authors of Denmark Vesey’s Garden: Slavery and Memory in the Cradle of the Confederacy, to understand more about Vesey’s life and legacy.

The Daniel Library and the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council will host two virtual discussions of the book. Participants are requested — but not required — to read it before hand; the Daniel Library has several copies and an eBook in its collection.

Earlier in the year, Jaye Goosby Smith, Ph.D., and John Ray Roberts interviewed the authors, Ethan Kytle, Ph.D., and Blain Roberts, Ph.D, both history professors at California State University, Fresno; the recorded interview can be viewed here.

A link to the Zoom meeting will be provided a few days before each session. 

SC Historical Association Annual Meeting and Conference

Friday, Feb. 26 and Saturday, Feb. 27
Virtual via Zoom
$30; open to the public

Multiple speakers at this year’s South Carolina Historical Association (SCHA) will speak on various topics within Black History and Women’s History. One of those speakers will be Citadel professor Felice Knight, Ph.D.

She specializes in African American History with an emphasis on slavery during the early national and antebellum periods.

Knight will chair the first panel, on Saturday at 9 a.m., titled “Telling and Retelling South Carolina Stories.” She will also participate in another panel, starting at 10:30 a.m.; the panel’s theme is “Memory, Conflict, and Present-Day Debates,” and Knight will present on “The Charleston Orphan House and the Institutionalization of Benevolence and Bondage.”

Knight is not the only Citadel connection to the conference — History professor Melanie Maddox, Ph.D., serves as the vice president of SCHA and worked to organize the conference.

SCHA was founded in 1931 to help enhance the teaching and study of all areas of history. The association has a diverse membership that includes university professors, graduate students, archivists, public historians and even park rangers.

Other events in February

Fifth German American Business Summit

Feb. 4
10 a.m. – 4:45 p.m.
Virtual via Zoom
Free; open to the public

The 5th annual German-American Business Summit will virtually bring together German companies in the Southeast who are looking to establish stronger ties with the undergraduate education in the area.

The event will include a recruiting session, keynote presentation and panel discussions from business leaders, as well as a virtual networking reception.

No knowledge of German is necessary to attend the summit.

The summit is made possible by the College of Charleston’s German Program, School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs, Career Center, and School of Business, in partnership with The Citadel and Trident Technical College.

Tickets this year are free, though participants are able to provide an additional contribution while registering.

To register or find more information, click here. A link to the Zoom meeting will be provided upon registration.

The Citadel Minority Contractor Information Session

Tuesday, Feb. 16
5:30 – 7 p.m.
The Altman Center on The Citadel campus; Zoom
Free; open to all minority contractors

The Citadel Minority Contractor Information Session will be held from 5:30 – 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 16, in the college’s Altman Center, which is the building at the end of the football stadium facing Fishburne St. The address is 68C Hagood Ave., and there is complimentary parking just outside of the building.

The session is open to all minority contractors in South Carolina.

The college’s Department of Finance and Department of Facilities and Engineering are working together to grow the number of minority contractors the college has as resources to bid on services and projects, including the Capers Hall Replacement Project.

The Citadel will begin demolishing Capers Hall in the summer of 2021. The Capers Hall Replacement Project will cost $68 million. Of that amount, $50 million will go toward construction.

Registration for in-person attendance is requested, but not required, by calling Nate Spells, Jr. at (803) 754-3395, extension 316, or by emailing cdi@cdi-sc.com.

The session can be attended virtually by registering at this link.

The information session is being held with several community partners including the Hispanic Business Association Charleston, the National Action Network Southeast chapter and the Charleston Trident Urban League.