In January 2023, Clemson University’s office of Campus Planning will continue to host architects who will share their vision for memorial development as we prepare to enter into the memorial design phase for the cemetery project later this year.
Mario Gooden. Source: Columbia Global Centers
Mario Gooden will be at Clemson University on January 5, 2023, to discuss his architectural work related to the Woodland Cemetery memorialization efforts. A Clemson Design graduate from the class of 1987, Gooden is the Interim Director of the MArch Program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation (GSAPP), which researches and explores the geospatial aspect of continental Africa and its associated diaspora. Gooden’s previous works include Battiste Residence Hall at South Carolina State University, the Woodson African American Museum in St. Petersburg, FL, the Gerald R. Ford Federal Building and US Courthouse in Grand Rapids, MI, and Hunters Point Shipyard in San Francisco, CA.
Michael Murphy. Source: MASS Design Group
Also, Michael Murphy, Int FRIBA, will visit Clemson University on January 26, 2023, to discuss his architectural work on public memory and memorials. Murphy is a Founding Principal of MASS Design Group, which uses architecture and design to spark social change and justice. Their past works include the National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL, the Gun Violence Memorial Project at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC, and “The Embrace” with Hank Willis Thomas in Boston, MA. Murphy has taught at the University of Michigan, Harvard Graduate School of Design, and Columbia’s GSAPP.
Both of their campus visits will include tours of Historic Properties tours, Woodland Cemetery and African American Burial Ground, a Call My Name campus tour, a visit to the Clemson Area African American Museum, and a presentation of their work for the cemetery team and Campus Planning staff.
Cover Art for PBS’s “Carolina Stories: The Education of Harvey Gantt”
Please join the Woodland Cemetery and Historic African American Burial Ground Preservation Project team on January 31, 2023, at 6PM as we commemorate the 60th anniversary of Harvey Gantt winning a class-action lawsuit to desegregate Clemson University as its first Black student in 1963. The cemetery team will be hosting a viewing of PBS’s “Carolina Stories: The Education of Harvey Gantt” documentary made for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of “Integration with Dignity.” Narrated by actress Phylicia Rashad with featured photographs by Cecil Williams, it tells the story of Gantt’s journey into Clemson from repeated applications for admission to his college graduation in 1965. Following the film, guests are welcome to examine the historical documents from Harvey Gantt’s papers from Clemson Libraries’ Special Collection and Archives. In doing so, they can compare the tangible facts within Clemson’s archives with the celebratory film made almost a decade ago. The event is free and open to the public and will be held within McKissick Theater inside the Hendrix Student Center on the campus of Clemson University.
White flag with a gold ribbon denoting an unmarked grave in Woodland Cemetery.
Because the Pathways Project will temporarily close down Woodland Cemetery at Clemson University in January 2023, the cemetery team would like to bring our free cemetery walking tour to you all virtually during the Spring 2023 semester. The Woodland Cemetery Preservation Project and Historic African American Burial Ground team will present one-hour virtual tours to classes, local organizations, and campus and community groups. With the help of our Creative Inquiry team, we have developed this experiential storytelling tool to share the history of the cemetery, including the recently recovered unmarked burials of hundreds of marginalized people. If you would like us to present, please contact us via our main email address afamburials@clemson.edu or email the Community Engagement Assistant mdrayto@clemson.edu.
By Marquise Drayton, Community Engagement Assistant for the Cemetery Project This post is part of the December 2023 newsletter. Woodland […]
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