Johnson C. Smith University News June 2017 Students find slavery connection in JCSU-Davidson course Ebony Hill '17 got more of an education than she expected during a joint research course between Johnson C. Smith University and Davidson College this past semester. Ebony, who just graduated JCSU this past May with a bachelor's in business management, and Grace Woodward, a junior sociology major from Davidson College, both signed up for "The Sociology of Beatties Ford Road," which focused on pressing issues concerning the Historic West End/Northwest Corridor and JCSU community. Developed by professors Joseph Ewoodzie of Davidson College, Tiffany Taylor of JCSU and Ron Stodghill of JCSU, the course was based on an old tradition in sociology of scholars focusing their energies on understanding the inner-workings (i.e. education, history and community development) of one section of a city. Ebony and Grace were assigned to the same research group, joining two other students in studying slavery in Mecklenburg County and specifically, Latta Plantation. As they researched, Ebony and Grace found their family names cropping up on related documents and discovered Grace's relatives had held several of Ebony's ancestors in bondage. Ebony's great-great-great grandfather, Robert Caldwell Sr., was owned by Alexander David Caldwell, a cotton planter and politician. Robert's brothers were owned by Grace's fifth-great grandfather, Major John Davidson, a co-signer of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence and owner of Rural Hill plantation in northern Mecklenburg County. "It's been life-changing," Ebony told WCNC TV in a televised interview. "I knew it would be exciting but not in this way, at all," Grace said in the same interview. Through honest, difficult, sometimes vulnerable or awkward conversation, the students addressed their shared history and presented findings and analysis in a powerful, scholarly final project at a mini-symposium held at JCSU May 3, 2017. "This unique class gave new meaning to applied research, taking students from different schools, classrooms and walks of life to work on one project," Edwoodzie said. "It challenged and exposed our own issues, and therefore those of our society." The two schools are both beneficiaries of The Duke Endowment, and JCSU's Smith Institute for Applied Research has been cultivating a curriculum of undergraduate research for years. "I hope to take what I learned and give it to the next generation," said Hill, who added that it's really special to find such historical documentation considering the lack of paperwork that possessed slaves' names. "We got lucky," said the Davidson professor. "The luck is that there were two families who are really interested in genealogy." SANDRA M. PHOENIX HBCU Library Alliance Executive Director Atlanta University Center Robert W. Woodruff Library 111 James P. Brawley Drive SW Atlanta, GA 30314 404-978-2118 (office) 404-702-5854 (cell) http://www.hbculibraries.org/ sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org%3cmailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org>> Honor the ancestors, honor the children. Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/hbculibraryalliance1/ and Twitter https://twitter.com/HBCULibAlliance Check out "PULSE!" The HBCU Library Alliance's News Source! - https://hbculibraryalliance.wordpress.com/