Webinar: Beyond the Mansion: Creating Bottom-Up Interpretation from Top-Down Narratives

Have you ever visited a site that has a documented history of slavery, but only been told the stories of the white slave-owners who lived there? Do you work at a site like this? The choice we make about the stories we share, or omit, as interpreters and history practitioners, tells its own story. Do you know which narratives you are reinforcing or omitting in your work?

In this webinar, Dr. Ashley Bouknight will share her experience of modifying her site’s mansion tour to create a specialized walking tour focused on the enslaved community. The session will focus on how to gain buy-in for new programs from your institution. Participants will learn about the challenges and triumphs involved in creating bottom-up interpretation from top-down narratives, which they can scale to their own efforts.

Webinar outcomes:

• How to use primary documents/artifacts/photographs to navigate difficult topics
• Obtaining gradual institutional “buy-in” for new interpretive content
• Creating “bottom/up” interpretive materials from existing “top-down” narratives