First Tour

When the tours for the day were accidentally overbooked, I had the awesome chance to come in on one of my days off to conduct my first solo tour!
I led a tour group of older students who were a part of a summer program through the museum. It was wonderful getting to work with a more mature group, as their consistent questions and connective thoughts were fun to engage with.

It turned out that one of the members of the group was Gullah Geechee and recognized much of the history taught in the museum, and was even able to add context to the section dedicated to his home culture! It was an honor and a delight to learn more about the Gullah people— I genuinely think I might’ve learned more on that tour than I could have taught! The story of the Gullah community in Florida especially is constantly overlooked, particularly in the mainstream media.

Most people aren’t familiar with the culture or the people; I believe this is because of lack of interest in stories about African Americans that lay outside of ‘American’ culture and instead are firmly rooted in a different place entirely. I hope that more people are able to learn and engage with this beautiful culture soon!

In regard to my capstone, my ideas are constantly in a state of flux. I am still intrigued by Black artistic spaces, but the history side of my internship has ultimately drawn me closer to questions about the role of historic spaces in African American communities and beyond.