Preliminary Schedule
2015 National Underground Railroad Conference Schedule
June 16 – 20, 2015 Hilton Head, South Carolina
Into the light: Striving for Freedom and ‘an equal chance in the Battle of Life’
Hilton Head Island Marriot
1 Hotel Circle
Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
Tuesday, June 16
6:30-8:30 pm
Wednesday, June 17
7:30-8:00 am
8:00-4:30 pm
2:00-5:30 pm
6:30-8:30 pm
Thursday, June 18
8:00-5:30 pm
8:00-6:30 pm
8:00-9:00 am
9:00-11:30 am
Hilton Head Island Community Event
Conference tour registration and check-in
Conference Tour 1 - “Underground Railroad Tour”, Hilton Head Island and
Savannah
Conference registration and Exhibit Hall set-up
Opening reception, Marriot
6:30 - 8:30 pm
Conference registration
Exhibit Hall
Continental breakfast
Opening Convocation
Plenary: Dawn of Freedom: Mitchelville Then and Now
(Break from 10:15 – 10:30)
Luncheon
Concurrent Session 1: Surviving in Place: Gullah Geechee Culture in the
Transition
Concurrent Session 2: In Pursuit of Justice: Two Veterans Families and the
Experience of Freedom
Keynote Address: to be announced
Concurrent Session 3: Stepping into the Light: Emancipation and Freedom at
two South Carolina Plantations
Concurrent Session 4: Freedom Seekers by the Numbers: A Data-Based Profile
of Maryland
Banquet
Friday, June 19
8:00 am
7:30 am – 4:30 pm
7:30 – 8:30 am
8:30 - 10:00 am
Conference registration
Exhibit Hall
Continental Breakfast
Concurrent Session 5: Places of Freedom, Places of Refuge: Preserving
11:45-12:45 pm
1:00 – 2:30 pm
2:45-3:45 pm
4:00 -5:30 pm
10:15 – 11:45 am
12:00 – 1:00 pm
1:15 pm -2:15 pm
2:30 - 3:30 pm
3:45 - 5:15 pm
and Interpreting Pre-Civil War African Communities
Concurrent Session 6: Dare to Resist: Individuals and the Power of Conviction
Concurrent Session 7: ”They Learn Very Fast”: Education As A Tool of
Empowerment
Concurrent Session 8: Against the Odds: Independent Women Claiming Space
in a White Man’s World
Luncheon
Four Corners: An Opportunity for Informal Networking Conversations
 Organizational Empowerment & Funding Strategies
 Preservation: Bricks and Mortar
 Telling the Story
o Heritage Tourism
o Interpretation: Programs and Exhibits
 New Lines of Research
o Reconstruction: NPS National Historic Landmark Theme Study
o Underground Railroad in Time and Space
Keynote: to be announced
Concurrent Session 9: Uncovering History: Archeology, Interpretation, and
Filling the Gaps in the Documentary Record
Concurrent Session 10: No Place Like Home: Living Freedom in African
American Communities
6:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Explore Old Town Bluffton
Saturday, June 20
7:30 -8:00 am
8:00 am – 7:00 pm
Conference tour registration and check-in
Conference tour 2 – “Legacy Tour” Charleston and Beaufort