When Emily Varley arrived in Beaufort, SC for a summer internship, she had no idea she’d make a discovery that would change the course of her studies at USC. Her research for the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park led her to a boarded-up Freedman’s cottage associated with both Daniel Simmons, a Black soldier for the Union in the Civil War, and Edith Stokes, a Black woman who lived there for nearly 60 years.
Edith’s granddaughter Annie Mae Stokes was born in the house and shared stories with Emily about everyday life there. Will those stories be part of the park’s Reconstruction-based interpretation? Emily talks with co-host Trudi Sandmeier about her summer and her thesis, Reconstruction Right Now: Conserving Vernacular Heritage in Beaufort, South Carolina as an Act of Reconstructing Preservation Practice.
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