Join Dr. Tiffany Momon, Associate Professor of History at Sewanee: The University of the South, for an exploration of the skill, labor, and lived experiences of Black craftspeople in 18th-century Charleston, South Carolina. Focusing on builders, furniture makers, and other artisans, the presentation shows how their expertise shaped the city’s physical landscape and material culture amid the realities of enslavement. By foregrounding craftsmanship as both economic power and cultural expression, this lecture centers Black makers as formative figures in Charleston’s history and calls for a renewed understanding of authorship and legacy in the colonial-era built environment. 

Talk begins in the Fath Auditorium at 2 p.m. with tea and light bites to follow in the Great Hall and Terrace Café. 

About the Speaker: 

Dr. Tiffany Momon is an Associate Professor of History at Sewanee: The University of the South, where she advances the field of public history through teaching, research, and community-engaged scholarship. Her work is dedicated to documenting and preserving African American histories and material culture, with a particular emphasis on community-based projects and the digital humanities. Dr. Momon is the founder and co-director of the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive, a groundbreaking project that recovers and centers the lives and contributions of Black artisans and craftspeople in American history. Her current exhibition, Fighting for Freedom: Black Craftspeople and the Pursuit of Independence, traces the lives and experiences of Black craftspeople from the American Revolution through Reconstruction, emphasizing the many and varied ways they pursued and defined freedom on their own terms. A sought-after lecturer, Dr. Momon has spoken on Black craftspeople and material culture at some of the nation's most prestigious institutions, including the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Georgia Museum of Art.

Presented by:

The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Ohio.

Colonial Dames Talk and Tea graciously underwritten by the L. W. Scott Alter Trust.

If you need accessibility accommodations, please contact us in advance at [email protected] or fill out the accessibility request form.