Special Event: Sullivan’s Island: The African-American Ellis Island

Presented by Evelyn Hood, The African-American Cultural & Genealogical Society (Decatur, IL)
Saturday, February 18 • 1:00 - 2:00 p.m.
Lewis Auditorium


Many Americans are more familiar with West African slaves entering American soil from the shores of the Caribbean Islands. However, Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina, served as the main point of entry for African slaves—a quarantine station for those individuals who would be sold into slavery; over 200,000 African men, women and children who endured the Middle Passage. About forty percent of today’s African-American population can trace their ancestral roots to West Africa through the Sullivan’s Island/Charleston gateway, which is the percent equivalent of white Americans passing through Ellis Island. For many of today’s African-American population, this new found information could hold the key to completing the exploration of their ancestry.

Click here for the event poster.

Digital Oral Histories Available Online

You don't realize it - how those prejudices hurt us young people in those days.

We here at the Champaign County Historical Archives are pleased to announce that our extensive oral history collection is being digitized and made available online through Local History Online. The audio files can be streamed or downloaded as mp3 files, and many also include pdf files of transcripts.

The collection is particularly robust in documenting the African American experience in Champaign-Urbana. Rural life in Champaign County is also well represented in these reminiscences.

Have a listen to these unique slices of history! Here are a couple of representative examples:

http://ccha.tufl.org/ccha/records/00040000/000400000032.htm

http://ccha.tufl.org/ccha/records/00040000/000400000070.htm