“Watch Night:  Waiting for Freedom”

“On December 31, 1862, many enslaved waited in praise houses and churches on the Sea Islands to hear if the Emancipation Proclamation would become real. The first day of 1863 became the first day of freedom for many forced into bondage throughout the Southern states. The New Year’s Eve Watch Night service has been celebrated ever since that day to commemorate the end of slavery.”

Althea Sumpter is a researcher/scholar who uses her expertise as an ethnographer to document cultures and preserve the Southern story of the United States. Using as a prototype the oral histories she has collected from Gullah Geechee elders in her own culture, she teaches ways to research the cultural history within a community, along with methods to use documentation technology to memorialize and preserve those stories for future generations. She holds a Doctor of Arts in Humanities degree (African/African American Studies and New Media Technology) from Clark Atlanta University, as well as Bachelor and Master of Media Arts degrees from the University of South Carolina.

With extensive experience in the media production industry and an Emmy-nomination, Sumpter has taught digital media production and scriptwriting at Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Clark Atlanta University and The Art Institute of Atlanta. She is a member and past chair of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission, created by Congress in 2006. Her research and her work can be viewed at altheasumpter.com.

Facilitator:  Libby Ware

Musician:  Kathy McGuire