Both free and enslaved Africans helped shape Charleston�s economic and cultural life. Their agricultural knowledge is largely responsible for Charleston�s success. Ironwork, handmade sweetgrass baskets, she-crab soup and benne seed cookies are just a few of the well-known artistic and culinary contributions. Gullah, the Sea Island culture and language continues to survive today. This February, Charleston celebrates Black History Month by highlighting special events.

�Sweetgrass And Fanner Grass�
Gullah/Geechee Baskets and those of the Caicos Islands in the British West Indies by Dr. Ray Crook, Simons Center for the Arts, College of Charleston, Feb. 2nd.

ASALH (Association for the Study of African American Life and History)
Carter G. Woodson luncheon - Feb. 4th at 12 noon, International Longshoremen�s Hall, 1142 Morrison Drive. Call 843-556-5207.

�The African American History Of Sullivan�s Island�
by Mr. Elmore Browne. Feb. 9th at 7pm, Avery Research Center.

�Darryl Taylor Sings American Giants: Paul Laurence Dunbar & Langston Hughes�
Songs on poetry by the American Masters presented in observation of the Dunbar centenary, Feb. 20th at 8pm. Call 843-953-5927.

Exhibition
The art of Edwin Harleston at the McKinley Washington Auditorium, Avery Research Center, January 21 - June 30, 2006.

Guided Slave Cabins Tour
The tour starts with a guide walking the group out to the cabins. There the guide will discuss such topics as everyday life, the art of making Sweetgrass Baskets, learning about the past through Archaeology, and listening to the sounds that would have echoed from a Praise House.

African Foodways Program
This tour offers a look at how enslaved Africans retained their tastes for certain foods and spices, their cooking styles, and specific methods for catching fish and shrimp. On the plantation they ate in the West African style � food was prepared in large communal pots and eaten from hand-held, round-bottom bowls. The group will also see a typical slave garden and the instruments used to make their everyday foods.

Carolina Rice
A slideshow & tour of former rice fields reveal how enslaved people converted swamps into fields of rice. This is a unique opportunity to view historic rice fields, operate a rice trunk & pound rice. Saturday, Jan 21 from 9-11am.

Ain�t I A Women Quilt Workshop
Master Quilter Nora Williams has designed a quilt celebrating the life of Sojourner Truth. She will lead a quilt workshop where participants will make and take home their own �Ain�t I a Woman� quilt top. Feb. 4, 9am-3pm.

Heritage To Habitat Canoe Tour
Enjoy an interpretive canoe trip and travel back to the age of SC rice as we paddle through rice fields & canals that now serve as one of the richest wildlife habitats in the Lowcountry. Saturday, February 4 from 9-11:15am.

Lowcountry Gullah Culture
This free series highlighting Lowcountry Gullah Culture taking place at the Charles Pinckney National Historic Site, will begin at 2pm every Saturday during February and March 2006. It will feature regional artists and performers with Gullah and African story-telling, quilting, cooking, sweetgrass basket sewing and cast-net demonstrations, spirituals, African drumming & dance.

Celebrate Africa
Dance to the beat of African drums as Ms. Katie teaches your child African Dance steps. Join us Saturday, February 18th at 11am. Recommended ages 4 and up; reservations required. Free with admission.

Harriet�s Basket Weaving
Ms. Harriette, with Praise the Lord Baskets, will demonstrate the art of weaving Sweetgrass Baskets as well as give us the history of the Lowcountry trade. Join on Sunday, February 12th at 2pm. Recommended ages 5 and up; reservations required. $5 per child; admission not included.

Storytelling With Dorothy Montgomery
This amazing storyteller will intrigue you with stories through her quilts, while incorporating African American music. Join us Wednesday, February 15th at 1pm. Recommended ages 8 and up; reservations not required. Free with admission.

Connections: From Africa To America At Drayton Hall
Touch the Carolina Gold rice and glean a more in-depth understanding of American History. Offered at 11:15am and 2:15pm every day and included with gate admission, Connections: From Africa to America, is an interactive program about African-American life that traces the story of Africans from Africa to the Lowcountry and beyond. The program focuses on African-American history, contributions of African Americans to American culture, and specific individuals and historical events at Drayton Hall.

From Plantations To The City
Drayton Hall�s African-American history package, From Plantations to the City, provides groups with a comprehensive look at Lowcountry African-American history from the 17th century to the present. Tours begin on the Ashley River at Drayton Hall, where participants learn about African and African-American life while participating in Connections: From Africa to America. After learning about life on a rice plantation, groups travel to Charleston�s Historic District for an African American history walking tour.

African American Cemetery
After hearing the stories of specific African-Americans who lived and worked on Drayton Hall�s grounds, guests can visit Drayton Hall�s African-American cemetery. This sacred spot is the resting place of at least 33 hard-working men and women. Richmond Bowens, a descendent of slaves owned by the Drayton family, is buried here along with his family members. In keeping with his wishes, the cemetery has been left natural, not restored or planted with grass or decorative shrubs. Richmond�s ancestors came over from Barbados with the Draytons as slaves in the late 1670s.

Interpretive Talks
After working as slaves in indigo and rice fields for generations, freed slaves were employed in Magnolia's garden as gardeners, porters, and tour guides. Six slave cabins still stand � many were occupied continuously from the 1840s through the 1930s. Daily interpretive talks are held at a restored, furnished antebellum cabin.

Beyond The Fields Exhibit
The new exhibit, Beyond the Fields: Slavery at Middleton Place, is mounted in Eliza�s House, a freedman�s cabin, and focuses on the daily lives of slaves and their work beyond the fields in the Middleton plantation system. It complements recent African American initiatives such as the Plantation Chapel, Slave Cemetery, Rice Mill, and Demonstration Rice Field as well as the Plantation Stableyards.

African American Focus Tours
This tour provides insight into the lives of African Americans at Middleton Place and other Lowcountry rice plantations. Trained interpreters discuss the domestic life at Eliza�s House (a freedman�s cabin), rice cultivation at the Rice Mill and Demonstration Field where Carolina Gold rice is growing for its third successful year, and learn about religion and spirituality at the Plantation Chapel and Slave Cemetery. Included in the regular admission fee, this tour is offered daily at 11am and 1pm.

Walking Tours
Beginning February 1, Tour Charleston will offer a walking tour focused on a comprehensive look at Lowcountry African American history from the 17th century to the present. Participants will have an opportunity to see and learn about such sites as the Old Slave Mart Museum, Phillip Simmons� gates, and The National Freedman�s Bank. This tour will also focus on the indefatigable Gullah culture. Call for tour times.

Denmark Vesey Musical
Come experience through music one of the stories that helped shape and establish the south�s African-American heritage every Friday in February at 7pm. The tragedy, the hope, the life of a man who was a legend in his own time. Call for reservations 843-723-1670. Buxton�s East Bay Theatre, 184 East Bay Street.
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To learn more about the Charleston area, please contact the Charleston Area Convention & Visitors Bureau at 843�853�8000 / 800�868�8118, or visit www.charlestoncvb.com.
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