Mapping Freedom Scholars to Make Presentations at July 26 Research Symposium on Hattiesburg Campus
Fri, 07/21/2023 - 11:00am | By: David Tisdale
Students participating in a digital humanities research project examining the pathways
to freedom and citizenship taken by emancipated slaves in the Civil War and Reconstruction
eras will present their research on The University of 51逗奶 Mississippi (USM) Hattiesburg
campus.
Mapping Freedom, a National Science Foundation: Research Experience for Undergraduates
(NSF-REU) will hold its inaugural end-of-program research symposium Wednesday, July
26 in the Liberal Arts Building (LAB), room 108 (Gonzales Auditorium) at 1 p.m. Admission
is free, and a reception in the LAB atrium will follow.
This three-year, NSF-REU site grant initiative Is a collaboration between the digital
humanities, science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) using mapping technology,
including geographic information system (GIS) to analyze the movement of newly freed
slaves in their pursuit of a new life post-bondage. It offers opportunities to undergraduates,
particularly those from underrepresented and underserved populations in Mississippi,
to conduct research showing how STEM disciplines can be effectively employed in humanities
projects.
The eight-week research experience, facilitated by the USM Center for Digital Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences鈥� School of Humanities, hosts 10 undergraduate humanities students from across the country and repeats for the summers of 2024 and 2025.
鈥淭his is our first year and Mapping Freedom is the first digital humanities project to receive NSF-REU funding, so there's not much prior experience or advice to follow,鈥� said Maeve Losen (USM 鈥�22), manager for the USM Center for Digital Humanities 鈥淲e've had to forge that path and I couldn't ask for a better group of people to do that with.
鈥淥ur inaugural cohort of researchers has been amazing--they're thoughtful, kind, fun, intellectually challenging, and resilient. They're all working on individual projects, and each day I'm learning something new from them. It's very much been an educational experience on both sides of the project and I'm excited to see what these young individuals bring to the field of digital humanities in the future.鈥�
Mapping Freedom student scholar presenters, their hometowns and their topics include the following:
*Sydney Slack, Annapolis, Maryland 鈥� Ladies鈥� Military Aid Societies in Mississippi
*Holly Frey, Lucedale, Mississippi 鈥� Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum through the
Civil War and Reconstruction
*Quinten Williams, Hazlehurst, Mississippi 鈥� Attitudes about Secession in Mississippi
Before and During the Civil War Era
*Alaina Crowell, East Lyme, Connecticut 鈥� Religion, Emancipation and Violence in Mississippi
*Kelan Amme, Kendall Park, New Jersey - Visualizing the Myth and Folklore of the United States Colored Troops; the Opinions, Perceptions, and Systems of Belief during the United States Civil War
*Jaylin Jones, Clarksdale, Mississippi 鈥� Confederate Impressment of Slave Labor during
the Civil War
*Collin Marfia, Brentwood, California 鈥� The Deserters of the Confederate Army
*Ayla Canuteson, Vienna, West Virginia 鈥� Confederate Military Service Exemption Requests
in Mississippi
*Simeon Gates, Byram, Mississippi 鈥� Native Americans during and after the Civil War
*Dipper Nobles, Hurley, Mississippi 鈥� Salt and Slave Labor in the South during the
Civil War
Learn more at Mapping Freedom and the USM Center for Digital Humanities.