Joseph McGill Jr., a historic preservationist and Civil War reenactor, founded the Slave Dwelling Project in 2010 based on an idea that was sparked and first developed in 1999. Ever since, he''s been touring the country, spending the night in former slave dwellings-throughout the South, but also the North and the West, where people are often surprised to learn that such structures exist. Events and gatherings are arranged around these overnight stays, and it provides a unique way to understand the often otherwise obscured and distorted history of slavery. The project has inspired difficult conversations about race in communities from South Carolina to Alabama to Texas to Minnesota to Oregon, and all over the United States.
Sleeping with the Ancestors focuses on all of the key sites McGill has visited over the past two decades and digs deeper into the actual history of each, using McGill''s own experience and conversations with the community to enhance those original st
