Behind the Big House goes virtual

A virtual Behind the Big House was a success March 4-6 at the Hugh Craft House, 184 South Memphis Street in Holly Springs.

Participants from prior BTBH events were back for the virtual film day, which included faculty and students from the Ole Miss Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, Department of Community Engagement, Department of Anthropology, and Joseph McGill with the Slave Dwelling project.

Two people from the Preservation Society of Columbus were present as well.

Ron Counts, with the Department of Geology and Geological Engineering and associate director of the Mississippi Mineral Resources Institute, brought ground penetrating radar to the site to look for artifacts. A group of his students, Jay Mattingly, Scal McGehee, Thomas Burgess Brown (observer), Mykayla Williamson and Matthew Perry, assisted and learned to operate the ground penetrating radar equipment under Counts’ direction.

Mattingly and Williamson are with the anthropology department.

Michael Twitty, culinary historian and author of “The Culinary Gene,” prepared dishes of the slave dwelling era.

Tammy Gibson, of Chicago, who has participated in a number of sleepovers in slave dwellings throughout the United States, was back again this year with her wash tub and scrubbing board demonstration.

Jodi Skipper, author of the “Behind the Big House: Reconciling Slavery, Race and Heritage” soon to be released, has served as an anchor for the Behind The Big House project in Holly Springs since the inception of the project. She is assistant professor of Anthropology and Southern Studies at the University of Mississippi.

The book explores Skipper’s eight-year collaboration with the Behind the Big House program, a community-based model used at local historic sites to address slavery in the collective narrative of U.S. History and culture.

Two historic homes that have played prominently in the BTBH program in Holly Springs are the Hugh Craft House and Burton Place, both on South Memphis Street.