This Cross High history teacher recently landed an opportunity to educate visitors of the Summerville-Dorchester Museum through a series of lectures centered on black history.
Robert Scarlett is entering his ninth year teaching at Cross High. He teaches African American history, U.S. History and AP U.S. History.
Scarlett is leading three lectures at the museum, starting Aug. 13, that will dive into black history in the south – particularly in Summerville.
Scarlett said he is very excited about the opportunity, and that he hopes it will be an eye-opening experience for anybody who visits the museum and hears the lectures. His goal is to show the many positive contributions African Americans made throughout history.
“There were contributions in the military, there were contributions on the railroad, there were opportunities for education…There was good and bad in the south,” he said, adding, “I want people to understand there were good people on all sides…I want to highlight some of those good people and good things.”
Scarlett is originally from Pennsylvania and previously served 30 years in the United States Air Force before becoming a teacher. He retired in 2014 as an E-9 Chief Master Sergeant from the Charleston Air Force Base, and he and his wife liked Charleston so much they decided to stay.
Scarlett has since enjoyed being a part of Cross High, and has always had a passion for history – particularly black history.
Scarlett is not new to presenting on black history beyond his classroom; he has a Civil Rights fellowship with the Library of Congress, for which he also does weekly posts on the library’s website. He has also been an active guest speaker in schools before coming to Cross High – particularly during Black History Month (February).
However, this will be his first time working with the Summerville-Dorchester Museum. Scarlett has a friend who serves on the board of the museum who reached out to him asking to do a lecture series.
In June, Scarlett met with the museum’s historian, Dr. Ed West, and staff to collaborate on the new lecture series.
The focus will be on how African Americans were denied education but persevered and took advantage of educational opportunities in South Carolina – before, during and after the Civil War. The first lecture will be centered on the actions and consequences of the Stono Rebellion and the planned rebellion by Denmark Vesey, and how these two actions led to very strict Black Codes and restrictions on learning to prevent future uprisings.
The second lecture will mainly cover the history of the 35th United States Colored Troops regiment that spent time in Summerville, and how the troops learned to read and write from the unit commander's wife. The unit commander was the brother of abolitionist Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Scarlett then plans to dive even deeper into Summerville’s history, since Summerville is known as “the birth place of sweet tea.” Pine Hurst Tea Plantation used to employ young black children to pick tea leaves, and the plantation created a school for those children.
“That ties right into our ‘freedom through education’ concept,” Scarlett said, adding, “That’s why we’re starting with this lecture series – to introduce Summerville to the history of African Americans, the positive and negative.”
The first lecture will be held Aug. 13 at 3 p.m. The other two dates are to be determined.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up