Digital Projects

The Haitians Abroad Digital Archive documents the Haitian émigré experience during the long nineteenth century (1791-1900) to highlight how these men and women, supported by kin and non-kin networks, traversed the Atlantic World, becoming integral parts of their newfound communities, all while maintaining their national identity. Haitians Abroad is designed to be interactive and meet the needs of the general public, students, and advanced scholars. This project was founded and created by Dr. Andrew Maginn.

The Counternarratives Digital Archive is a resource created by students within Dr. Andrew Maginn’s history classes to highlight and promote narratives not found within traditional archives. As traditional archives are places built to support the narratives of white Americans, those of African descent and other minority groups have not had many spaces that promote their history. Through examining major American Historical events, students find “voices of the other,” or those not traditionally celebrated, and share them with the public.

Caribbean Challenges History Project is a resource completed by students in Dr. Andrew Maginn’s Caribbean History course to offer fresh perspectives and raise awareness on vital issues facing the Caribbean. Using the course readings as a foundation students will choose a topic based on their major research interest including politics, environmental studies, religion, and the law.  Through this digital project students have found new ways to communicate with others, connect with a new culture, and take a collaborative approach to problem-solving, which are essential skills in nearly every field, including public history.

Students Podcasting History is an educational resource completed by students in Dr. Andrew Maginn’s American History course to offer digital short-form storytelling to the general public to highlight aspects of the modern American experience. Students use the readings from the course as foundation and then researched a topic that is personal to them to create a nation-based audio story.  Through this digital project students are able to highlight changes in gender, politics, warfare, race and class within the United States for listeners who want a succinct and engaging audio experience.

The Mapping Migration Digital Repository is a resource currently being completed by students in Dr. Andrew Maginn’s Black Atlantic course to display how movement is crucial in understanding the lives of individual actors in the African Diaspora. This project acknowledges the limits of traditional archives and hopes this tool will assist in understanding the role that migration takes in world history. These actors were found through examining major events in the Diaspora from Ancient Egypt to the American Civil Rights Movement.

Retracing the Bell Route: An Archive of Cherokee Removal is a project to help students understand a route of Cherokee removal that passed through the domain of Sewanee: The University of the South. The Bell Route was traveled by an estimated 650 Cherokee people from October 1838 to January 1839. This route takes its name from John Adair Bell, the conductor and organizer of the detachment. This project is a collaboration between Drs. Stuart Marshall, Andrew Maginn, and Al Bardi, their students, and community members.

The Founding Funders Map Project assesses the depth and breadth of investments in enslaved human property by the nearly 300 persons who assembled the financial foundation of the University of the South between 1856 and 1865. The interactive map and the information it contains assist scholars in understanding and reckon with the University of the South’s origins. The map was created through a collaboration between the Roberson Project Research Team, Dr. Andrew Maginn, and the Sewanee Landscape Analysis Lab.

The Black South Cumberland alliance features communities that grew up around schools for African American children in the South Cumberland Plateau region of Tennessee. The website, created by Dr. Andrew Maginn and the Roberson Project team, focuses on these “school communities”: eleven in Franklin County and one in Grundy County. These schools were place-making pillars that encouraged and supported networks of kin, vocation, and neighborly ties that linked and bound residents in their own neighborhoods and with those in surrounding “school communities.”

Locating Slavery’s Legacies database (LSLdb) is an initiative to collect and share information about monuments and memorials linked to slavery, the Civil War, and the Confederacy on American college and university campuses. While Dr. Andrew Maginn was a member of the Roberson Project, the team  designed the LSLdb from the ground up so that college instructors, archivists, and library professionals could embed the research and addition of memorials into their course designs.

Dr. Maginn is creating and consulting on more projects, which will be added to the site shortly.