Chowan Discovery Group

How the North brought Education to the South before, during and after the Civil War.

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During and after the Civil War, Union officers and missionaries expanded literacy and skills in the south, resulting in a great rise in the reading population and creating schools, some of which exist today.  A school established in a Washington, D.C. army barracks in 1864 is still going strong. Fisk, Hampton, Howard and Shaw are among the universities that rose in the first five years after the war.  Within ten years after the war, Howard University was graduating men and women with degrees in medicine and law. Although many schools were destroyed and teachers and students threatened, the growth of education for people of color continued.  The Winton Triangle has its own story about a missionary teacher. Marvin T. Jones will give a overview of the people and organizations who propagated education among people of color and how southern whites also greatly benefitted.  As always, this lecture includes many stories and images of portraits, documents and places.

Winton Triangle lecture in Smithfield VA

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Marvin T. Jones presents photographs, maps and narrative of his community’s 275 year-old history of landowning mixed-race people in North Carolina’s Hertford County area. The written history of the Winton Triangle began in 1584 when the English first learned about the area. The three main towns of the Triangle are Winton, Cofield and Ahoskie. The Winton Triangle’s story is that of a new people who cobbled success and identity despite colonization, wars, slavery and discrimination. Jones uses maps, documents and photographs to tell this 400+ year old story. This presentation has been given many times in North Carolina and as far as Arizona.

A new Award for Chowan Discovery!

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From Marvin Tupper Jones: October 13, 2018 – King of Prussia, PA: African American Historical and Genealogical Society gave Marvin T. Jones (and thus Chowan Discovery ) its second highest honor, the Paul Edward Sluby/Jean Samson-Scott Meritorious Achievement Award for “Distinguished Performance In Support Of African American History and Genealogy”.    Tremendous thanks goes to the many supporters of Chowan Discovery,  and AAHGS members Alice Harris (my cherished nominator!), Robyn Smith, Margo Lee Williams, Bernice Bennett and Linda Crichlow White among others  The Sluby/Samson-Scott is the second highest award granted by AAHGS. In the 1980’s, Paul Sluby contributed much to Winton Triangle when producing genealogy books for the Collins-Bizzell family.

Marvin is a member of the Central Maryland Chapter of AAHGS and has presented at eight chapters and the national conferences.  This is part of Chowan Discovery’s mission to research, document, preserve and present the history of the Winton Triangle and beyond.  In 2014, Marvin and Chowan Discovery received an award from the North Carolina Society of Historians.

Two Lectures in Wise County, Virigina.

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Big Stone Gap, Virginia: On June 21, Marvin T. Jones is giving two presentations at a genealogical workshop at the Mountain Empire Community College.  The first lecture is about the development, activities and findings of the Chowan Discovery Group’s work on the Winton Triangle.  The second talk will be about the Winton Triangle’s role in the Civil War.  The workshop is a pre-conference event connected to the Melungeon Heritage Association Reunion.

Chowan Discovery thanks Dr. Mike Gilley of the Mountain Empire Community College and Scott Withrow, President of the Melungeon Heritage Association, for the invitation.

The times for the lectures will be posted later.

 

Lot of Lectures! Chowan Discovery’s Achievements for 2017.

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  1. The Winton Triangle area’s greatest institution is the Calvin Scott Brown High School STEM. Foundedin 1886 by church leaders from Hertford and the surrounding counties, it was the first high school for people of color, and is the oldest public school in the area. Here, Marvin brought 90 books from the
    Library of Congress for CS Brown’s library.

    1. Beginnings of African American Literacy a keynote speech at the 2017 AAGHS Black History Conference in Laurel MD. February 4.

  2. Winton Triangle presentation at a National Park Service facility in Reston, VA. February 6
  3. Haiti and the Civil War presentation, Brown Memorial AME Church, Washington DC. February 12
  4. Robbins Family at War presentation, Arlington Science Focus School, Arlington, VA, with the National Park Service. March 17
  1. Showing of the film The Campaigns of Molly Hundley at the Sumner School Museum and Archives, Washington DC. March 21
  1. Winton Triangle presentation at CS Brown High School STEM, Winton NC. March 31.
  2. Hosted photographer Julie Williams Dixon’s portrait project People And Their People, Cofield NC. March 31-April 1.
  3. Showing of the film Dunbar High School’s Classic Age 1870 – 1957, at the DC Dept. of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs as part of DC Emancipation Observance. April 6.
  4. Winton Triangle presentation at the Dunbar Pavilion, Tucson AZ. April 16
  5. Showing of the film Dunbar High School’s Classic Age 1870 – 1957, as part of DC Emancipation Observance at Mt. Zion United Methodist Church, Washington DC. April 23

 

  1. Showing of the film Dunbar High School’s Classic Age 1870 – 1957, Shepherd Park Library, Washington DC. June 26
  2. Showing of the film Dunbar High School’s Classic Age 1870 – 1957, at the DC Dept. of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs, Washington DC. June 30.
  3. African American Institutions in Post-Emancipation DC, as part of the 153rd Battle of Fort Stevens Day, Washington DC. July 8
  4. Beginnings of African American Literacy, Public Library of Richmond VA, hosted by the Richmond Chapter of the African American Genealogical and Historical Society. July 29
  5. Haiti and the Civil War presentation, United States Park Service’s Rock Creek Nature Center, Washington DC. September 2
  6. Haiti and the Civil War presentation Greenbelt Public Library, Greenbelt MD. October 3
  7. Interview about Haiti and the Civil War lecture, Research at the National Archives radio program, Blogtalk Radio. October 5
  8. Radio interview about Chowan Discovery on the Epic City radio program, WOWD-FM, Takoma Park MD. October 17.
  9. Katie Hart presentation, Winton Public Library, Winton, NC. October 10.
  10. Delivery of 90 books from the Library of Congress to the C.S. Brown High School STEM.
  11. Winton Triangle Loggers, part of a group photography show at the Brookville Gallery/Art Collective, Chevy Chase, MD. October 20 – November 20.
  12. Showing of the film The Campaigns of Molly Hundley, George Washington University Museum, Washington DC, October 30
  13. An Army of Educators presentation United States Park Service’s Rock Creek Nature Center, Washington DC. December 3.
  14. Interview about the An Army of Educators lecture, Inside the Issues with Wilmer Leon radio program on SiriusXM. Dec. 10
  15. Donations to the C.S. Brown Cultural Arts Center.