Author and genealogist Darius Brown discovers how a small moment in Civil Rights history transformed his family for generations.
Free & Equal (F&E) is an audio and augmented reality journey exploring a key moment in the history of Civil Rights. Free & Equal tells the story of the Port Royal Experiment, in which 8000 formerly enslaved people were armed, funded, trained, and empowered to build their own society 3 years before the end of the Civil War. The story is told through the lens of a young genealogist trying to understand his third great grandfather’s experience during this revolutionary time this revolutionary time and how that experience impacts his family today.
The tour is our first drivable project, set in synch with a 20-minute drive through The National Reconstruction Era Historical Park in lovely Beaufort, SC.
Produced in partnership with the National Park Service and The University of South Carolina.
Impact
Created a COVID-proof, self-guided experience of a National Park
Winner of a $280,000 National Endowment for the Humanities Historic Places Grant
Pioneered a GPS-triggered podcast and mapping system for driving audiences
Project has been running continuously for four years, serving travelers, school groups, and locals to a new angle on Reconstruction history
Download the Project
About the Experience
Walking Cinema’s first ‘driveable’ audio tour
The story is best heard walking and driving through Beaufort, SC, where you will find clues and hidden artifacts that heighten the story. But if you can’t make the trip, the app can be listened to as a highly-engaging podcast that comes to life in your living room via Augmented Reality. One audience member called it: “This was an amazing, detailed driving tour that starts in Port Royal. I majored in American history in college, and even took a whole class in The Civil War, but I learned so much on this tour. Apparently, because Beaufort fell to the Union Army so early, this area became a lesson on how to integrate freed slaves into freedom. So much history here, and the app is amazing.”
Technology
This tour has several key technological innovations for our Walking Cinema platform. First of all, we figured out how to synch audio to a driving path using music loops that get triggered if the audience isn’t in the starting point for the next chapter. We also created a way to experience the tour at home called The Remote Tour. This web page includes chapter-by-chapter trigger images so that the story plays out like an enhanced podcast at home. Distribution wise, this was the first tour we were able to integrate into Trip Advisor and Viator’s online sales platforms.
The tour’s platform was extensively tested and local historian Brett Morris says the “app is a state of the art, interactive, and tremendously engaging way for anyone with a smartphone to learn about Beaufort’s rich and storied history. The eyes of the world were on Beaufort 150 years ago and post-Civil War ideas and events still resonate.”
Augmented Reality
GPS
Audio Tour
Audio Sample
In this scene we learn more about how Reconstruction history ties into the concept of reparations. Darius reveals his own views on reparations and the role the landscape around the audience might play in the process of repair.
Sound design by Alexa Burke and Charles Maynes
Written and narrated by Michael Epstein.
Photo Gallery
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Darius Brown, Port Royal, SC, 2021.
Darius’ quest to understand the life of his third great grandfather animates the tour.
PHOTO CREDIT: PAUL KEYSERLING
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Emancipation Proclamation reprint from 1863.
The tour explores how the ideas of the Proclamation then took root in the Sea Islands before anywhere else in the Confederate States.
PHOTO CREDIT: BEAUFORT COUNTY LIBRARY
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Charleston’s Poet Laureate Marcus Amaker
Charleston’s Poet Laureate Marcus Amaker contributes spoken word poetry to the tour adding lyrical and modern qualities to the storytelling.
PHOTO CREDIT: MARCUS AMAKER
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National Reconstruction Era Historical Park
The tour takes audiences through the three main sites of the National Reconstruction Era Historical Park. The total tour time is 90 minutes.
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Project Area A-1
Redevelopment was a phased plan, defined by project areas. A-1, A-2, etc. This image shows project Area A1, in which different shades of color define different uses: commercial, residential, etc.
PHOTO CREDIT: MICHAEL EPSTEIN
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Aerial View Of The Fillmore, 1961
Here you can see how A-1 is literally being carved out of a living, vibrant neighborhood. Leading to more exodus, businesses, closing the decline of the neighborhood. The rebuilding would take much longer than expected.
PHOTO CREDIT: ED BRADY
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Wilbur Hamilton, Project Manager A-1
Wilbur Hamilton’s work and conflicts with Justin Herman became central to Museum of the Hidden City’s story.
PHOTO CREDIT: UNKNOWN
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Wilbur, Helena, and The Hamilton Family
In this photo, seated on her grandfather’s lap is a young Helena Hamilton, daughter of Wilbur and our chief source for Wilbur’s redevelopment story.
PHOTO CREDIT: THE HAMILTON FAMILY
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Bulldozing The Hamilton’s Church
One of the hardest things Wilbur had to do as Redevelopment director was order the bulldozing of his father’s church, Helena’s grandfather’s church.
PHOTO CREDIT: BAY AREA TELEVISION ARCHIVE
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Church Murals
The Hamilton’s church housed 14 large frescoes depicting the stages of the cross. They were painted by a local artist, Aaron Miller, using house paint.
PHOTO CREDIT: BAY AREA TELEVISION ARCHIVE
Talent
Michael Epstein, Writer & Narrator
Michael is a journalist and professor at the California College of Art. He wrote, directed, and co-produced the audio. He is currently a Reynolds Journalism Institute fellow.
Marcus Amaker, Poet
Marcus is Charleston, SC’s first poet laureate. Marcus wrote and voiced original poetry for Free and Equal.
Ranky Tanky, Band
Ranky Tanky is a Grammy-award winning band that performed original music for Free and Equal.
Darius Brown, Genealogical Research
Darius is genealogist working at the International African American Museum and author of "At the Feet of Elders." He narrated and researched Free & Equal.
Eric Crawford, Musical Arrangement
Eric is an Associate Professor of Music at Coastal Carolina University. He scored the project.
Griffin Jennings, Music Composition
Griffin is a musician who scored, edited, and sound designed the project.
Joseph Murray, Singer
Joseph is a deacon, lowcountry oral historian, and baritone in the project's soundtrack.
McIntosh County Shouters , Band
McIntosh County Shouters contributed a Gullah "shout" to the soundtrack.
Charles Maynes, Sound Design
Charles Maynes was a content editor and producer on the project. He is NPR's foreign correspondent in Russia and winner of the Director's Choice Award at Third Coast Audio Festival.
Press & Articles
Landscape of Civil Rights
While Walking Cinema’s work is a descendent of the museum audio guide, the core experience is more akin to documentary film and public radio...
New app makes Beaufort history come alive
The Free & Equal app is a state of the art, interactive, and tremendously engaging way for anyone with a smartphone to learn about Beaufort’s rich and storied history...
Grant to change how visitors experience SC’s Reconstruction history
A new collaborative project that aims to change how visitors experience Reconstruction-era history in the Lowcountry is kicking into gear...
Credits
FEATURING:
Darius Brown, Himself
Michael Epstein, Narrator
Toni Carrier, Herself
Tara White, Voices
Marcus Amaker, Poetry
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Michael Epstein, Writer, Director & Executive Producer
Charles Maynes, Story Editor & Sound Design
Alexa Burke, Producer & Sound Design
Jennifer Crandall, Story Consultant
Maxim Antinori, Technical Developer
Pryce Jones, Animation
Griffin Jennings, Music Composition
Ryan Madeiros, UI/Graphic Design
Carolee Gilligan Wheeler, Installation Design
Paul Keyserling, Videography/Photography
Matthew Fisher, Web Consultant
Eric Crawford, Music Direction & Advisor
LOCAL BUSINESSES/HELP:
William Rhett
Billy Keyserling
Scott Teodorski
Christopher Barr
Richard Condon
Beaufort Inn
Robert Landrum
Betsy Newman
RESEARCH:
Stephan Wise, Local History Advisor & Writer
Larry Rowland, Local History Advisor & Writer
Eric Foner, Advisor
Joshua Brown, Advisor
Melissa Stuckey, Advisor
Tara White, Advisor
Gregory Downs, Advisor
Kate Masur, Advisor
Olivia Mahoney, Advisor
Toni Carrier, Advisor
Brent Morris, Advisor
Emory Campbell, Advisor
Matthew Fox-Amato, Advisor
Grace Cordial, Advisor
Simone Gause, Advisor & Researcher
Lemuel Watson, Advisor
Page Miller, Local Historian & Advisor
DariusBrown, Genealogical Research
FUNDING TEAM:
National Endowment for the Humanities, Historic Places Division
Deloris Pringle
Spencer Platt
Rose Ylimaki
Billy Keyserling
MUSIC:
Eric Crawford, Music Research, Arrangement, Keyboard
Matthew White, Chief Engineer & Trumpet Player
Keian Parks, Student Engineer
Melvin Hall, Singer
Harveste Cobb, Singer
Joshua Hacklet, Singer
Jordan Taylor, Singer
Jonathon Richeson, Percussion
Linda Dosier, Singer
Tracy Woodberry, Singer
Timothy Fisher, Guitar
Joseph Murray, Singer
Minnie GracieGadson, Singer
Ranky Tanky
Quentin E. Baxter
Kevin Hamilton
Quiana Parler
Clay Ross
Charlton Singleton
Vanessa Taub
The McIntosh Country Shouters of Briar Patch Georgia