Spring Hill receives national endowment for the humanities grant

(Mobile, Ala.) – Spring Hill College has been awarded a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to continue funding an educational initiative on The Hill.

NEH is set to give the college $188,882 for the educational project titled From Clotilda to Community: The History of Mobile, Alabama’s Africatown. This five-day workshop focuses on educating K-12 teachers about the Landmarks of American History and Culture. The workshop uses an inquiry-design model and technology to immerse attendees in the history of the 110 survivors of the slave ship Clotilda, their descendants, and the post-Civil War community of Mobile, Alabama’s Africatown.

“It is a historical program so our curriculum involves guest speakers, a tour of Africantown, an opportunity to visit with current residents of the town, lectures about the history of slavery, the state of Alabama and the City of Mobile. We have some trainings and presentations centered around teaching difficult history. The participants of the workshop can be emotionally impacted by the content and we also talk about how to handle those emotions. We believe in technological innovation in education and using technology. We require the teachers to create a podcast and/or lesson plans about their weeklong experience. We thought this would create great conduit for introspection and reflection of the program,” said Ryan Noble, SHC’s Director of Digital Production Content Program.

The first two installments of this workshop took place in 2021 and 2023. Both installments were funded by a NEH Landmarks grant. This funding will support a proposed third installment, which originated as an addition to a documentary film project being produced by the workshop’s co-directors, Professors Ryan Noble (SHC) and Joél Lewis Billingsley (University of South Alabama), Project 110: The Last Enslaved Africans Brought to America.

The documentary recounts the life of Cudjo Lewis, one of the last known living persons transported aboard the Clotilda. The film follows Lewis, the founder of Africatown, shares details of his childhood in West Africa, his harrowing journey on the Clotilda and his death in 1935. Professors Noble, Billingsley, and their team from the last two completed workshops transformed the substance of the documentary into a site-specific program for educators.

The third installment of the workshop will take place twice in the summer of 2025, serving 36 teachers per session, 72 in total.

Any K-12 teacher is encouraged to attend the next workshop. Those interested should submit an application, their resume and an essay on why you would like to attend the workshop online at Spring Hill College’s website.