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RAIL Project Symposium
A symposium focusing on the RAIL Project, which centers the stories of incarcerated African American railroad laborers in 19th century NC.
When and where
Date and time
Starts on Thursday, March 30 · 7pm EDT
Location
UNCA Campus and various memorial sites (memorial sites on April 1st only) 1 University Heights Asheville, NC 28804
About this event
Schedule for RAIL Project Symposium – March 30, 31, and April 1
Thursday, March 30 – Manheimer Room, Reuter Center
7:00 PM - Keynote: Dr. Darin Waters, Deputy Secretary, NC Office of Archives and History
Reception following
Friday, March 31 – Mountain View Room, Kimmel Arena
8:30 AM – Coffee and Pastries
9:00 – Welcome – Dr. Tracey Rizzo (Dean of Humanities, UNCA)
9:15 - Session 1
How We Began, What We Did, and What It All Means
RAIL Board Member Roundtable
Moderator - Steve Little (Mayor, City of Marion)
Ray McKesson (CFO McDowell Technical College, ret.)
Stephanie Stepson Twitty (President and CEO Eagle Market Streets Development Corp.)
RoAnn Bishop (Director, Mountain Gateway Museum)
Ashley Whittle (Archives and Special Collections Assistant ,UNCA)
Jim Stokely (President, Wilma Dykeman Legacy)
Jeff Futch (Western Regional Supervisor, NC Department of Cultural and Natural Resources)
10:45 – Break
11:00 – Session 2
Using Human Remains Detection Dogs and Ground Penetrating Radar to Help Locate Historic
Burial Grounds
Moderator – Dr. Sarah Judson (Chair, Department of History, UNCA)
Cat Warren (Department of English, NC State University, Author: What the Dog Knows)
Blair Tormey (Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines, Western Carolina University)
Paul Martin (Martin Archaeology Consultants)
12:30 – Lunch Break
1:30 – Session 3
Moderator – Dr. Abena Boakyewa-Ansah (Department of History, UNCA)
Partners in Memorializing: The Asheville African American Cemeteries Project, The Buncombe
County Remembrance Project, and The African Americans in the Smokies Project
Dr. Ellen Holmes Pearson (Department of History, UNCA and South Asheville and The 828
Digital Archives for Historical Equity Project)
Dr. Joseph Fox (CEO Fox Management Consulting Enterprises and Buncombe County
Remembrance Project)
Antoine Fletcher (Science Communicator, Great Smoky Mountains National Park)
3:00 – Break
3:15 – Session 4
Where Do We Go From Here: Challenges and Opportunities
Moderator – Dr. Dan Pierce (Department of History, UNCA)
Cayla Colclasure (Ph.D. candidate, Department of Anthropology, UNC-CH)
Dr. Jeff Keith (Department of Global Studies, Warren Wilson College)
Dr. Kevin Kehrberg (Department of Music, Warren Wilson College)
Anne Chesky-Smith (Director, WNC Historical Association)
Saturday, April 1 - Various Memorial Sites
Four Field Opportunities: Session 1 @ 10:00 AM; Session 2 @ 11:30 AM
The Swannanoa Gap – Anne Chesky Smith
Andrews Geyser and the RAIL Memorial – Steve Little and Paul Twitty
Andrews Geyser and Human Remains Detection Dogs – Cat Warren
A Walk Down the Point Lookout Greenway (2 miles on pavement) – Dan Pierce