Abstract

Reinhardt University, a private, comprehensive university in Waleska, Georgia, is proposing the “Restoring Lost Voices: A History of Northwest Georgia’s Displaced Communities” project to recover financial losses due to the Covid-19 pandemic and expand humanities programming at the Funk Heritage Center (FHC) on campus. The FHC is a 7,000-square-foot museum and accompanying 10-acre “living history” village that tells the story of early Appalachian settlers and Southeastern Native Americans. The project will fulfill several SSRC and NEH goals, including the expansion of humanities offerings for the public, sustaining critical humanities projects, and supporting future humanities scholars. Prior to the pandemic, over 10,000 people visited the FHC on an annual basis to tour its exhibits and participate in its educational programming. Over 70% of these visitors were school children from northern Georgia. This grant will enable the FHC to recover financial losses incurred due to Covid-19 while achieving the following goals: (1) providing post-doctoral opportunities for two history PhDs, and a year of paid internships for four undergraduate interns in history and digital media; (2) providing a deeper, richer picture of the history of the Trail of Tears to the public, especially to the many members of the Cherokee Nation who were forced to relocate to North Carolina and Oklahoma; and (3) providing important historical context on racial divisions in the state of Georgia and the nation by further exploring and uncovering African American history in our area.