UNION, S.C. (WSPA) – For the first three Saturdays in February, the Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site in Union County will host events in honor of Black History Month.

On Saturday, Feb. 1 community members are encouraged to join Rose Hill at the Union County Carnegie Library for the session “Easily Finding My Union County, SC African American Ancestor”.

Attendees will be able to talk with genealogist Robin Foster and learn how to use oral history, online and offline resources to find their roots.

Foster is from Union County, she said it was her own hunger and study of her family history in the late 1980’s that brought on her wish to teach genealogy.

“Then people started asking me ‘How do you do this?’ ‘How do you find that?’ I said well I can help other people at the same time that I’m doing it,” Foster said.

  • Genealogist Robin Foster speaking to nearly 30 attendees
  • Attendees listening and learning how to study their genealogy
  • Genealogist Foster
  • An attendee has a question
  • Rose Hill’s Park Manager Nate Johnson speaks to attendees
  • An attendee taking notes
  • Attendees listening attentively

Foster noted that novice researches may be able to discover enslaved or free ancestors before 1865. They could also research the Reconstruction and the Jim Crow eras to find freed family members.

“You can teach this to your child and your child doesn’t have to look outside the family for a hero,” Foster said.

Foster has a website, for those unable to make it to Union County, that she said can help those looking for help researching their history, click here.

The genealogy research session at Union County Carnegie Library starts at 11 a.m.

Rose Hill’s Park Manager Nate Johnson said each Saturday’s event is very important.

“Even the very difficult past, difficult history, because it helps us understand and gauge where we are today. In some regards we’ve made a lot of progress and so history helps us to look back and see what we’ve been able achieve,” Johnson said. “In other cases we can look back and say in some cases we haven’t come quite as far and we have more work to do.”

On Saturday, Feb. 8 attendees are invited to the Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site for a day covering black men’s right to vote titled “150 Years – The Fight for Voting Rights”.

Rose Hill’s Park Manager, Nate Johnson, and the Park Interpreter, Stephanie Cohen, will present information on the 15th Amendment of the United States Constitution.

On Feb. 3, 1870, black men were given the right to vote.

Johnson and Cohen will talk about the 15th Amendment’s meaning to South Carolina African Americans and the challenges that came with their right to vote, starting at 11 a.m.

On Saturday, Feb. 15 at the Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site, South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology Director of Applied Research Division, Stacey Young, will present a session on the “Archaeology of Plantation Lifeways“.

Attendees will learn about archaeological discoveries at Rose Hill, as well as, future archaeological work.

After the presentation, starts at 11 a.m., Young will lead a walk around the park grounds to showcase previous archaeological dig sites.

 “We want everyone to come so, it’s open to everybody,” Johnson said.

For more information about Rose Hill Plantation State Historic Site, click here.