New Beaufort tour app “Free & Equal” highlights personal stories of Reconstruction Era
Student News
USCB interns Andre Ragsdale and Amy Maier test out the “Free & Equal” tour.A launch party June 17 in Naval Heritage Park celebrated the release of new, interactive app “Free & Equal,” which makes Beaufort’s past come alive in a walking and driving tour that uncovers personal stories at historic sites.
The audio and augmented reality tour lets locals and visitors experience the Lowcountry’s Reconstruction Era history through the perspective of formerly enslaved people.
The “Free & Equal” launch event was a partnership between the University of South Carolina Beaufort’s Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction Era and San Francisco-based media company Walking Cinema, which produced the app. The National Endowment for the Humanities funded the project.
"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. The eyes of the world were on Beaufort 150 years ago and post-Civil War ideas and events still resonate,” said Dr. J. Brent Morris, executive director of USCB’s Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction Era. “We are proud to be associated with this project and the talented developers at Walking Cinema."
USCB Students from one of Dr. Robert Landrum’s public history courses helped test the tour during its development.
The tour experience, directed by Michael Epstein, begins with sites in the Reconstruction Era National Historic Park, then visits the home of a future Harriet Tubman monument at the Tabernacle Baptist Church, and continues on to the Brick Baptist Church on St. Helena Island.
Darius Brown, a young genealogist who lives in Grays Hill, is the modern-day protagonist of “Free & Equal." He is a descendent of Isaiah Brown, who was enslaved, then became a free land owner who rose to the rank of sergeant in the United States Colored Troops.
Scenes depicted in 360-degree augmented reality tour include the 1861 Civil War battle where Union forces overtook Beaufort and an Emancipation Day celebration in 1883 in Port Royal — which Isaiah Brown likely attended.
Tour participants experience layers of history at local settings including the Carnegie Library, the building that now houses the Beaufort Chamber of Commerce. In the Civil War, it was used as City Hall and the Office for Freedmen.
Walking Cinema partners with local businesses to create and place artifacts that add to the tour narrative. On Bay Street, where retail shops Monkey’s Uncle and Emporium now stand, the Freedman’s Bank opened in 1865 as a place for Black Union troops to deposit their paychecks. Aged and framed replicas of Freedman’s Bank cards now hang on the walls nearby at the Rhett Gallery for tour participants to discover.
For more info: www.freeandequalproject.com
The “Free & Equal” launch party is from 7-8:30 p.m. June 17 at the Port Royal Farmers' Market (Naval Heritage Park) on Ribaut Road in Beaufort. Featuring live music, screenings and augmented reality demonstrations, it is free and open to the public. There is also a Zoom option. RSVP for either at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/free-and-equal-launch-live-performance-tickets-158040588655 . Download the app now at the Apple App Store (coming to Google Play in August).