Grant to change how visitors experience SC’s Reconstruction history

A new collaborative project that aims to change how visitors experience Reconstruction-era history in the Lowcountry is kicking into gear, thanks to a recently announced grant. 

The National Endowment for the Humanities, a federal agency that gives grants to cultural institutions across the U.S., awarded $280,000 to what has been dubbed the Free and Equal Project. 

Those funds will be used to support a countywide storytelling effort in four different formats: a mobile app that guides on-the-ground visits to historic sites, a website that provides additional resources and stories, an interactive kiosk and a printed map and brochure. 

Though the grant was recently finalized, the project itself has been in the planning stages for several years, said director Rose Ylimaki.

Ylimaki is also the executive director of the Center for Innovation in Higher Education at the University of South Carolina, which is one of the project’s partners.