Join us for a tour and service project at the Charleston Museum's Dill Sanctuary with Michele Johnson of the James Island Black Cemetery Preservation Service Learning Project. Michele is an educator, Certified Interpretive Guide, Certified Diversity Executive (CDE)® Practitioner, Equity Coach, and a member of the Board of Trustees of The Charleston Museum.

The tour will begin with a talk about the history of Dill Sanctuary and its importance to James Islanders. Michele will also discuss how cemeteries are silent cities full of culture threatened by restrictive access and overgrowth; and how lack of awareness, upkeep and development threatens to erase Gullah Geechee stories and ancestral connections from these sacred sites. 

We'll finish up with a cemetery clean up service project led by the James Island Black Cemetery Preservation Service Learning Project team and staff from the Charleston Museum. Gloves and bug spray will be provided. Participants may bring their own rakes and manual clippers.

Lineup:

11am-1130am - Check-in and announcements

1130-12pm - Dill Sanctuary and the Importance of Cemetery Preservation talk with Michele Johnson

12pm-1pm - Cemetary Clean Up

1pm-1:30pm - Chat and Chew (Bring your own bag lunch) 

 **Please dress comfortably for the outdoors. We will be standing, bending and walking for the duration of the tour. Sunscreen, water bottles, bug spray and binoculars are all encouraged. These meetups are appropriate for ages 16 and up.

Spaces are limited. There are no plus ones. Everyone must register individually. 

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The Black and Brown Interpreters Network is a group of natural and cultural history interpreters and tour guides based in the Lowcountry and beyond who are dedicated to service, education and professional development in the field of heritage interpretation. 

We meet monthly to learn from our fellow Black and Brown Interpreters and tour guides; network, share opportunities for continuing education and scholarships, explore local history and more.

Our meetups are open to the community of Black and Brown people who identify as cultural/historical and natural history interpreters, tour guides and tour company owners; and/or Black and Brown people who have completed or plan to complete the National Association for Interpretation's Certified Interpretive Guide training course.

Remember "only we can tell our stories!"