building the museum, and such a wonderful example of the power of a great book. edward ball having written the book and me having wrote about the book and read the book, the international african american museum would not be under construction. and it is well under construction. and to be finished in june or july of next year. and that s all because of edward balls powerful work. i am sure that all of you have questions and comments, so i hope you will take advantage of this opportunity to discuss having him here. so questions or comments? well, hello, mayor. thank you for inviting me to come visit with you all. i am happy to do a q&a if you like. i thought it would also be appropriate just to start by reading a couple of pages from this book that you all have in your hands. the passage that i think is resonant more than many others in the book is one about the last day of enslavement on one of the plantations given in berkeley county. i thought that i would read a couple o
awards that walter has received, he is the prize macarthur fellowship genius award, that s hard to get it all in, that he received in 2019. walter has been acclaimed for design work for the united states and abroad. for us here in charleston, walter was selected to design exhibits for the festival over the years. i also had the great pleasure of working with walter through the institute on city design. in the 21 1/2 years of working on the international african american museum, he came to discover the history and location. the founding director of the national museum of african american history is with our class last week, said that it was the most sacred site of african american history in the western hemisphere. he helped acquire that land for the museum. harry cobb, our most distinguished design architect, told me he always wanted to have a design project where the site was more important than the building. harry designed the most beautiful buildings for our museum, which
[inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. in world war ii. and from the book with the african-american . [inaudible]. [inaudible]. world war ii. [inaudible]. in the world is changing. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. and with the responsibility. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. and just think for example, i was teaching at the time and we had the cuban crisis when the russians place the missile and i was standing in my classroom. what what i say to the students so let s talk about this and we saw the newspapers in the video about these missiles were down to cuba not far from charleston where they lived and what i did, i said now here is what is happening. let s go over chapter 22, the chapter on cuba and let s talk about the background and for that and that s the way that i talk. it was a pretty big
[inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. in world war ii. and from the book with the african-american . [inaudible]. [inaudible]. world war ii. [inaudible]. in the world is changing. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. and with the responsibility. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. [inaudible]. and just think for example, i was teaching at the time and we had the cuban crisis when the russians place the missile and i was standing in my classroom. what what i say to the students so let s talk about this and we saw the newspapers in the video about these missiles were down to cuba not far from charleston where they lived and what i did, i said now here is what is happening. let s go over chapter 22, the chapter on cuba and let s talk about the background and for that and that s the way that i talk. it was
you see him as our organizer of this event. but let me give you a little bit of background about him. sam has been a washingtonian since childhood. he earned his masters in public policy and a bachelor of arts in public policy from the college of william and mary. joined the society in june of 2016 and has held various positions serving as a tour guide, a speaker, communications professional, working with the retail, working with program management, and working with the basic administration of the organization. before he came to the historical society, he worked for a trade association as a freelance fly-in scheduler, a title ad instructor and a commercial property manager. so sam comes to us with a fascinating background and a real passion for history. and so it is my privilege to welcome you and to welcome our speaker today samuel holliday. thank you so much for that kind and warm introduction. it s truly a joy to work for the historical society and advance our mission to