'Shared History' screening Oct. 25

The Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World Program and the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art at the College of Charleston will present a documentary screening of "Shared History" at 7 p.m. Oct. 25 in room 309 of the Simons Center for the Arts, 54 St. Philip Street, downtown Charleston.

Following the film will be a panel discussion led by cultural critic Frank Martin and involving the film's producers, Felicia Furman and Vivian Glover, and one of the descendants featured in the documentary, Charles Orr.

The event is free, and the public is encouraged to attend.

For more information about "Shared History," go to www.sharedhistory.org or call Furman at 303-440-4029.

For more information about the screening, call Simon Lewis at 953-1920.

"Shared History" is about the historical and contemporary relationship of black and white families connected to Woodlands Plantation in Bamberg County. Woodlands was the home of American author William Gilmore Simms and more than 70 enslaved African-Americans.

Families connected to Woodlands Plantation are featured in "Shared History," which first was broadcast on SCETV as a PBS documentary in 2005.

The film documents the efforts of descendants of slaves and slave owners at Woodlands Plantation to examine the persistence of their relationship and expose the myths that sustained their connection through more than two centuries.

Featured are descendants of some of the oldest families in the area including the Manigaults, Nimmonses, Rowes, Simmses and Laboards.

Dorothy Manigault, community leader and business owner in Midway, served as executive consultant for the project as well as an on-camera witness exploring her family's history in Bamberg County. Gospel singer George Rowe and his grandson, Aquarius Rowe, also play key roles along with descendants of the Nimmons family.

While independently researching their respective family histories, three descendants whose ancestors were connected to Woodlands met and decided to explore their families' connection that had been forged in slavery.

In the process, they upended family mythologies about the old relationship through interviews and archival evidence.

The panel discussion following the screening will include Orr, Furman and Glover.

Orr, who lives in Detroit, is the great-grandson of Isaac Nimmons, the slave coachman of Woodlands.

During the Civil War, Nimmons transported food and supplies to the Simms family, which had "refugeed" to Columbia, but was accused by the plantation's white neighbors of burning Woodlands. He was exonerated, left the plantation and bought land in the Orange Grove community.

Orr first learned of his ancestor's association with Woodlands after doing a search of his name on the Web. Many descendants of Nimmons continue to live in Bamberg County.

Furman, who grew up in Greenville, is a great-granddaughter of Simms and is the director and producer of the documentary.

Glover, a former producer for NBC and current assistant vice president for communications and marketing at Claflin College, co-produced "Shared History."

"Shared History" is a presentation of South Carolina ETV and the Independent Television Service.