Ossabaw Island Education Alliance

In 2007, Armstrong Atlantic State University (Armstrong) in Savannah, GA received a $1.2 million grant from the National Science Foundation. With the grant, Armstrong developed OssaBEST, a three year project teaching computer technology to local middle and high school students and teachers conducting research on Ossabaw and transmitting data through the Barrier Island Observatory. The Education Alliance served as a key partner in the effort.  We worked with Armstrong faculty to develop the program, sponsored the grant application, provided matching in-kind support, and represented the Barrier Island Observatory and the Georgia Board of Regents on the NSF grant team.

The Alliance is leading an initiative to recover and preserve the nearly 300 year history of African Americans who lived as enslaved people and freedmen on Ossabaw and on the Georgia coast. In 2008, 450 historians and lay people from 18 states and 3 foreign countries attended a history symposium sponsored by the Alliance on African Americans in the Georgia lowcountry, the first of its kind. The University of Georgia Press recently published a book from the original research presented at this event.

Purchase the book click here.

In 2009, the Education Alliance was the leader in securing a $40,000 grant through the National Endowment for the Humanities.  Beginning in early 2010, the one-year-long planning grant brings together a team of nationally renowned experts in American history, Gullah history and culture, historic and natural site interpretation, archeology, oral history research, archival research and museum studies.

The team members are conducting original research and reviewing existing research on African American families that lived and worked on Ossabaw Island from the 1700’s through 1900, as enslaved people and freedmen.  From this effort, the Ossabaw Island Foundation is developing a plan to share with the public the untold stories of these people, through on site information, expanded interpretation with existing and new groups of visitors, and via the internet.

Instructed teachers and professors on daily life for 19th-century enslaved workers. Led by Georgia Historical Society, funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Interpreted the Ossabaw Island story of enslaved Africans and Freedmen tenant farmers.

In 2009, OEA organized the Genesis & Ossabaw Island Project director’s reunion. Oral history interviews were conducted and a documentary was filmed.

In 2016, the Textile Society of America held a field trip to Ossabaw to explore the history of indigo.

Created a partnership of six sites (including Ossabaw Island) to increase visitation and awareness, and educate the public about the area’s common history and geography.  Moon River District members are:

• Bethesda Academy
• Isle of Hope
• Ossabaw Island State Heritage Preserve
• Pin Point Heritage Museum
• Skidaway Island State Park
• University of Georgia Aquarium
• Wormsloe Historic Site

The Ossabaw Island Education Alliance hosted a symposium featuring original research presented by twelve historians and writers on how 5000 years of people and cultures were influenced by Georgia’s 100 mile coastline. The University of Georgia Press published a book from the conference proceedings in July 2018.

Purchase the book, click here.