Betsy Newman
Betsy Newman is a documentary filmmaker and web content developer at SCETV, where she has produced more than a dozen documentaries and two immersive interactive websites. Her films have been broadcast nationally and have won a Telly, a CINE Golden Eagle Award and a Southeast EMMY. For more than a decade she was Co-National Coordinator of the U.S. Office of the International Public Television Conference (INPUT). In 2016 she received the South Carolina Governor's Award in the Humanities. She has written numerous successful proposals to state humanities councils and has been awarded several grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities, including for Reconstruction 360 (www.reconstruction360.org) and Between the Waters: Hobcaw Barony Website Project (www.betweenthewaters.org).
Stories
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Teaching Ourselves - Chalkboards | Reconstruction 360
April 17, 2023These little chalkboards would be used by the students in this class to practice reading, writing and arithmetic. They are a type of tablet, a solid, flat surface that can be written on. Reconstruction 360 uses a 360 degree video platform as a storytelling device that lets... -
Teaching Ourselves - Freedmen's Bureau | Reconstruction 360
April 10, 2023The Freedmen’s Bureau supported African American education. Although the bureau didn’t operate schools or hire teachers, its agents helped build schools and supply them with books, and they sometimes provided military protection for students and teachers threatened by whites... -
Teaching Ourselves - Missionary Societies | Reconstruction 360
April 03, 2023The American Missionary Society and other private benevolent societies from the North helped to establish more than five hundred schools and colleges for formerly enslaved people in the South. Reconstruction 360 uses a 360 degree video platform as a storytelling device that... -
Teaching Ourselves - Church as School | Reconstruction 360
March 27, 2023Freedpeople often had difficulty finding appropriate school buildings, and Black students regularly attended school in churches. Ministers were often happy to host schools in their churches, and congregation members in turn raised funds and often donated land to establish... -
Teaching Ourselves - Teacher | Reconstruction 360
March 20, 2023The school's new teacher has recently finished her training and this is her first teaching assignment. Black men and women were eager to teach in schools for freedpeople, and African American communities often wanted Black teachers for their children. Reconstruction 360 uses... -
Teaching Ourselves - Community Member | Reconstruction 360
March 13, 2023This community member, the leader of a local mutual aid society , has been instrumental in raising funds to hire a new teacher. Black communities often pooled their money to build schools and pay teachers. Northern missionary societies and the Freedmen’s Bureau also helped...
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