Autobiographies and books on slavery at risk for removal from Charleston historical site gift shops
By Anna Sharpe asharpe@postandcourier.com
Jul 31, 2025
SULLIVAN’S ISLAND — Stories about the history of slavery in South Carolina, firsthand accounts from former enslaved people and the story of a Mount Pleasant Freedmen’s school are among the works flagged by National Park Service staff for review — and potential removal — at three historical sites in the Charleston area.
Staff at Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie National Historical Park and the Charles Pinckney National Historical Site in Mount Pleasant specified 10 titles sold in the parks’ gift shops as needing review for compliance with Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum’s May 2025order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History,” according to internal records obtained by the National Park Conservation Association and reviewed by The Post and Courier.
At the Fort Sumter Visitor’s Center in Liberty Square, where visitors board a ferry to explore the Civil War-era fortress, shelves are stocked with postcards, miniature South Carolina flags, pocket copies of the Constitution and other mementos.
An entire wall in the gift shop is dedicated to literature, featuring works on the Civil War, reprinted speeches, cookbooks, photo books and children’s books.
Much of the information on display at the Fort Sumter Visitor’s Center doesn’t shy away from the role slavery played in American history, nor some of the influential Antebellum figures who fought to preserve the institution in the South.
“South Carolina and Georgia cannot do without slaves,” reads one quote from Charles Cotesworth Pinckney on a towering display. Featured at the bottom of this sign is information about Olaudah Equiano, the son of an Ibo tribal elder who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Equiano later escaped and documented his experiences in an autobiography.
But the story of his life, published in 1789, is on the list for review, flagged this month by staff at the Charles Pinckney National Historical Site. “The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” was one of six books listed by park staff for review.
Alongside Equiano’s autobiography, NPS staff also included Harriet A. Jacob’s autobiography, “Life on a Plantation” by Bobbie Kalman and “Ar’n’t I a Woman?” by Deborah Gray White.
Smashing Obstacles & Building Legacies: Laing School and Freedmen’s Schools” by Lynette Jackson Love, a book about the history of the Laing School, a Freedman’s school in Mount Pleasant
founded in 1866, was also marked for review.
Love attended Laing for her elementary school years, according to her website. Today, the Charleston County school operates as Laing Middle School of Science and Technology.
“Shackles” by Marjory Wentworth, is a children’s book set on Sullivan’s Island and is based on a true story about a group of children who discovered shackles while digging for buried treasure in their backyard. In the book, the children learn about the history of slavery on the island.
Wentworth said she was shocked, but not surprised, when she learned her book was among the 10 listed for review. “Shackles” was borne out of an effort to educate both her children and herself on South Carolina’s ties to slavery, she said.
The award-winning book has been used to teach hundreds of children about that history in Sullivan’s Island. To remove “Shackles” from the parks’ shops would be dire, Wentworth said.
“There’s something about a picture book being brought into question that really indicates how far this government is willing to go to erase history. That has terrifying implications for all of us,” Wentworth said.
Five other books flagged for review at Fort Sumter and Fort Moultrie include:
“Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl” by Harriet A. Jacobs, a firsthand account detailing Jacobs’ life as an enslaved woman in North Carolina
“Stolen Charleston: The Spoils of War” by J. Grahame Long
“The 1619 Project: Born on the Water” by Nikole Hannah-Jones and Renee Watson
“Slavery and Public History: The Tough Stuff of American Memory” edited by JamesOliver Horton and Lois E. Horton
“What Your Ribbon Skirt Means to Me: Deb Haaland’s Inauguration” by Alexis Bunten, a children’s book about the first Native American to serve as U.S. Interior Secretary
The reviews are part of a nationwide effort to scrub what the president deemed a “distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth” from national historic sites in his March 27 executive order.
“In accordance with Secretary’s Order No. 3431, Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History, all interpretive signage is currently under review, including those at Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, and the Charles Pinckney National Historical Site. At this time, we have nothing further for you specific to these national park sites,” NPS said in a statement to The Post and Courier.
The National Park Service did not respond to specific questions about why the 10 titles identified at Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie and the Charles Pinckney site were flagged for review.
In June, signs asking visitors to report any information they spotted at NPS sites they felt was “negative about either past or living Americans” or fails to “emphasize the beauty, grandeur, and abundance of landscapes and other natural features.”
The appearance of the signs at Charleston-area sites was met with deep concern from historians, former employees and parks advocates.
“If some of these proposed changes are made, visitors may miss out on the full picture of history and nature that they deserve at our parks. Americans count on our parks to tell truthful stories and accurate information. The public can handle the truth,” NPCA Senior Director for Cultural Resources Alan Spears said in a statement.
Anna Sharpe
