Harpers Ferry, West Virginia

• Jamila Jones Spearheads the Affrilachian Cultural Trail, Blending Outdoor Fun with the Rich African American History of Appalachia
  WASHINGTON, March 1, 2024 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- In a significant stride towards enhancing cultural heritage tourism and outdoor recreation, the announcement of a new initiative aims to spotlight the rich African American history within the Appalachian region.
• The Affrilachian Cultural Trail project, spearheaded by Innovative Community Solution's visionary leader Jamila Jones, seeks to establish the Weaver-Gilison House in Harpers Ferry as the trail's headquarters, marking a pivotal development in historic preservation.
• Jones's project, the Affrilachian Cultural Trail, is an ambitious multi-state endeavor aimed at celebrating and preserving African American cultural assets along the Appalachian Trail.
• Looking ahead, Jones envisions expanding the trail to include narratives of Native American history in Appalachia, further enriching the cultural tapestry of the region.

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  Before Congress ended the transatlantic slave trade in 1808, the Port of Charleston was the nation’s epicenter of human trafficking.
• That location of once utter degradation is now the hallowed site of the International African American Museum.
• The museum’s mission is to honor the untold stories of the African American journey and, by virtue of its location and landscape design, pay reverence to the ground on which it sits.

America’s widespread historical illiteracy

• In the 2022 “Nation’s Report Card,” the National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed ongoing deficiencies in eighth
  grade students’ knowledge of U.S. history and civics.
• Only 20% of test-takers scored proficient or above in civics, and, for American history, only 13% achieved proficiency.
• In this highly politicized environment, efforts to restrict how race can be discussed in public schools have led to widespread calls from parents and politicians for the censorship of certain books on race.
• These new restrictions have had an impact on public education, according to the National Council for History Education.

South Carolinians’ overlooked national impact

• Exhibits show how the lives of Black people and their resistance to enslavement helped shape state, national and international affairs.
• For example, South Carolina’s 1739 Stono Rebellion, in which fugitive slaves attempted to escape to Spanish Florida, precipitated conflict between Spain and Great Britain.
• But few know that Shields Green, a South Carolina fugitive slave, assisted in the planning and execution of the fateful attack.

A monument to freedom

• In my view, that collaboration will likely be challenging, given the efforts to sanitize the nation’s racial history and teachers’ apprehensions about teaching supposedly controversial subjects.
• “This is a site of trauma,” Tonya Matthews, CEO and president of the museum, told CBS News.
• That’s what makes it a site of joy, and triumph.” Indeed, the International African American museum is, by design, a monument to freedom – and an honest engagement with America’s troubled racial past.

• The battery supplies a Level Two EV charger capable of accommodating a vehicle for charging, which delivers eight to 24 miles of range per hour of charging.
• Aside from a small cost to the company to maintain the site going forward, the installation will be a self-sufficient, standalone renewable power generator.
• Most other EV chargers in the state pull power from the electric grid where the energy source is a mix of nuclear, hydro, gas, coal and other power resources.
• "Mon Power is committed to the environment and improving reliability for customers by bolstering and diversifying the region's energy mix."

• Harpers Ferry's commitment brings Mon Power and Potomac Edison closer to beginning construction on five proposed solar facilities.
• One megawatt of solar energy powers a national average of 173 homes, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association.
• "We look forward to working with more customers who have interest in supporting the clean energy transition through solar power."
• SRECs are certificates that represent the environmental attributes of solar power and certify solar energy was generated on the purchasers' behalf.