The latest episode of “Tigers in the Archive,” the podcast that shares Clemson history through an exploration of Special Collections and Archives, features Rhondda Thomas, the Calhoun Lemon Professor of Literature in the Department of English and leader of the Call My Name project, which researches the role of African Americans in the University’s history.
Thomas started Call My Name to share the names and the stories of the generations of African Americans at Clemson, from the enslaved people who lived and worked on the Fort Hill plantation, to the sharecroppers that came after them, to prison laborers who built the first buildings on campus, all the way up to current students, faculty and staff.
Thomas discusses the many ways in which she used Special Collections and Archives in her research, and how that research has helped her make connections in the local community and across the state to learn even more.
Thomas joined the Clemson faculty in 2007. Her work on the Call My Name project is detailed in her book, Call My Name, Clemson: Documenting the Black Experience in an American University Community, which received an honorable mention in the 2021 book awards by the National Council on Public History. Thomas also serves as coordinator of research and community engagement for Clemson’s Woodland Cemetery and African American Burial Ground Historic Preservation Project.
Part one of the interview with Thomas is available now on Apple Podcasts, Google, Spotify and other major podcasting platforms.