FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 18, 2025

Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park Announces 2025 Film Series: 

Dates: Wednesday, October 22 & Thursday, October 23, 2025
Location: USCB Hilton Head Island Campus | 1 Sand Shark Drive, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
Time: Reception begins at 5:00 PM | Films to follow
Tickets: $30 One Night | $50 Two-Night Pass | Ticket Link

About the Event

The Labor of Culture Keeping

Hilton Head Island, SC — Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park is proud to announce a momentous step forward in its mission to preserve and interpret the legacy of America’s first self-governed town of formerly enslaved people. On Wednesday, August 27 at 9:30 AM, the Park will officially break ground on its new Archaeological Research Facility and Auditorium, a first-of-its-kind space dedicated to uncovering, studying, and sharing the stories of the Mitchelville community and its descendants.

Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park announces the return of its annual two-night Film Series, taking place October 22 and 23 at the University of South Carolina Beaufort’s Hilton Head Island campus. This year’s theme, “The Labor of Culture Keeping,” honors the intergenerational work of artists, chefs, farmers, and historians who sustain African American traditions with creativity, resilience, and purpose.
Each evening will feature acclaimed documentary films paired with conversations that highlight the extraordinary efforts of Black culture bearers who have committed their lives to preserving memory, land, flavor, and identity. The event will be guided and moderated by historian and Ph.D. candidate André L. Taylor, whose work on African American foodways, oral history, and cultural heritage provides critical context and connective threads throughout the series.
“This series is more than an evening at the movies—it’s a platform for cultural transmission,” said Joyce Wright, Director of Programming and Interpretation at Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park. “Whether through fire, fabric, or farming, our featured guests remind us that culture doesn’t survive by chance. It endures because people labor to carry it forward, and this event is a space to honor that labor.”