The Slave Dwelling Project

Cultural Heritage Education and Preservation Servicesslavedwellingproject.org

The Slave Dwelling Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2010 that preserves and interprets extant African American slave dwellings through overnight stays, living history programs, an annual conference, and educational partnerships with schools and historic sites across the United States.

Company typePrivate
Founded2010
HeadquartersLadson, United States
Headcount1–10
GTM typeB2B and B2C
OfferingServices

The Slave Dwelling Project firmographics

Firmographics

Name: The Slave Dwelling Project
Legal name: The Slave Dwelling Project
Website: https://slavedwellingproject.org
Company type: Private
Founded year: 2010
Operating status: Operating
Headcount range: 1–10 employees
Short description: The Slave Dwelling Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2010 that preserves and interprets extant African American slave dwellings through overnight stays, living history programs, an annual conference, and educational partnerships with schools and historic sites across the United States.
Ownership category
akta.pro rank

Where The Slave Dwelling Project is headquartered

Location

Headquarters

HQ city: Ladson
HQ country: United States
HQ region: North America

Markets served

The Slave Dwelling Project business model

Business model

GTM type: B2B and B2C
Offering type: Services
Cost components: Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

Donations and Support: The organization relies on tax-deductible donations from individuals and organizations. The website has a dedicated 'Support Us' section with various giving levels.
Book Sales: Sales of the book 'Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery' co-authored by Joseph McGill and Herb Frazier, sold at events and through the merchandise section.
Speaking Fees and Honoraria: Joseph McGill and the Inalienable Rights living historians are engaged for speaking engagements, keynotes, and living history presentations at various venues.
Conference Registration: The annual SDP Conference generates revenue through attendee registration fees.

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels7 records

The Slave Dwelling Project product offering

Product offering

Core offering

The Slave Dwelling Project preserves and interprets former slave dwellings through its signature 'Sleeping with the Ancestors' overnight stays program and the Inalienable Rights Living History Program, which delivers immersive storytelling and first-person interpretation at partner historic sites, museums, schools, and universities across the United States. The organization also produces the annual SDP Conference, Behind the Big House tours, Campfire Conversations for community healing, and K-12 curriculum-aligned educational programming, supported by book and merchandise sales.

Product overview

The Slave Dwelling Project is a nonprofit cultural heritage preservation organization that operates as a single, unified mission-driven entity rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The core offerings center on 'Sleeping with the Ancestors' programming—which includes overnight stays in slave dwellings, speaking engagements, and living history interpretation—complemented by the 'Inalienable Rights' Living History Program that travels nationwide. The organization produces an annual SDP Conference, the 'Behind the Big House Tour' for community education, and hosts 'Campfire Conversations' for community healing. A published book, 'Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery' (2023), extends the narrative work. Events span multiple categories including sleepovers, living history, lectures, book signings, and virtual programming. The portfolio is interconnected through the central mission of preserving slave dwelling structures and educating the public about the lives of enslaved people.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

Inalienable Rights: The Living History arm of The Slave Dwelling Project that travels across the United States to present the lives and histories of enslaved people.

Products and services

Sleeping with the Ancestors Overnight Stays Program The flagship program of The Slave Dwelling Project featuring overnight stays in actual extant slave dwellings across the United States, accompanied by living history interpretation and speaking engagements by founder Joseph McGill Jr. to present the lives and histories of enslaved people.
Inalienable Rights Living History Program The Living History arm of The Slave Dwelling Project, where a team of living historians travels across the United States to present the lives and histories of enslaved people through immersive storytelling, hands-on demonstrations, and reflection.
SDP Annual Conference Annual multi-day conference bringing together scholars, living historians, and community members to discuss slavery heritage preservation. The 9th conference (October 2026) is titled '250 Years and Counting: Reckoning, Resilience, and Remembrance' in historic North Charleston, SC.
Behind the Big House Tour Living history tour program that brings African American history to life through powerful storytelling and hands-on demonstrations at slave dwelling sites, notably in Holly Springs, MS.
Campfire Conversations Community gatherings held at historic sites for truth-telling, healing, and connection, available both in-person at various locations and virtually through online platforms such as Skool.
Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery (Book) Book co-authored by Joseph McGill and Herb Frazier, chronicling McGill's personal account of sleeping in former slave dwellings across the country, revealing the history behind these sites and larger issues of race in America. Sold through the organization's merchandise section and at events.
Living History Educational Programs Educational programs featuring living historians who portray enslaved people and present historical narratives through interpretation, storytelling, and reenactments, including school programs (e.g., Charleston County Public Schools, Aveson Charter School, USC, Western University) and summer camps (e.g., South Carolina Military Museum).

Quantifiable outcome

39+ overnight stays completed in slave dwellings across the United States since 2010
+2 more outcomes

Companies that use The Slave Dwelling Project

Customer profile

Named customers8 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

The Slave Dwelling Project technology and API

Technology

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API: No
API docs
API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

The Slave Dwelling Project partnerships and signals

Strategic signal

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

Magnolia Plantation & GardenscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPrimary venue partner for living history programs, school visits, and Juneteenth events. The partnership enables Inalienable Rights living history presentations for Charleston County public school students with free admission and busing grants.
Historic Mitchelville Freedom ParkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerVenue for overnight stays, campfire conversations, and sleepovers at the historic site in Hilton Head, SC. The partnership supports interpretation of the nation's first self-governed community of formerly enslaved people.
Inalienable Rights Living HistorianscoreOthersA team of living historians who present the lives and histories of enslaved people through immersive storytelling, hands-on demonstrations, and powerful reflection at events across the United States.
Preserve Marshall County & Holly Springs, Inc.coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaborates on the annual 'Behind the Big House' tour in Holly Springs, MS, now in its eleventh year, interpreting the legacy of slavery through educational outreach.
Hobcaw BaronyminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPresented 'Inalienable Rights: Living History through the Eyes of the Enslaved' 2-Part Program, engaging with the site's deep-rooted African American cultural history dating to the 1700s.
Kids in Birmingham 1963minorGTM or Marketing PartnerHosted virtual event 'Sleeping with the Ancestors: Storytelling, Legacy & Intergenerational Healing' focusing on storytelling, legacy, and intergenerational healing work.
Skool (Online Community Platform)coreTechnology or IntegrationPlatform hosting the Sleeping with the Ancestors membership community, providing exclusive access to virtual campfire conversations, event registration, and member perks like upgraded access to historic venue events.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

The Slave Dwelling Project competitors and assessment

Company assessment

Broad incumbents

Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello: Monticello operates a major historic site that includes Mulberry Row slave quarters and substantial slavery interpretation programming. It is a broad incumbent in the same space — heritage site with living history and educational programming on slavery — but at far larger scale, broader mission, and with permanent endowment support.
National Trust for Historic Preservation: The National Trust is a large, established preservation organization that includes African American heritage sites and slavery-related interpretation within a much broader historic preservation portfolio. It is a broad incumbent — overlapping in mission to preserve and interpret historic structures relevant to slavery — but not niche-focused.
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture: NMAAHC is the nation's flagship museum dedicated to African American life, history, and culture, including substantial interpretation of slavery. It is a broad incumbent operating at a vastly larger scale with permanent federal support, addressing overlapping audiences and educational mission.

Others

Equal Justice Initiative: The Equal Justice Initiative operates the Legacy Museum and the National Memorial for Peace and Justice, addressing slavery and its legacy through public history sites. It is an adjacent thematic peer in the slavery-heritage space but focused on memorialization and legal justice rather than living history interpretation.
1772 Foundation: The 1772 Foundation is a historic preservation grantmaker that provided SDP's first major gift in 2013. It is an ecosystem participant — not a peer in programming — but the closest funder/peer in the niche preservation ecosystem and a useful comparable for institutional preservation funding.

Direct peers

Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park: Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park on Hilton Head, SC is a heritage site interpreting the first self-governed community of formerly enslaved people. It is both a venue partner and direct peer — a historic site that runs living history programs and overnight stays on slavery-related grounds, comparable in scale and mission.
Preserve Marshall County & Holly Springs, Inc. Preserve Marshall County operates the 'Behind the Big House' tour in Holly Springs, MS, now in its eleventh year, which SDP collaborates on. It is a direct peer running living history tours and educational outreach interpreting slavery at the community level, using similar storytelling and demonstration formats.
Whitney Plantation: Whitney Plantation in Wallace, Louisiana is a museum and historic site entirely dedicated to interpreting the lives of enslaved people. It is the most direct peer — a heritage site whose core mission centers on slavery interpretation through site-based experience, similar to SDP's overnight stays and living history programming at slave dwellings.
Coming to the Table: Coming to the Table is a national descendant-led organization focused on acknowledging and healing the lasting effects of slavery. It is a direct peer in mission — addressing the legacy of slavery through dialogue, education, and community gatherings — and is referenced in SDP's own testimonials.
Magnolia Plantation & Gardens: Magnolia Plantation is both SDP's primary venue partner and a direct peer — a historic plantation site that interprets slavery, hosts overnight stays, and runs Juneteenth and educational programs. It is comparable in operating model and audience to SDP's venue-based programming.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

The Slave Dwelling Project financial estimates

Financial estimate

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

The Slave Dwelling Project leadership team

Management profile

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

The Slave Dwelling Project subsidiaries and ownership

Company hierarchy

Subsidiaries2 records

The Slave Dwelling Project funding detail

Funding detail

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

The Slave Dwelling Project M&A and investment

M&A and investment

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about The Slave Dwelling Project

What does The Slave Dwelling Project do?

Is The Slave Dwelling Project a public or private company?

The Slave Dwelling Project is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.

When was The Slave Dwelling Project founded?

The Slave Dwelling Project was founded in 2010. It employs 1 to 10 people.

Where is The Slave Dwelling Project based?

The Slave Dwelling Project is headquartered in Ladson, United States, in the North America region.

How does The Slave Dwelling Project make money?

Four revenue lines are on record. Donations and Support is the primary driver. The others are book Sales, speaking Fees and Honoraria and conference Registration.

Who are The Slave Dwelling Project's main competitors?

Broad incumbents on record are Thomas Jefferson Foundation at Monticello, National Trust for Historic Preservation and Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture. Others are Equal Justice Initiative and 1772 Foundation. Direct peers are Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park, Preserve Marshall County & Holly Springs, Inc., Whitney Plantation, Coming to the Table and Magnolia Plantation & Gardens.

Does The Slave Dwelling Project have an API?

No public API is recorded for The Slave Dwelling Project.