Source: NewsBank/Readex – October 25, 1817, City Gazette (published as City Gazette and Daily Advertiser.)
Charleston, South Carolina, Advertisement, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12043, Page [3]
“Payne-ful” Business:
Charleston’s Journey to Truth
By Margaret Seidler
Illustrations John W. Jones
“Payne-ful” Business: Charleston’s Journey to Truth follows Margaret Seidler’s mission to learn and process her family’s genealogical past. Using extensive research and personal experience, Seidler discusses the realities of Charleston’s racial history while highlighting the historians, journalists, and community members who work to reconcile those truths. The book features authentic, historic slave advertisements brought to life by vivid paintings by artist John W. Jones that uncover the humanity hidden beneath the detached advertisement descriptions. Seidler hopes that acknowledging a more complete truth about our past will motivate us to bridge today’s racial divide.
Painter
John W. Jones
John W. Jones is an African American artist who first gained acclaim for his series, Confederate Currency: The Color of Money. Self-taught and drafted into the U.S. Army in 1970, he served in Vietnam, eventually becoming an Army illustrator.
Examining Confederate banknotes, he became interested in the depiction of the slave economy in the American South before and during the American Civil War. Banknotes of the era often depicted slaves as happy workers on the cotton plantations. Jones has said he intended to demonstrate that banknotes served a propaganda purpose in depicting slavery as a natural state of affairs and one on which the Southern states’ economies rested. Jones recreated these scenes in large color paintings, using models and posing them as in the original etched images. He exhibited his paintings next to the banknote with the original etching.
More recently, he has created a series of paintings, “Lowcountry Gullah Series.” He also painted a series featuring the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a regiment of Black soldiers that fought for the Union Army during the American Civil War.
Current & Upcoming
Events
Book Talks With Margaret Seidler & Dr. Nic Butler, moderated by Julian Gooding.
Saturday, May 11; 3 – 4:30 pm
Dorchester Road Library
6325 Dorchester Road, North Charleston, SC 29418
*Please note Nic Butler will not be participating on this date
https://www.ccpl.org/news/payne-ful-business-margaret-seidler
Saturday, June 8; 3 – 4:30 pm
Hurd/St. Andrews Library
1735 N. Woodmere Drive, Charleston, SC 29407
https://www.ccpl.org/news/payne-ful-business-margaret-seidler
Tuesday, June 19; 11am-1pm
Moveable Feast Luncheon
Litchfield Country Club, Pawleys Island, SC 29585
For reservations, 843.235.9600, linda@classatpawleys.com or visit www.ClassAtPawleys.com
Art Exhibitions
July 19 – September 13, 2024
Richland County Library
1431 Assembly Street, Columbia, South Carolina
Opening Reception: July 19, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
October 3 – 31, 2024
Milliken Art Gallery
400 Blackman Music Cir, Spartanburg, SC
Converse College
Opening Reception: October 3, 6 – 8 pm
Gallery Chuma
African American Artwork by John W. Jones
188 Meeting St, in the Charleston City Market
Events Archive
Events Archive
Art Exhibitions
“Payne-ful” Business, Charleston’s Journey to Truth Exhibition
December 1 – February 11, 2024
City Gallery
Waterfront Park on Prioleau Street
Book Talk
Monday, March 18; 6 pm
Book Talk at First Baptist Church, 61 Church Street, Downtown Charleston
Sponsored by the Preservation Society of Charleston.
On-site parking available using Meeting Street entrance.
Saturday, March 23; 10 am – 1 pm
Building Bridges Across Time and Race
Campbell Chapel AME Church
25 Boundary Street, Bluffton, SC
Saturday, April 27; 3 – 4:30 pm
Charleston County Public Main Library
68 Calhoun St, Charleston, SC 29401
Parking is under the library.
https://www.ccpl.org/news/payne-ful-business-margaret-seidler
Book Release
Wednesday, March 13; 5:30 pm
Charleston Visitors Center in the Camden Room.
News
View Paintings
Gallery Chuma
View the work of John W. Jones
188 Meeting St. in the City Market
Contact Author
Margaret Seidler
margaret@margaretseidler.com