Sponsors and funding - Overview

The Summerlee Foundation funded development of the Texas & Mexico portion of the site as part of their mission of supporting research and education on Texas history. The first portion of the site was funded privately.

There are substantial opportunities to fund the ongoing presence and development of Rebellion.

What's in it for funders?

By assisting with the site, you or your organization can make a valuable and lasting contribution to the public understanding of our shared American heritage. You also might help us change the history books by exposing the fact that for nearly 150 years, scholars have overlooked the country's largest slave rebellion. Not only will the revelation of this fact—and the dramatic story of the Black Seminoles—be of interest to thousands of Americans, especially school children, but this new information will also help deepen the understanding of the legacy of slavery while revealing its impact on the ways that American history has traditionally been recorded and remembered.

Finally, by investing in Rebellion now, you will also be furthering the development of a new medium, contributing to a Web documentary that few single-subject Web sites can rival for originality, depth of content, and scholarly integrity.

Table of additional funds sought

Item: Annual site hosting through 2008

Goal: Cover annual cost of hosting the site, about $180 per year.

Subtotal, Funds sought

720

Item: Image license renewals & production costs through 2008

Goal: Cover costs associated with renewing licenses to use select images on the site, for which renewals are charged annually or bi-annually. Cover production costs associated with editing and preparing images for the Web.

Subtotal, Funds sought

2,500

Item: New documentary images

Goal: Get a world-class documentary photographer to the key locations in the story to photograph current inhabitants and to document landscapes, structures, and locations central to the historical narrative. Trips to each location will yield 30-40 new images for the trail narrative and online photo tours of the sites.

Photo expenses for Florida	$	4,000
Photo expenses for Oklahoma	$	4,000
Photo expenses for Texas	$	3,000
Photo expenses for Mexico	$	4,000
Subtotal, Funds sought	$	15,000

Item: Enhanced content for Florida segment & slave rebellion

Goal: Make a substantial contribution to American scholarship and popular history by presenting the most thoroughly researched and documented profile ever of the 1835-38 slave rebellion in Florida. Despite its stature as the country's largest slave uprising, the Florida rebellion remains one of the country's most poorly documented events. And yet there are records and even visual remains of the uprising that remain to be located and brought to the attention of the general public. This important addition to the site will be based on the best existing scholarship combined with new research, presented through a compelling narrative, 40 new story panels, and a series of dramatic location photographs showing plantation ruins and sites of the revolt.

Photo expenses (see "new documentary images")	$	4,000
New historical image research & acquisition	$	2,500
New historical research & content development	$	3,500
Web site development	$	2,500
Subtotal, Funds sought	$	12,500

Item: Enhanced content for Oklahoma segment

Goal: Add new materials on a fascinating but little known chapter of American history, documenting the experience of African Americans in the Indian Territory during the U.S. Civil War and Reconstruction through the story of the Seminole Freedmen, the Black Seminole descendants who remained in Oklahoma after John Horse's departure in 1850. While Rebellion takes shape around John Horse's odyssey from Florida to Mexico, the story of the Black Seminoles who remained in Oklahoma is fascinating in its own right, shedding its own unique light on the American experience. The additions to this segment will include documentation of the contemporary Black Seminole community in Oklahoma, with original photography and a search for rare archival images from the period.

Photo expenses (see "new documentary images")	$	4,000
New historical image research & acquisition	$	2,500
New historical research & content development	$	3,500
Web site development	$	2,500
Subtotal, Funds sought	$	12,500

Item: Overall improvements for students and scholars

Goal: To establish Rebellion as a model for historical Web sites—and for humanities sites in general—by enhancing its value to scholars of all ages and by improving its usability and overall design. Improvements will include the addition of scholarly articles & interviews, creation of an online database of images, quotations, and primary documents, creation of curriculum guides for high school and elementary school students, and implementation of design revisions following usability reviews. Funds are also included for the promotion of the site to educators and students.

Add new scholarly interviews & content	$	5,000
Design & build Web database of scholarly materials	$	7,500
Online curriculum guides for students	$	5,000
Enhance & build revised Web interface	$	5,000
Subtotal, Funds sought	$	22,500

Subtotal, All funds sought		65,720
Funds administration via umbrella agency (5%)		3,285
Total, All funds sought	$	69,005