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Condemned: The Transformation of Race and Swampy Space in South Carolina

February 5th , 2026

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Agenda:

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  • 12:00 - 12:05 - Welcome and Intro

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  • 12:05-12:45 – Talk by Morgan P. Vickers

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  • 12:45 -12:55 - Q&A and Discussion

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  • 12:55-1:00 - Closing

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  • 1:00 - 1:30 - Q & A & D continued for those that want to stay

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Today’s Speaker:

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Morgan P. Vickers, PhD: Assistant Professor University of Washington

Morgan is an Assistant Professor of Race/Racialization in the Department of Law, Societies, and Justice at the University of Washington, where they are an affiliate faculty member with the Center for the Study of Demography and Ecology and the Center for Environmental Politics. Vickers received their Ph.D. from the Department of Geography at the University of California, Berkeley.

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Their research is centrally concerned with the ways racialized populations and their environments have been historically defined using parallel language of damnation, pestilence, and threat in order to destroy both through legal and extralegal maneuvers. Vickers has published articles related to these themes in the Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Environment and Planning F, and American Anthropologist.

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Vickers is currently working on a book manuscript, tentatively titled Condemned: Damned Swamps, Black Haunts, and the Draining of the Lowcountry, 1865-1945, that aims to illuminate how centuries of environmental and racial myths are legitimized through American policy measures and infrastructural development projects designed to simultaneously remove undesirable people and unruly ecologies.

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Reclaiming

Wetland Narratives

Condemned:

The Transformation of Race and Swampy Space in South Carolina

Condemned:

The Transformation of Race and Swampy Space in South Carolina

Morgan P. Vickers

Assistant Professor

Department of Law, Societies & Justice

University of Washington

mvickers@uw.edu

Floodplains by Design

Lunch & Learn Winter Series

February 5, 2026

Morgan P. Vickers

Assistant Professor

Department of Law, Societies & Justice

University of Washington

mvickers@uw.edu

Floodplains by Design

Lunch & Learn Winter Series

February 5, 2026

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Condemned:

Damned Swamps, Black Haunts, and the Draining of the Lowcountry, 1865-1945

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Floodpaths

Condemning the Swamp

Unsettling the Swamp

Transcontinental Confluences

Reclaiming the Lowcountry

The Racial Swamp

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racialization

key concepts

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racialization

invention

The creation and transformation of racial categories over time.

key concepts

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racialization

invention

designation

The creation and transformation of racial categories over time.

The process of attaching racial meanings to individuals or groups based on real or imagined physical and social traits.

key concepts

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racialization

invention

designation

socialization

The creation and transformation of racial categories over time.

The process of attaching racial meanings to individuals or groups based on real or imagined physical and social traits.

Influenced by social dynamics, power structures, historical context, laws, media, and more.

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Affects our perceptions of immigration, crime, safety, environments, etc.

key concepts

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racial ecologies

key concepts

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racial ecologies

racialization

Understanding how race informs ecological realities, including access to the environment, control over resources, stewardship, collaboration, and governance.

key conepts

key concepts

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racial ecologies

racialization

conjunction

Understanding how race informs ecological realities, including access to the environment, control over resources, stewardship, collaboration, and governance.

Illuminating connections between racism and discrimination, the exploitation of nature and environmental crises, and the urgency of racial justice.

key concepts

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racial ecologies

racialization

conjunction

justice

Understanding how race informs ecological realities, including access to the environment, control over resources, stewardship, collaboration, and governance.

Illuminating connections between racism and discrimination, the exploitation of nature and environmental crises, and the urgency of racial justice.

Demonstrating how traditional knowledge systems, historically suppressed environmental relations, and racialized placemaking practices can inform ecological futures.

key concepts

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Condemning the Swamp

1

Section

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The Daily Record, October 8, 1909

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ecology of erasure

coined by environmental historian Paul S. Sutter

environmental and social forces that have obscured the history of human-induced environmental change from our purview

key concepts

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The State, July 7, 1906

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Unsettling the Swamp

2

Section

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The Racial Swamp

3

3

Section

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Transcontinental Confluences

3

Section

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via the Spokane Valley Museum

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Reclaiming

the Lowcountry

3

4

Section

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Is it possible to reclaim wetland narratives?

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Morgan P. Vickers

Department of Law, Societies & Justice

University of Washington

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mvickers@uw.edu

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morganpvickers.com

Thank You!

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Check Out: FbD Priority Efforts

https://floodplainsbydesign.org/about/priority-efforts/

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Upcoming FbD Events:

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A full calendar of events and links to meeting specifics can be found here:

https://floodplainsbydesign.org/participate/events/

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  • March 5th Lunch & Learn - We’ll explore Real Estate Excise Tax revenues as a means to fund conservation and affordable housing with folks from San Juan county.
  • March 26th - Funding and Policy Action Group Spring Meeting

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FbD Resources

BEF shared ongoing legislative briefings on integrated floodplain management (IFM).

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    • Resilience Needs Dashboard:
      • Aggregates over $600 million in flood recovery and resilience needs to build the case for post-disaster investment that would carry long-term benefits for communities, the State and Federally.
    • WA Flood Resilience Vision:
      • We invite you to help us improve and share this narrative as we work collectively to capture and focus, in helpful ways, the attention of the press, elected officials and decision-makers at all levels.