The Georgia College & State University history professors behind The Georgia BBQ Trail website have veered off the beaten path to explore the stories of two restauranteurs who challenge the stereotype of the southern barbecue pitmaster.

“Keepers of the Flame Fan the Flames of Change: A Digital Oral History Project on Georgia Women in Barbecue” is a series of documentary films from historians Craig Pascoe and James “Trae” Welborn. The first two films in the series profile Jenica Gilmore and Tammy Woodard, the women pitmasters and businessowners behind successful barbecue restaurants Vanna BBQ in Vanna and Smokey’s BBQ in Garden City.

In “Keepers of the Flame,” Pascoe and Welborn present Gilmore and Woodard as women pitmasters that have overcome preconceived notions of who can cook authentic barbecue and who can be successful in the barbecue business.

“The popular image of the southern barbecue pitmaster has been white and male,” Welborn said. “But the historical record and present practice both refute such prejudicial presumptions and perspectives with Black Southerners and Southern Women consistently occupying an essential, if marginalized, place around the pit and at the table in the region’s barbecue culture and history.”

“Keepers of the Flame” confronts the “authenticity” standards imposed on barbecue. Welborn and Pascoe argue that the historic practitioners of the artform don’t conform to the popularized image of the southern pitmaster, and the people fueling the contemporary explosion of barbecue culture will further stretch notions of who fans the flames of this regional culinary tradition.

Filmed in 2022, “Keepers of the Flame” also explores the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on the food service industry and how these women food entrepreneurs kept their businesses afloat.

“Keepers of the Flame Fan the Flames of Change: A Digital Oral History Project on Georgia Women in Barbecue” premieres in a special screening at 6 p.m., Wednesday, March 1, in the Arts & Sciences Auditorium at Georgia College & State University. Tammy Woodard, of Smokey’s BBQ will be present at the screening.

“Keepers of the Flame” is funded in part through Georgia College’s Digital Humanities Collaborative. You can learn more about “Keepers of the Flame” on the Georgia BBQ Trails website.