SC Humanities funds numerous projects in South Carolina through Major Grants, Mini Grants, Planning Grants, and Fast Track Literary Grants.
Grants awarded in fiscal year 2022 (November 1, 2021 – October 31, 2022) are displayed below.
Major Grants
Sponsoring Organization: Sigal Music Museum
Project Title: “The Sounds of America” Exhibit
Project Director: Thomas Strange
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $54,200
The Sigal Music Museum in Greenville will present a new original exhibit titled “The Sounds of America,” opening in June 2022. The exhibit will feature instruments from 1750 to the present and stories about them that explore elements of American history as well as America’s pivotal role in the world music industry. The exhibit will include numerous significant instruments from the museum’s collection, informational banners, sound sticks, and QR codes to create an immersive experience into American music history. The museum will also build a re-creation of the store front of Greenville’s first music store and display related artifacts.
Sponsoring Organization: South East Rural Community Outreach
Project Title: Juneteenth Celebration at the Harriet Barber House
Project Director: Mary B. Kirkland
Awarded: $8,000; Cost-share: $15,000
On June 19th, 2022, South East Rural Community Outreach will present a major Juneteenth celebration event on the grounds of the historic Harriet Barber House that will include tours of the house, Chautauqua-style historic impersonations of the figures of Sam and Harriet Barber, exhibits, a symposium lecture with scholars, performances, and re-enactments. The event is intended to highlight the unique history of the Barber family, the Reconstruction Era, and the history of Lower Richland County.
Sponsoring Organization: Fountain Inn Museum
Project Title: On the Banks of Durbin Creek
Project Director: Mary Hannah Willingham
Awarded: $5,787; Cost-share: $5,954
The Fountain Inn Museum will create a short, “silent” video that will show how Fountain Inn and its populations have evolved from the 1700s through the present. The film will be shown on a constant loop as part of the museum’s exhibits, and it will also be used as a portable educational and program tool at schools and other community venues. The film is expected to be completed in July and be introduced at the museum in August 2022.
Sponsoring Organization: Butler Heritage Foundation
Project Title: The History of the Butler Heritage Foundation
Project Director: Jennifer Heusel
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $13,150
The Butler Heritage Foundation will create a documentary and printed publication tracing the history of the organization, especially how its creation related to school segregation in South Carolina. Oral histories of at least five interviewees, former graduates of or teachers at Butler High School, will be collected, and the foundation’s documents will be researched, organized, and archived. The research will be compiled into a 30-page publication and a 15-20-minute video, which will premiere at a special event at the Butler Community Center campus in January 2023.
Sponsoring Organization: Culture and Heritage Museums
Project Title: Historic Brattonsville Orientation Exhibit
Project Director: Zach Lemhouse
Awarded: $4,454; Cost-share: $5,608
The Culture and Heritage Museums will create a new orientation/welcome exhibit at Historic Brattonsville that will tell a more inclusive story with additional information about influential women and Brattonsville’s African American population. The exhibit will consist of 11 wall-mounted text panels, artifacts, a wall-mounted timeline, and audio-visual equipment to screen videos. The exhibit has an estimated opening in early fall 2022.
Sponsoring Organization: Stone Soup Storytelling Institute
Project Title: 2022 Stone Soup Storytelling Festival
Project Director: Karyn Page-Davies
Awarded: $4,837; Cost-share: $9,575
The 2022 Stone Soup Storytelling Festival is scheduled for April 22 – 24, 2022 in Woodruff, SC, a rural part of Spartanburg County. The event will offer four featured tellers and eight “new voices” presenters, who are “up and coming” storytellers. They will also send storytellers into local schools on the Friday of the festival. Several of the storytellers specialize in cultural stories, such as folktales, mythology, African mythology, black folklore, and Anansi stories. Opportunities for Q&A, discussion, and interaction amongst audience members and presenters are offered.
Sponsoring Organization: Able South Carolina
Project Title: The Bull Street Campus Through the Lens of the Disability Community
Project Director: Kimberly Tissot
Awarded: $9,158; Cost-share: $9,158
Able SC will partner with Historic Columbia to create a shared history about the Bull Street campus from the untold perspective of the disability community that once lived there. This will be a multi-channel project, starting with a public website sharing stories of patients, family members, former employees, and advocates. The website will be accessible to all but will be especially designed for use in schools, adding the disability rights movement to the Civil Rights curriculum. Additionally, a second phase will create wayside signage to be installed around the Bull Street District, and eventually there will be a series of educational forums, tours, and an event in July 2023 commemorating the 33rd anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Sponsoring Organization: Center for Creative Partnerships
Project Title: Meltdown in Dixie: Engage, Empower, Transform
Project Director: Ellen Zisholtz
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $23,800
The Center for Creative Partnerships will coordinate a series of public screenings and discussions of the documentary Meltdown in Dixie (2021), which examines the complexities of race and Southern culture through the story of a battle over display of a Confederate flag in Orangeburg, SC. The documentary was also funded by SC Humanities with a Major Grant. Between May 2022 and April 2023, the film will be screened at least monthly at 13 different venues, including Bamberg 2 Schools, USCB Performing Arts Center in Beaufort, Avery Research Center in Charleston, Florence County Museum, Georgetown County Library, Palmetto Theater in Hampton, Morris Center for Lowcountry Heritage in Ridgeland, The Echo Theater in Laurens, Newberry Opera House, Orangeburg County Library, Nickelodeon Theater in Columbia, and the Arts Council of York County. Each screening will be followed by a moderated discussion with both local and state scholars. Scholars William Hine and Larry Watson will design a discussion and study guide that will be made available to participants in the screenings. Some screenings might be live-streamed to include virtual audiences.
Sponsoring Organization: Moving Image Research Collection
Project Title: MIRC Regional Film Roadshow
Project Director: Lydia Pappas
Awarded: $9,931; Cost-share: $11,760
The Moving Image Research Collection (MIRC) at the University of South Carolina’s University Libraries Special Collections will present a series of four public film screenings of archival, amateur-made films in rural communities from May – August 2022. The films explore regional areas of the state but have generally never been screened or discussed in the communities they represent. The archival films will be digitized and made available online as well as screened to the local communities, and humanities scholars will provide contextualization. The four targeted communities are Saluda, Bennettsville, Georgetown, and Pendleton. In each community, MIRC and partners/scholars from Columbia will partner with local cultural institutions and local scholars to prepare programming notes and offer a community discussion.
Sponsoring Organization: From the Heart Productions
Project Title: Going Fine Since 1889: The Magical Armstrongs
Project Director: Jennifer Stoy
Awarded: $8,000; Cost-share: $10,000
“Going Fine Since 1889: The Magical Armstrongs” is a proposed 90-minute documentary about the little-recognized Armstrong family, African American magicians who have origins in South Carolina and performed throughout the South during the Jim Crow era. The documentary is expected to be completed by the end of 2023 after which it will be submitted for PBS broadcasting, entered in a variety of film festivals, and presented at a series of community screenings at venues in South Carolina and North Carolina, including the Chapman Cultural Center, Claflin University, and Sidney Park CME Church in Columbia.
Sponsoring Organization: Charleston Gaillard Management Corporation
Project Title: Charleston Gaillard Center: Raising the Volume
Project Director: Sterling deVries
Awarded: $6,619; Cost-share: $37,791
The Charleston Gaillard Center will produce, promote, and evaluate a third season of their virtual conversation series “Raising the Volume,” which looks at race, art, activism, and community. The approximately 50-minute episodes pair the Center’s artists-in-residence Marcus Amaker and Charlton Singleton in conversation with scholars, local leaders, and educators to explore issues facing the Charleston community. The target audience is students in grades 6 – 12, and each episode is accompanied by a lesson plan. Season Three will include eight episodes, featuring speakers like Elana Pea, a local entrepreneur and activist, and Daniel Green, a lifestyle photographer and videographer.
Sponsoring Organization: Coastal Carolina University
Project Title: Gullah Geechee Community Day
Project Director: Ashlyn Pope
Awarded: $9,350; Cost-share: $10,950
Coastal Carolina University will host the 3rd annual Gullah Geechee Community Day in downtown Conway on February 25, 2023. The free event includes presentations, vendors, film screenings, and cultural performances. Potential topics of presentations include heirs property, sustainable development, culinary practices, historic preservation, and cultural tourism.
Sponsoring Organization: Gullah Geechee Group Inc
Project Title: UKWELI: In Search Of Healing Truth Conference (Gullah Geechee Linkin Up Fa Tru)
Project Director: Herb Frazier
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $20,050
Gullah Geechee Group Inc. is coordinating a two-day conference titled “UKWELI: In Search Of Healing Truth” that will take place February 25-26, 2023 at Burke High School in Charleston. On Saturday, there will be a keynote plenary by poet Dr. Len Lawson and four panels on the topics of lynching/racial violence, healing, heirs property/land retention, and Gullah culture. On the Sunday of the conference, there will be two nonfiction writers workshops, one for adults and one for youth, and an Open Mic spoken word finale moderated by Marcus Amaker. Tickets to the conference are $50/person. Some portions of the Sunday programming may be free. The concept of the conference is based on a collection of essays and writings edited by Horace Mungin and Herb Frazier that was published in 2022.
Sponsoring Organization: The Charleston Literary Festival, Inc.
Project Title: Charleston Literary Festival: Charleston Reads & Documentary
Project Director: Sarah Moriarty
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $55,000
The 2022 Charleston Literary Festival (formerly called Charleston to Charleston) will take place November 4 – 13, 2022. Two new elements will be included this year. Charleston Reads is a partnership with Mayor John Tecklenburg inviting the community to collectively read the book South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation by Imani Perry. Imani Perry will present a free session on November 6, 2022 that will also be livestreamed to HBCUs in South Carolina and Huntsville, AL. Secondly, the Charleston Literary Festival will work with a local production company to create a one-hour documentary film about the festival that will include excerpts from author sessions, author interviews, interviews with founders and sponsors, and behind-the-scenes footage of the event.
Sponsoring Organization: South East Rural Community Outreach
Project Title: Commemoration on the Land
Project Director: Deborah Scott Brooks
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $10,000
South East Rural Community Outreach will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the purchase of the Harriet Barber House property with two public events about African American land ownership and the history and culture of African Americans in Richland County. The first event is a film screening and discussion of “Restoration: A Concert Film,” which explores stories of Southern Black self-determination and struggles for land justice. The second event will be a virtual discussion with scholars and authors Dr. William Darrity and Kirsten Mullen about the history of black land ownership in the South. The film screening is scheduled for January 21, 2023, and the virtual discussion is scheduled for April 3, 2023.
Sponsoring Organization: Bart Garrison Agricultural Museum of South Carolina
Project Title: Growing Towards Our Future: An Exploration of the Cultural Landscape of Modern Agriculture
Project Director: Josh Johnson
Awarded: $9,900; Cost-share: $10,000
The Bart Garrison Agricultural Museum of South Carolina will create a new exhibit that looks at changes in agriculture in South Carolina over the last 50 years, especially environmentally sustainable methods. The exhibit will include stories of South Carolina farmers, especially minority farmers, who have implemented innovative agricultural techniques, futuristic technologies, and agritourism. Additionally, there will be three large exhibit components: a section on herbicides and pesticides that includes a drone, a section on aquaponics with an aquaponic demonstration tank, and a section on the history of tractors with a tractor simulator. The exhibit is anticipated to open in January 2023.
Sponsoring Organization: Richland Library
Project Title: Poetry Workshops and Performances
Project Director: Clo Cammarata
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $20,306
Richland Library will coordinate a series of poetry workshops and a culminating presentation featuring Black British poet Yomi Sode in partnership with education consultant Peter Kahn. In March 2023, they plan to offer three high school workshops, one college workshop, and a final event at Richland Library on March 17 that will talk about identity, black culture, literary elements of poetry, and the craft of poetry. The identified high schools are Keenan High School, Spring Valley High School, and Midlands Middle College, and the college workshop will be open to students from UofSC, Allen, Benedict, and Midlands Tech.
Sponsoring Organization: Dorchester Heritage Center Inc.
Project Title: The Discovery Educational Outreach Series
Project Director: LaClaire Mizell
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $57,325
In 2023, Dorchester Heritage Center plans to present a series of 12 monthly lectures on a variety of historical and cultural topics relevant to Dorchester County. The “Discovery Educational Outreach Series” will be led by local scholars, historians, and presenters at venues around Dorchester County to increase attendees’ awareness and knowledge of Dorchester County History and increase the community’s awareness of the Dorchester Heritage Center as a venue and resource. Some of the proposed topics for the monthly lectures include “First Peoples Stories,” “African American Church & Campground History and Life,” “SC 250th Anniversary of the Revolutionary War and the Liberty Trail,” and “Summerville’s Golden Age.” Potential venues include the library, state historic sites, housing communities, and nursing homes.
Sponsoring Organization: Urban League of the Upstate
Project Title: Project Ready: Historical and Cultural Literacy
Project Director: Kimberly D. Arnold
Awarded: $2,000 Planning Grant; Cost-share: $10,000
The Urban League of the Upstate will facilitate a program for youth about the black urban experience in America. “Project Ready” is a national program offered by the National Urban League, and the Urban League of the Upstate will adapt it locally to focus on the history of the Urban League of the Upstate and the Historic McClaren Medical Shelter. The participating youth (“HCL – humanities scholars”) will take oral histories and research archival documents among other activities. At the conclusion of the program, the youth participants will share their knowledge at monthly coffee and conversation sessions in downtown Greenville.
Sponsoring Organization: Upcountry History Museum
Project Title: Upcountry History Museum Facing Change: Civil Rights Exhibit and Programs
Project Director: Dana Thorpe
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $72,048
The Upcountry History Museum will evaluate and update their existing exhibit Upstate SC Civil Rights Movement, which originally opened in 2014, through a process of working with scholars, community members, and memory initiatives. From December 2022 – November 2024, they will review the content and interpretive plan for the Civil Rights exhibit and expand programs and educational offerings associated with that topic. It is the first step in a larger museum-wide “assessment and refurbishing” effort related to their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEAI) goals. Exhibit and Education Committees at the museum will audit the current exhibit, identify errors and omissions, and recommend exhibit content modifications. At the same time, they will offer some programming about Civil Rights through Lunchbox Learning sessions and will create a new pilot program for 5th grade students titled “Catalysts for Change: Remembering the Past, Reimagining the Future.” By February 2024, they will be working on the final design for the exhibit, and the “Catalysts for Change” program will become established as one of their core educational offerings.
Sponsoring Organization: Southern NCSY
Project Title: The Butterfly Project
Project Director: Arielle Nakdimon
Awarded: $5,000; Cost-share: $304,250
NCSY will help coordinate “The Butterfly Project,” also known as the “Holocaust Memorial of Greenville,” an effort to incorporate Holocaust education into the local schools and community through curriculum and the creation of public art installations (sculptures and murals) at multiple venues. In the 2021-2022 academic year, 6th grade students painted ceramic butterflies after learning about the Holocaust and specific children lost to its horrors. In 2022-2023, they plan to develop an additional curriculum about tolerance. Additionally, they will begin to install the public art pieces from January – March at venues in Greenville. There will also be several public promotional events.
Sponsoring Organization: Friends of Coastal South Carolina
Project Title: Historical Background for Hasty Point Interpretation
Project Director: Grace Gasper
Awarded: $2,000 Planning Grant; Cost-share: $6,000
Hasty Point Plantation is an 800-acre historic property in Georgetown County dating to 1732. It has recently come under control of the Waccamaw National Wildlife Refuge, and the Friends of Coastal South Carolina is assisting in the process of interpreting this property, which will be open to the public. The application requests funds to pay for a professional research consultant, who will research the archives and historical records about this property to prepare to tell the story through an interpretive display. Once it is fully open to the public, Hasty Point Plantation will likely reach at least 1,500 students as well as other attendees every year.
Sponsoring Organization: Claflin University
Project Title: Exploring Female Contributions to Music and Their Influences on South Carolina Humanities and Culture
Project Director: Dr. Eunjung Choi
Awarded: $7,500; Cost-share: $10,000
Claflin University will sponsor a series of public lecture-recitals featuring South Carolina female musicians and investigating their impact on music history and culture. The three South Carolina musicians are Angie Stone (born 1961 in Columbia), Linda Martel (born 1941 in Batesburg-Leesville) and Lily Teresa Strickland (born 1884 in Anderson). There are four programs planned to take between January – July 2023 (specific dates are yet to be determined), three in Orangeburg and one in Anderson. Each program will include an interactive lecture by a humanities scholar as well as a musical presentation. Additionally, printed programs and a moveable exhibit about the three musicians will provide additional humanities context.
Sponsoring Organization: South Carolina African American Heritage Commission/ SC Department of Archives and History
Project Title: Hettie Anderson: Goddess Model of the Gilded Age
Project Director: Karen Strickland
Awarded: $5,000; Cost-share: $17,682
The South Carolina African American Heritage Commission, housed at the SC Department of Archives and History, will create a new temporary exhibit titled “Hettie Anderson: Goddess Model of the Gilded Age,” that will investigate the life of Hettie Anderson, a noted art model in the late 1800s who was born in Columbia, SC. The exhibit will include panels and artifacts, and a virtual version will be created that will be available on the SCDAH website even after the physical exhibit closes. The grand opening of the exhibit is scheduled for March 31, 2023, the last day of women’s history month.
Sponsoring Organization: The Arts Center of Greenwood
Project Title: Gullah Geechee History and Culture Through the Art of Jonathan Green
Project Director: Sylvia Martin
Awarded: $10,000; Cost-share: $10,000
The Arts Center of Greenwood will host two exhibits from January 15 – March 4, 2023: an art exhibit, “Jonathan Green: Art of Gullah Geechee Culture” and “The History & Culture of Gullah Geechee in South Carolina.” Additionally, they will have a series of lectures, workshops, and interactive activities for visitors of all ages. Scholar Victoria Smalls will be a consultant for the history exhibit and will give a keynote lecture. There will also be lectures by three Lander University professors, and a variety of events for youth like a storytime event, a Family Fun Day, and field trips from local schools with a take-home kit provided.
Mini and Planning Grants
Sponsoring Organization: Clemson University
Project Title: Oconee County and Pickens County African American Heritage Sites Database
Project Director: Rhondda Robinson Thomas
Awarded: $1,996; Cost-share: $1,996
Clemson University will create a database of significant African American heritage sites in Oconee and Pickens Counties. The database will be used as the basis of several public programming opportunities, including an interactive African American Heritage Trail around Clemson’s campus, documentaries created by the International African American Museum, and entries in the South Carolina Green Book project. The database creation will take place from January – May 2022 and includes three parts: identifying heritage sites that already have markers, identifying heritage sites that have been recommended by community partners but don’t have historical markers, and researching new African American heritage sites.
Sponsoring Organization: Georgetown County Historical Society
Project Title: The Georgetown County Oral History Project
Project Director: Christine Anderson
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $7,250
The Georgetown County Historical Society is planning an ongoing oral history project to collect oral histories of under-represented groups and communities, such as Gullah Geechee people and the county’s immigrant population. The first phase will focus on the desegregation of Winyah and Howard high schools and the 1981 burning of Winyah High. They will use Planning Grant funds to help them prepare for this larger project by procuring supplies and equipment, training volunteers to conduct oral histories, beginning to build connections in the potential communities that will be involved in the oral histories, promoting the project, and recording a few initial stories. Eventually, the oral histories will be accessible from the museum website, YouTube, and through digital collections.
Sponsoring Organization: The Progressive Club
Project Title: Interpretive Signage at The Progressive Club
Project Director: Joe Boykin
Awarded: $1,700; Cost-share: $8,740.50
The Progressive Club will use Planning Grant funds to begin the planning process for the mapping, placement, design, and thematic content of a series of interpretive signs on a walking trail at their historic campus on Johns Island. The Progressive Club was founded by Esau Jenkins in 1948 to help island residents exercise their civil rights, receive voter education and access, receive literacy education, and much more. They will partner with the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, South Carolina State Historic Preservation Office, Avery Institute of Afro-American History and Culture, and Clemson/College of Charleston Master of Science in Historic Preservation Program.
Sponsoring Organization: Coastal Carolina University
Project Title: Gullah Geechee Community Day
Project Director: Gary Schmidt
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $2,000
Coastal Carolina University will host their second “Gullah Geechee Community Day” on Saturday, February 26, 2022 in downtown Conway. The event will feature performers, storytellers, speakers, film screenings, craft exhibits and workshops, and cooking demonstrations. Presenters and scholars who attend the International Gullah and African Diaspora Conference, hosted by Coastal Carolina University on February 25th, will participate in the public community day as well. The Gullah Geechee Community day is free.
Sponsoring Organization: South Carolina State University
Project Title: Words Across the Water III: Writing and Discourse Across the Black Atlantic
Project Director: Thomas Cassidy
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $2,945
South Carolina State University will present their third “Words Across the Water” seminar series. The 2022 series “Writing and Discourse Across the Black Atlantic” will include three monthly hybrid programs in February, March, and April 2022 on the topics of “Carnival and Writing,” “Women’s Traditions and Transformations,” and “Poetry and Song.” Each session will have an in-person meeting at SC State University with the speakers appearing virtually through Zoom; attendees can also participate virtually.
Sponsoring Organization: Pat Conroy Literary Center
Project Title: Beaufort Human Library
Project Director: Jonathan Haupt
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $6,950
The Pat Conroy Literary Center will help coordinate a “Human Library” program on Sunday, April 4 as part of Beaufort’s National Library Week program. Twenty volunteers with diverse backgrounds and perspectives will serve as human “books” that can be checked out by event attendees to share their personal stories and have a conversation that is intended to promote empathy, civility, and inclusivity. Potential book topics include “P.K.: Growing Up as a Pastor’s Kid,” “Soy Americano,” “Living With Crohn’s,” “How To Be a Female Priest,” and “Crime, Punishment, and Femininity: Life as an Undercover Cop.” The program will be offered in partnership with the Beaufort County Library and the National Human Library Organization, among others.
Sponsoring Organization: Gullah Geechee Group Inc
Project Title: UKWELI: In Search of Healing Truth Conference (Gullah Geechee Linkin Up Fa True)
Project Director: Herb Frazier
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $2,000
Gullah Geechee Group Inc. requests Planning Grant funds to support a two-month planning period to decide on scheduling, programming formats, and other details for a major conference in Charleston, SC about racial understanding and the legacy of slavery. The conference will be based on a book edited by author and scholar Herb Frazier titled “UKWELI: Searching for Healing Truth.” The proposed conference will take place either in November 2022 or February 2023, and the planning period will determine the exact timing, schedule, location, partners, program content, evaluation measures, etc.
Sponsoring Organization: Oconee Military Museum at Patriots Hall
Project Title: ‘Women Veterans Day’ Recognition
Project Director: Sherrie M. Ross
Awarded: $500; Cost-share: $500
The Oconee Military Museum will present a Women Veterans Day program on June 11. The program will feature a speaker, Rita Torner (Retired Lt. Col.) sharing personal experiences and talking about the history of women in the military. Each female veteran will be honored and given a token of appreciation. There will be a display of videos, pictures, and stories of female veterans.
Sponsoring Organization: Coastal Discovery Museum
Project Title: Gullah Landscapes of Honey Horn and Graham Plantations
Project Director: Rex Garniewicz
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $7,000
The Coastal Discovery Museum will undertake an archaeological project as the first phase of an effort to learn more about the history of African Americans who lived on Honey Horn and Graham Plantations after emancipation. There will be two weeks of fieldwork and six weeks of lab work and artifact processing led by Dr. Terrance Weik and Dr. Eric Jones of the University of South Carolina, as well as undergraduate and graduate students. The results of the archaeology project and research will be interpreted by museum staff and integrated into museum programming, tours, and exhibits.
Sponsoring Organization: Baptist Educational & Missionary Convention of South Carolina
Project Title: Our Faith Stories from the Church Balcony
Project Director: Dr. Donald Greene
Outright Requested: $2,000; Cost-share: $2,500
The Baptist Educational & Missionary Convention of South Carolina will conduct archival research and create an outline/structure for a proposed documentary about the history of the Black Baptist church in South Carolina, starting with the Charleston First Baptist Church during slavery, when black church-goers were restricted to the balcony. The finished documentary will be shared with Black Baptist congregations in South Carolina, HBCUs (especially Benedict and Morris, which have connections to the Baptist church), museums, and SCETV, among others.
Sponsoring Organization: Saint Teresa Community Outreach and Empowerment
Project Title: Master Assessment Plan
Project Director: Dr. Terrie Gaskins-Bryant
Awarded: $1,760; Cost-share: $1,760
Saint Teresa Community Outreach received Planning Grant funds to conduct a master assessment on the interior and exterior of the historic P.D. Cockfield House in Lake City, which is a required first step before restoration can begin at the house. Once restorations are complete, they plan to make the house an African-American History Museum and Cultural Center.
Sponsoring Organization: The Actors’ Theater of South Carolina
Project Title: ‘The Final Trials of Anne Hutchison’ a docudrama project for screenings and discussion
Project Director: Chris Weatherhead
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $17,055
The Actors’ Theatre of South Carolina requests Mini Grant funds will create a 60-minute “docudrama” titled “The Final Trials of Anne Hutchison” that will examine the life and death of the colonial Puritan figure. Actors will portray the fictional character of Dr. La Roche and the historic characters of Anne Hutchison, Roger Williams, John Winthrop, and Susanna Hutchison and will examine issues of women’s rights, due process, religious liberty, and more. Scholar commentary will be included as part of the docudrama package. They anticipate the project could be complete as early as November 2022, and the finished film will be screened at several venues in South Carolina.
Sponsoring Organization: The Luminal Theater
Project Title: GRANDMASTERS Multimedia Exhibit
Project Director: Curtis John
Awarded: $1,500; Cost-share: $5,060
The Luminal Theater will present a two-day multimedia exhibit and documentary screening event about Black martial arts history on Wednesday, June 15 – Thursday, June 16, 2022. The new documentary “Grandmaster” examines the life of Vic Moore, the first Black karate National Grand Champion in the world, and the filmmaker will attend to discuss the film at the screening. In addition to the opening night documentary screening, there will be an exhibit of photos and original magazines, a video installation, vintage movie posters, and digital illustrations that all look at the history of martial arts in the black community. The event will take place at 701 Center for Contemporary Art in Columbia.
Sponsoring Organization: Greenville Light Opera Works (Glow Lyric Theatre)
Project Title: Judicial Complicity: Past to Present – A Community Panel
Project Director: Jenna Tamisiea Elser
Awarded: $1,995; Cost-share: $5,288
Glow Lyric Theatre will present a community panel discussion on July 30th, 2022 at the Greenville Kroc Center about South Carolina’s history of racial terror and the contemporary societal impacts. The panel is free and open to the public and is connected to the premiere of the opera Stinney: An American Execution that tells the story of the 14-year-old African American boy from Alcolu, SC executed in 1944. The community panel will feature two humanities scholars, the opera composer, and the Co-Chair of the Community Remembrance Project of Greenville County. The panel discussion will be recorded and archived on Glow Lyric Theatre’s YouTube channel.
Sponsoring Organization: Morris Center for Lowcountry Heritage
Project Title: The Supper Table Community Programs
Project Director: Kayleigh Vaughn
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $2,195
The Morris Center for Lowcountry Heritage will present a unique exhibit about South Carolina women and their impact on the state from July 9 – December 31, 2022. “The Supper Table,” designed by The Jasper Project in Columbia, consists of an actual physical table with artistic installations of place settings, drawings of the 12 featured women, as well as films and written pieces. The Morris Center plans to offer five collateral programs along with the exhibit: a conversation with the exhibit curator and three panel discussions (one with visual art contributors, one with writers, and one with filmmakers). Dr. Valinda Littlefield will also give a presentation on voter registration. The panels and other programs will be recorded and archived on the Morris Center’s Facebook page.
Sponsoring Organization: Aiken County Public Library
Project Title: South Carolina Writers on Page and Screen
Project Director: Jessica Christian
Awarded: $1,680; Cost-share: $2,450
The Aiken County Public Library will create a new “Let’s Talk About It” book discussion series on the theme “South Carolina Writers on Page and Screen.” The series will feature books by four South Carolina novelists and accompanying films: The Great Santini (Pat Conroy), The Mermaid Chair (Sue Monk Kidd), The World Made Straight (Ron Rash), and The Beach House (Mary Alice Monroe). The scholar-led discussion programs will take place on September 13, October 4, October 25, and November 15, with the movie screenings occurring one week before each discussion. Once the Aiken County Public Library is done with the book series, the volumes will be donated to the Let’s Talk About It program, housed at the SC State Library, where they will be available to be used by other libraries and cultural nonprofits.
Sponsoring Organization: Circulo Hispanoamericano de Charleston
Project Title: …Programming for Hispanic Heritage Month…
Project Director: Asela Rodriquez Laguna
Awarded: $1,506; Cost-share: $1,590
The Circulo Hispanomericano de Charleston group will host two events in Charleston for the 2022 Hispanic Heritage Month: a film screening and discussion on September 15 and a keynote lecture about Santa Elena on September 22. The subtitled Spanish language film “Tambien la Lluvia” (“Even the Rain”) explores issues of colonialism, exploitation of natural resources, and more; the film will be introduced by a humanities scholar and followed by a Q&A. The keynote lecture by Dr. Karen Paar will focus on the 16th century Spanish settlement in South Carolina of Santa Elena.
Sponsoring Organization: South Carolina State University
Project Title: Celebrating Hispanic Diversity, Language, and Culture
Project Director: Dr. Margaret L. Morris
Awarded: $1,200; Cost-share: $2,281
South Carolina State University will host a series of four virtual programs on “Celebrating Hispanic Diversity, Language, and Culture.” In September, there will be a presentation on the economic impact of knowing how to speak Spanish on the job. In October, there will be a presentation on Hispanic gestures. In February 2023, there will be a program on Afro-Hispanic culture and literature, and finally in March 2023, there will be a presentation on the obstacles Hispanic students face when enrolled in ESL classes. The goal of the series is to enlighten the community about several aspects of the Hispanic experience and culture. Each session will be recorded for future use.
Sponsoring Organization: South Carolina Historical Society
Project Title: Maps and Madeira Event at the State
Project Director: Scott Stephens
Outright Requested: $2,000; Cost-share: $13,545
The South Carolina Historical Society will host a special event at the South Carolina State Museum on Thursday, September 15. “Maps and Madeira” will include an exhibit of antique maps and a presentation by noted scholar Katie McKinney, the Assistant Curator of Maps and Prints at Colonial Williamsburg. Tickets are $45 for nonmembers and $35 for members.
Sponsoring Organization: The Pine Grove AME Foundation
Project Title: The Irmo Area Oral History Project
Project Director: James Washington
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $3,075
The Irmo Area Oral History Group is made up of volunteers from Pine Grove AME Church, McGregor Presbyterian Church, and the community. They are requesting grant funds to support an oral history project in which they will collect 22 oral history interviews with African American members of the Irmo community. They will work with the Oral History Department at the University of South Carolina to transcribe and preserve the histories, making them available on a website. They also plan to share the project at churches, schools, and civic groups in the Irmo community.
Sponsoring Organization: Newberry College
Project Title: Dufford Diversity and Inclusion Week 2022: You don’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been…
Project Director: Dr. Peggy Winder and Dr. Lerone Wilder
Awarded: $1,500; Cost-share: $19,160
Newberry College will present their 2022 Dufford Diversity and Inclusion Week (DDIW) on the theme of “You don’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been.” The 2022 DDIW will take place from October 17 – October 24, 2022 and will include an opening presentation with Dr. Cleveland Sellers and Bakari Sellers, a panel on minority alumni experiences, and a panel on “Invisibility of Disability” in partnership with SC Able, among other activities. The programs are all free and open to the student body as well as the community.
Sponsoring Organization: University of South Carolina
Project Title: ‘Wood Basket of the World’: Lumbering, Manufacturing, and Conserving South Carolina’s Forests
Project Director: Dr. Jessica Elfenbein
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $6,500
The University of South Carolina will convene a planning and stakeholders meeting in Sumter in April 2023 about the history and future of the lumber industry in South Carolina. 50-60 scholars, graduate students, and industry personnel will participate to share information on the history of lumber and forest conservation with the intent of planning for future public outlets and programs for the research to be shared. Public-reaching projects under consideration include an oral history project, an archival project, and a traveling exhibit.
Fast Track Literary Grants
Sponsoring Organization: Aiken Center for the Arts
Project Title: Aiken Center for the Arts Author in Residence Program with Dr. Curry and Aiken County Public Schools
Project Director: Caroline Gwin
Awarded: $3,000; Cost-share: $4,165
The Aiken Center for the Arts will coordinate a series of “Author In Residence” programs featuring historian and author Dr. Walter Curry and his two books The Thompson Family: Untold Stories from the Past and The Awakening: The Seawright-Ellison Family Saga, Volume 1, a Narrative History. The books feature Aiken County history. Each participating school will purchase copies of the books to be used by the students and will have two engagement opportunities with the author. Currently, Schofield Middle School and Kennedy Middle School are confirmed for author residencies starting in January. Three additional middle schools will be considered for the program.
Sponsoring Organization: Georgetown County Library
Project Title: Litchfield Tea and Poetry Series
Project Director: Trudy Bazemore
Awarded: $3,000; Cost-share: $3,430
The Georgetown County Library will present the sixteenth season of the Litchfield Tea and Poetry Series, featuring poets on January 20, February 17, March 17, and April 21 (third Thursdays). The seven featured poets are Ashley M. Jones, Elizabeth Robin, Marlanda Dekine, Palmer Smith, J. Drew Lanham, and Glenis Redmond. The programs are free and open to the public, and they are hoping to have them in-person, pending the COVID situation.
Sponsoring Organization: Arts Council of York County
Project Title: One Word Poetry Festival
Project Director: Angelo Geter
Awarded: $2,200; Cost-share: $3,000
The Arts Council of York County will host their second annual “One Word Poetry Festival” on March 30 – April 3, 2022. The event will include poetry workshops for various ages and backgrounds, readings, a poetry slam, open mics, and a poetry brunch featuring a nationally-recognized poet.
Sponsoring Organization: South Carolina Writers Association
Project Title: 2022 Annual Writing Conference
Project Director: Amber Wheeler Bacon
Awarded: $3,000; Cost-share: $15,450
The South Carolina Writers Association will present their annual writing conference on October 21 – 22, 2022 in Georgetown. There will be workshops, panels, and readings for conference participants, and there will also be two free events open to the general public, a reading and Q&A with poets Ashley M. Jones and Gary Jackson and a Saturday afternoon meet and greet with authors at Litchfield Books.
Sponsoring Organization: South Carolina State University
Project Title: Words Across Water IV: Writing and Discourse
Project Director: Dr. Thomas Cassidy
Awarded: $3,000; Cost-share: $3,915
South Carolina State University will offer their fourth “Words Across the Water” series of interactive, hybrid seminars about the intersections of literature and discourse in the Black Atlantic in Fall 2022. There will be four programs, each featuring three presenters. The proposed program themes are “Challenged and Forbidden” (September 15), “Indigenous and Migration” (October 6), “Ancestors” (October 27), and “Celebrating Celebration!” (date TBA).
Sponsoring Organization: The Community Foundation of Greenville/ South Carolina New Play Festival
Project Title: South Carolina New Play Festival Panel Discussion “What Makes a Good Play and how does the Developmental Process Work?””
Project Director: West Hyler
Awarded: $2,600; Cost-share: $6,000
The Community Foundation of Greenville is sponsoring the South Carolina New Play Festival in Greenville on August 12 – 14, 2022. They will present a panel discussion about “What Makes a Good Play and How Does the Developmental Process Work” that will take place on August 12 at CenterStage Theatre. The speakers include a playwright (Samantha Miller), the artistic director of the festival (West Hyler), and a dramaturg (Kimberly Colburn). They will discuss how plays are developed and how the quality of theatrical work is determined so that the audience is better equipped to respond to plays that they see.
Sponsoring Organization: Claflin University
Project Title: Orangeburg Writes: Claflin-Orangeburg Writing and Literacy Workshops
Project Director: Dr. Reid Hardaway and Dr. Jonathan Evans
Awarded: $2,000; Cost-share: $3,000
Claflin University will present a series of community writing workshop programs from November 2022 – September 2023. The five proposed program topics include: “Writing and Reflection on the Memoir,” “Creative Writing: The Classroom and Beyond,” “The Graphic Novel: Theory and Practice,” “Writing as a Passion,” and “Creative Writing as a Craft.” The programs are intended to serve the communities of Orangeburg, Bamberg, and Calhoun counties.
Sponsoring Organization: Penn Center
Project Title: You’ve Gotta Run
Project Director: Dr. Charlene Spearen
Awarded: $3,000; Cost-share: $6,250
Penn Center will work with composer Kevin Simmonds to create a literary performance titled “You’ve Gotta Run,” based on the book The Many Lives of Andrew Young about the eponymous Civil Rights hero, congressman, and ambassador. The performance will combine spoken word poetry, song, and historical recordings and will examine Young’s lifetime efforts to achieve racial, social, and economic equity globally. The program will take place on November 9, 2022 at Penn Center
Sponsoring Organization: Pat Conroy Literary Center
Project Title: The Pat Conroy Literary Center’s 7th Annual March Forth
Project Director: Jonathan Haupt
Awarded: $2,500; Cost-share: $6,425
The Pat Conroy Literary Center will present the 7th Annual March Forth event commemorating the life and death of Pat Conroy on March 4 – 6, 2023. The event will feature authors Drew Lanham, John Lane, Megan Miranda, and Marcus Amaker in a variety of readings and discussions. Additionally, Amaker will visit Beaufort High School, and there will be a student-led read-aloud event at the Port Royal Farmers Market.
For more information about the Grants Program or any of SC Humanities’ funded projects, please contact Theresa (T.J.) Wallace, the Assistant Director, at 803-771-2477.
