SC Humanities is pleased to announce that eight new speakers have joined the Speakers Bureau: Humanities Out Loud program. Offering a variety of programs from "An Introduction to Modern Islam" to "Confederates at the Keyboard: Southern Piano Music During the Civil War Era," these seven scholars are available to speak for public audiences at nonprofit organizations or public institutions across the state. The Speakers Bureau program is one of the longest-running and most popular programs offered by SC Humanities.
The eight new speakers are:
Philip Cheney is a folksinger and performer who lives in Anderson, SC. He offers four programs: “General Stephen D. Lee Remembers,” “Songs of the War Between the States,” “Ballads, Songs, and Stories of the Southern Appalachians,” “and “Private J. Miles Lee from Spartanburg.”
Emily L. Cooper is a former newspaper reporter, editor, and publisher who lives in Columbia, SC. She is the author of two books, Queen of the Lost and Eulalie. She offers three programs: “The Life of Lucy Holcombe Pickens and Other Society Matrons During the Civil War,” “Freemasons, filibusters, and the Knights of the Golden Circle,” and “The Queen of the Confederacy.”
Sharon Cooper-Murray is a scholar and preserver of Gullah culture who lives on John’s Island, SC. She offers six programs: “The Gullah Language: History and Evolution of a Creole Language,” “Traditional Gullah Folk Music: Call and Response,” “Rag Quilting of the Rice, Indigo, and Cotton Plantations of the Lowcountry,” “Dolls of the Antebellum Period on Johns and Wadmalaw Island, South Carolina,” “The Haunts, Hags, and Ghosts on the Sea Islands of the Lowcountry,” and “The Rice Culture of the Lowcountry.”
David Damrel is a professor of World Religions/Comparative Religion at the University of South Carolina Upstate and lives in Spartanburg, SC. He offers one program: “An Introduction to Modern Islam.”
Ginetta V. Hamilton is a retired educator living in Columbia, SC. She offers the program: "Black History: Someone Forgot to Teach the Children."
Kevin Lewis is a professor of Religious Studies at the University of South Carolina and an author who lives in Columbia, SC. He offers one program: “The Neglected Inheritance of American Lonesomeness.”
Ron Roth is former director and chief curator for the Reading Public Museum and director of the Nebraska Museum of Art of the University of Nebraska who lives in Bluffton, SC. He offers three programs: “Bound for Canaan: The Underground Railroad and the African American Quest for Freedom,” “Desperate Hours: Understanding the Legacy of the Battle of Gettysburg through the Sculpture of its Battlefield Monuments,” and “The Entrepreneurial Artist: John James Audubon in the Lowcountry.”
David Thompson is a Professor of Music at Limestone College and a pianist who lives in Gaffney, SC. He offers one program: “Confederates at the Keyboard: Southern Piano Music During the Civil War Era.”
SC Humanities makes the Speakers Bureau program available to nonprofit groups and public agencies at a reasonable cost. The Council provides $150 towards a speaker’s honorarium, which covers full speaker payment for many of the programs. Any other costs are negotiated between the speaker and the sponsor. A one-page application must be submitted at least four weeks in advance of the program date. Find out more about the Speakers Bureau!
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. SC Humanities programs and initiatives are balanced, reflecting sensitivity to the diversity of ideas, encourage open dialogue, demonstrate integrity, and are ethical in operations.
