Slavery in the North v. Slavery in the South and the Common Connection

Myra Davis-Branic discusses how slavery was taught in Public Schools based on region. Myra Davis-Branic, a native New Yorker and a product of the Great Migration, was taught in NYC Public Schools that slavery was a “Down South Phenomenon”. When she migrated south and started teaching Black History to at-risk youth to increase self-esteem and … Read more

Future Status of Intercollegiate Athletics

Intercollegiate athletics have long been considered an integral part of the college experience, but recent changes raise serious questions about the future, both for institutions and for student athletes. Olin Sansbury was a university chancellor for twenty years and served three years on the NCAA Presidents Commission. He examines the changes and their impact in … Read more

The History of Equality and Accessibility in Public Education

Dr. Pinheiro, Jr. will discuss how various issues (surrounding race, gender, and class) have had a profound impact on public education throughout American history. The presentation highlights a number of historical moments where different historically marginalized groups routinely fought against discriminatory policies and actions that meant privilege public education to a segment of society. Additionally, … Read more

The Importance of Diverse Children’s Literature

In this program, Dr. Tolson discusses the diverse children’s literature that should be included in every library, classroom, and home. She explains the movement of diversity in the field of publishing children’s literature and the authors and illustrators that have made a powerful change.

The History of Black Children’s Literature

This presentation begins with late 19th century Negro children’s literature to the evolution of the present-day Black children’s literature and features a colorful Power Point.

Richard T. Greener

Donald Sweeper brings to life professor Richard T. Greener, the first African American to graduate from Harvard University and the first African American faculty to teach at the University of South Carolina during Reconstruction from 1873-1877.  At the University of South Carolina, Greener reorganized and cataloged the library holdings which were in disarray after the … Read more

A visit from Dr. Ernest Everett Just, Research Scientist

This performance, in which Donald Sweeper portrays Dr. Ernest E. Just Chautauqua-style, is about 35 minutes in length. As Dr. Ernest E. Just, he tells the story of how the doctor succeeded as a research biologist working at the Woods Hold Marine Biology Lab in Massachusetts from 1909 to 1930 while also heading the Zoology … Read more

The Medical University of South Carolina: An Interactive History

This lecture tells the story of the largest medical school in the south, M.U.S.C., whose 19th century origins played a significant role in the history of Charleston, the U.S. South, and American medical education. The rich history of the medical school touches on matters of race, medical experimentation, innovative surgery, nursing, and public health.

The Little Chairs – Helping Young Children Understand Mental Illness

In 1999, Warbranch Press published The Little Chairs, a story based on real life experience in Kate’s family. Kate’s father, a WWII veteran, was chronically depressed and would retreat to a dark corner when he didn’t feel like participating in family activities. The book shows in vivid colors and narrative how Kate’s mother eventually got her … Read more

Helping Teach South Carolina History With Picture Books

Kate has written four picture books about our state’s history: Palmetto – Symbol of Courage, about the famous Revolutionary War battle that inspired the color and symbols on our beautiful state flag; Francis Marion and the Legend of the Swamp Fox, the story of South Carolina’s most famous Revolutionary War hero; Almost Invisible – Black Patriots of the … Read more

The History of Liberal Arts Education

The history and practice of the liberal arts in the western tradition fundamentally underlie how we think about education in America. This wide-ranging talk explores educational institutions from the classical period to the present, focusing on the development of universities from medieval monastic houses to the colleges of Oxford to the American system based on … Read more

Arts Entrepreneurship

How should we best be preparing students for sustainable lives in the arts?  This talk will look at the historical role of the arts, current education models, and the skills needed for the current marketplace.

Skilled Hands and Thinking Minds: Craft and the Humanities

Our society tends to divide work into neat categories. There is, for example, the work of the mind, and the work of hands. Universities are thought to prepare students for the former, technical colleges for the latter. This talk will explore the shortcomings of this type of thinking. Drawing on the experiences of teaching a … Read more

Our Prince of Scribes: Writers Remember Pat Conroy

“Writers of the world, if you’ve got a story, I want to hear it. I promise it will follow me to my last breath.”—Pat Conroy Although beloved writer Pat Conroy (1945-2016) served as a classroom educator for little more than three years, he remained a teacher and mentor to his fellow writers throughout his lifetime. … Read more

Pat Conroy’s Reverence for Teaching

“The great teachers of the world fill you up with hope and shower you with a thousand reasons to embrace all aspects of life.”—Pat Conroy This presentation explores best-selling author Pat Conroy’s transformational years as a student at Beaufort High School and later as a teacher at BHS and on Daufuskie Island. Included are audio … Read more

Education and the Vote: Then and Now

South Carolina’s 1895 constitution disenfranchised Black citizens. The constitution, which was not submitted to a popular vote, also said, “Separate schools shall be provided for children of the white and colored races, and no child of either race shall ever be permitted to attend a school provided for children of the other race.” That constitution … Read more

“Soul Power“ of South Carolina Sit-Ins

James T. McCain, fired as a school principal for NAACP membership, became the first Black and Southern field secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). CORE’s founders had accepted imprisonment rather than fight in World War II and Korea; they emulated Mahatma Gandhi’s nonviolent methods of opposing injustice. The training CORE’s McCain provided South … Read more

From a Wheelchair

A fourteen-year-old fell far from a pecan tree; the family accepted the doctor’s diagnosis: Cecil Augustus Ivory would never again walk. After six months in bed, Ivory employed two cane chairs as crutches and walked again. His drive and determination led to a football scholarship, a divinity degree, a church in Rock Hill, South Carolina, … Read more

How Brown v Board of Education Began in South Carolina

In 1946, Levi and Hammett Pearson asked for a public school bus for Black children who walked nine miles to school in Summerton, SC. The request could have gotten the Pearsons killed and did lead to gunfire into their homes, debts called in, farm seed and equipment refused. But the brothers wanted a better life … Read more

Briggs v. Elliott: ‘Because It Was Right’

More than 100 parents and children signed Clarendon County petitions that led to Brown v. Board of Education and the end of legal segregation of public schools. The first petition, asking that “separate but equal” actually be equal, led to death threats, a murder, arson, and loss of jobs and homes. But the petitioners persisted. … Read more

Challenging White Supremacy — and Winning

The day after the Ku Klux Klan chained Rev. James Myles Hinton Sr. to a tree and beat him, Hinton returned to work. He said he would rather die fighting than live on his knees. The president of the  SC Conference of Branches of the NAACP from 1941-1958, Hinton worked with Thurgood Marshall, the NAACP … Read more