This presentation focuses on Oral History and its value to a community. Dr. Williams will share stories from two projects which he directed: the Appalachian Oral History Project and the Great Smoky Mountains Project. In the late 1970s Dr. Williams was one of the campus directors for an oral history project which covered four states … Read more
The South has a rich tradition of folk literature that draws upon oral tradition and colorful language for its substance. Legends, folk history, songs, foodways, customs, and unique dialects permeate the ghost stories of South Carolina and other Southern states. Dr. Williams draws upon the numerous collections of ghost stories and scary tales to create … Read more
The Folklore and oral traditions from the mill villages are rapidly changing as the they go the way of the coal camps in the mountains. Storytelling itself, the connective tissue of the community, has been drastically affected by this change. Dr. Williams has collected stories from mill workers in the Upstate, and he weaves a … Read more
In October 1780, backcountry men from North and South Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Virginia marched over the mountains to confront British commander Patrick Ferguson who had threatened to lay waste to their homes “with fire and sword.” British General Henry Clinton would call the remarkable Patriot victory at Kings Mountain the “first link of a … Read more
The American Revolution in the South is the South’s forgotten war, and it was a true civil war. Much of the fighting in the South took place in the southern backcountry, that frontier area 50-200 miles from the coast, and most of the fighters were ordinary backcountry settlers–some of them Loyalists and some of them … Read more
What do a small-town doctor’s wife, a Connecticut-born governor’s wife, an upper-class but down on her luck Charleston stenographer, and the first woman licensed to sell real estate in South Carolina have in common? They fought tirelessly to gain women’s right to vote in the Palmetto State. As we approach the 100th anniversary of women’s … Read more
This slide show focuses on the uses of plants by Indians for food, drink, medicine, fiber, smoking, construction, and even poison and is based on both archaeological evidence and historic accounts. The show can also be combined with a 1-2 hour outside walk and talk to examine local plants, or we can do a walk … Read more
What happens to people’s diets when two worlds collide? Find out how life changed for the Indians in South Carolina following European exploration and settlement 1520-1730. Why were some crops adopted, and how did the encounter change the Europeans?
What is a chiefdom, the type of society encountered by de Soto when he visited South Carolina in 1540? Find out what recent digs have revealed about the late prehistoric Indians who lived in central South Carolina, in the vicinity of Camden.
