In 1983, while working as a scholar-in-residence for the Tennessee Committee for the Humanities, Dr. Williams had the opportunity to travel around the mountains with Richard Chase, the famous Jack Tale collector. During that time, he discussed Chase’s dialect renditions of the Jack Tales along with a number of old English fairy tales which Chase discovered … Read more
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
An entertaining storyteller, Dr. Williams portrays the characters from folk tales collected from Appalachian migrants in Cincinnati, Ohio. He highlights the migrants’ deep-seated sense of place as he recreates characters in Appalachian dialect. Especially moving is his version of Cinderella as a poor girl living up a hollar in the Kentucky mountains whose painted fingernails … Read more
This storytelling workshop presents the vocabulary for writers crafting short stories and novels. Who is the story about? What do they want? In exploration of genre expectations, seven basic plots, and the expected paths characters will follow, this workshop helps novice (and experience) writers name the structural elements of stories. The scaffolding of craft is … Read more
This program explores and celebrates the art of storytelling through the tales founded in the southern states of the U.S. with specific origins from South Carolina.
This is a 45-minute one-man show in which Donald Sweeper tells stories shared to him by his ancestors and the elderly people from the community in which he grew up. This performance also includes Gullah folklore and traditions, as well as rites of passages performed by many of the African American Churches from Reconstruction up … Read more
Charleston has always held a fascination for its visitors. Today there remains a nacreous patina that overlays this old city, a pentimento suggestive not only of artifacts beneath the surface but also gradations of history. It suggests an excavation of its centuries-old layers. This presentation allows us to do just that, to venture back through … Read more
Did you know that Herman Melville claimed a whaling ship was his “Harvard and Yale”? That 65% of current college housing is co-ed? Or that in 1880, England had four degree-granting institutions and a population of twenty-three million; while at the same time, Ohio had thirty-seven degree-granting institutions with a population of three million? These … Read more
Did you know that forty materials from twenty-eight countries go into the making of a #2 pencil? That a letter’s author owns the copyright, but the recipient owns the letter? Or that an experienced journalist is expected to produce about a thousand words per day? These questions, their answers, and a half-dozen pertinent cartoons are … Read more
Did you know that laughter and crying are a baby’s first means of communicating? A speaker laughs 46% more than the people listening? Or that about 1300 AD, Giotto painted the first human smiling? These questions, their answers, and a half-dozen pertinent cartoons are the subject of this Q and A presentation.
Did you know that Andrew Carnegie underwrote the construction of 2509 libraries? That in 2014, a library in San Antonio became the first library without newspapers, magazine, or books? Or that a library in Portugal supports a colony of bats to eat the moths and beetles that feed on the books? These questions, their answers, … Read more
Did you know that the peak age for psychological well-being is 82? That prune juice outsells orange juice in Miami? Or that 94% of Clemson faculty and staff remain in the immediate area after retirement? These questions, their answers, and a half-dozen pertinent cartoons are the subject of this Q and A presentation.
Most of us wish we could flesh our thoughts, experiences, and make-believe dreams into stories on paper. The art of theme, plotting and characterization come from understanding what makes for an intriguing read: tension, active voice, creative dialog. Learning how to mold a story concept, memoir or fiction, into a three-dimensional tale is empowering and … Read more
For Stories of Struggle I interviewed at least 150 Black activists while I worked as a journalist at The State and as director of a writing program at Columbia College. I wanted to preserve Black elders’ stories, and, through their stories, to reveal a true portrait of segregation in South Carolina. I believe in the … Read more
