Queer history is part of South Carolina’s history. What 7 events have shaped LGBTQ lives in South Carolina and the history of South Carolina, from the 1958 Candlestick Murders in Charleston, through the interracial marriage of groundbreaking trans author Dawn Langley Simmons and the first Pride, from the first ACT-Up demonstrations in South Carolina to … Read more
From its nascent days to the 21st century, the tank has proved an integral part of United States Army and Marine Corps combat effectiveness.
Erected between 1952 and 1961, these architecturally austere additions to the Palmetto State’s landscape remain as a tangible legacy of resistance to Brown v. Board and the march toward civil rights equity.
Develop a visual literacy of two-hundred years of building history through this survey of domestic forms and aesthetic movements.
While most may attribute moonshine to places like Kentucky and Tennessee, western South Carolina become a dominant producer of moonshine after the Civil War up through the 20th century. This presentation not only explains how homemade legal whiskey became illegal moonshine, but also tells the history of the notorious figures involved in its production and … Read more
How did South Carolina become the number one producer of textiles in the world by the 20th century? This presentation highlights textiles’ earliest beginnings in the Palmetto State and Henry Hammett’s contributions that transformed small textile operations that led to South Carolina becoming the textile center of the world in 1962.
This presentation examines the origins of the Vietnam War and how the US became so involved. It will highlight some of the South Carolinians who served in the conflict and the eight medals of honor recipients from South Carolina. The presentation will use some of the oral histories collected from veterans since 2016. In addition … Read more
This presentation gives an overview of aviation in the state before the war, how the nation slowly developed its air service for the war, and the key pilots who gained distinction, including Elliott White Springs, John O. Donaldson and Ervin Shaw.
This presentation will review South Carolina’s economic and social conditions on the eve of the United States entering the war in 1917 and then review the economic and social changes that the war brought the state, from three new military training bases, political opposition by its former governor in going to war, and changes to … Read more
This presentation looks at how the rivalry began and how the early decades of the annual game was marred by illegal players, reluctant administrators and the general dominance of the Tigers through the 1930s. During the presentation, key players and coaches in this rivalry will be highlighted.
This presentations focuses on the early decades of the game with its evolving rules along with the origins of the first college game in the state, Furman vs. Wofford. It will then review the founding of football at Clemson and Carolina to Erskine and the College of Charleston, highlighting some of the early stars and … Read more
This presentation begins with how the first German POWs were brought to the US, what they experienced when they first arrived and how the US Army housed and fed them and gave them jobs that provided crucial labor for the nation’s crops and timber in a labor-starved war economy.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, hundreds of thousands of African American women applied for US pensions based on the military service of their husbands during the American Civil War. Their incredible first-hand descriptions chronicling their day-to-day lives, financial struggles, family histories, local events, etc. provide a powerful commentary on the history of … Read more
How did South Carolina look to northern tourists flooding the state on their way to all points south in the mid-20th century? This presentation, based on local postcards mailed by sun-seeking tourists, focuses on travel along SC’s coastal highways & can be tailored to feature postcards from your region.
Explore the pivotal moments when Penn Center served as a refuge for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders. This talk highlights how Penn Center became a safe haven for strategic planning during the Civil Rights Movement. Understand the importance of this historic site in shaping the fight for racial justice and … Read more
On November 28, 1950, the federal government chose South Carolina No. 5, a 310-square mile area of rural farmland south of Augusta, GA and west of Aiken, SC, to build a nuclear facility, the Savannah River Plant. The plant’s mission was to manufacture the materials, plutonium and tritium, for the hydrogen bomb to go up … Read more
After the first wave in the 1970’s which coincided with the Black Power and Black Arts Movements, Afrofuturism has experienced a second wave in the 21st century with the advent of new literature, hip hop music, television, comics, and film. The pinnacle of this second wave of Afrofuturism has been the meteoric rise of the 2018 … Read more
Born four years after the end of slavery, Matilda Arabella Evans, who grew up on a family farm in eastern Aiken County, South Carolina, was the first African American and first woman in licensed to practice medicine in South Carolina and an advocate for improved health care for African Americans, including children. Matilda’schildhood experiences, educational background, … Read more
50 Years of South Carolina in Images & Stories Robert Clark launched his photography career in 1974. Tom Poland moved to South Carolina in 1974 to write and teach. Poland and Clark met at South Carolina Wildlife magazine and their journey in words and images began. Their seminal feature, “Tenant Homes—Testament To Hard Times,” charted … Read more
NEW TOPIC! In 1923, on the last day in this two-story wooden school, people packed the house for the school play. In the third act, an oil lantern fell to the floor. Everything caught fire. Relatives threw children out windows, slid others down outer walls. The seventy-seven souls who perished—only thirteen recognizable—were laid to rest in … Read more
Primaries have been a significant factor in American politics for a good many years. They are in fact a uniquely American electoral institution, born in the Progressive Era. The role of primaries has changed to some degree in recent years as the public searches for ways to make politicians more responsive to their constituency.
Veteran newspaper journalist Herb Frazier has edited and reported for five Southern newspapers and covered conflicts and political change in Asia, Africa and Europe. He also has led press freedom workshops for professional journalists and journalism students in Africa and South America. Listen to his advice to American high school journalists on the importance of … Read more
As great as Jackie Robinson was, he was not the first American Black Baseball Player. This presentation will show the ways baseball has reflected the role of African Americans in baseball especially beginning in the 19th century, followed by the Jim Crow and Civil Rights Era where Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby and so many other … Read more
Baseball played a large role in the assimilation of 20th century immigrants to the United States, including the Speaker’s family. Come discuss the way immigrants have used Baseball in becoming American. Bring your own family stories and learn from others. This multi-media presentation includes power-point slides, video, and music and even the swing of a … Read more
The origin of baseball as America’s pastime has long been pondered. As it turns out baseball has both mythical and historical origins, both of which play a big role in why baseball is so important to Americans. This multi-media presentation includes power-point slides, video, music and even the swing of a bat!
The end of the Cold War did not prove to be the “End of History” as some predicted. Not even the flourishing hyperbole of conservative triumphalism could obscure the fact that after the Cold War’s end the old American marriage of nationalism and liberalism has grown frayed, and maybe even strained. With the common ideological … Read more
Americans stand in a very peculiar relationship to their history. We are fond of evoking it with pride – as the inspiring story of the “City on the Hill,” or the “last best hope for democracy,” and as the “leader of the free world,” and so on. We Americans are also readily inspired by our … Read more
Today, the South Carolina’s electric cooperatives serve over a quarter of South Carolina’s citizens and seventy percent of the state’s land area. From their inception, the electric cooperatives have been a social movement. Working together, rural South Carolinians formed cooperatives, aided by the New Deal, and brought electricity, one of the great modernizing essentials of … Read more
Through the stories of enslaved ancestors and notable relatives, The Thompson Family: Untold Stories from The Past (1830-1960), chronicles the rich history of a prominent African American family from Salley, South Carolina features stories of individuals who were enslaved, a woman served as an enslaved cook during the Civil War, and agricultural life.
More than sixty years have transpired between US involvement in the Vietnam War and our current engagement in the Ukraine. There are similarities in the circumstances that have led us to oppose Russian aggression in the heart of Europe, but there are also some significant differences. Olin Sansbury examines those similarities and differences and identifies … Read more
