The Final Solution evolved slowly in the eyes of the Nazis, but with the process of the Euthanasia program and later Operation Barbarossa, the industrialization of killing began. The Euthanasia program, in which Hitler murdered the mentally and physically incapacitated of Germany, created the possibility—and incorporated the people—who could and did kill the innocent with … Read more
“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
“Open yourself up to all experience. Let life pour through you the way light pours through leaves.”—Pat Conroy The author of The Prince of Tides, The Great Santini, and The Water Is Wide, author and educator Pat Conroy (1945–2016) is synonymous with the lowcountry. Explore Conroy’s lifelong commitment to education and self-improvement through stories of three of … Read more
“The poets of the world occupy a place of high honor in my city of books.”—Pat Conroy Best known as a beloved novelist and memoirist, internationally acclaimed author Pat Conroy (1945-2016) began his writing life wanting to be a poet. Over time, Conroy transitioned successfully to prose, incorporating the lyrical and descriptive elements he most … Read more
“A library could show you everything if you knew where to look.”—Pat Conroy This one-hour presentation on best-selling author Pat Conroy’s lifelong love of books and libraries focuses on the roles public libraries, school libraries, and Pat’s own personal library played in his writing life. Through video and audio clips, photographs, and published and unpublished … Read more
“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
Edith Russell, Titanic survivor. Fashion designer and journalist, flamboyant Edith Russell, loved the limelight. As a first-class passenger on the doomed ship, she required a first-class cabin for herself and a first-class cabin for her clothing. Her vivid, first-hand accounts of the sinking are spellbinding.
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
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
In December 1967, five Black women left work at Medical College Hospital in Charleston when ordered to violate their LPN licensing limits. Despite the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the hospital segregated patients, restrooms, and cafeterias, and did not provide Black doctors or training programs for Black workers. With the help of the Southern Christian Leadership … Read more
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
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
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
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
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
