The War of the Three Kingdoms – often referred to as the English “Civil War” – produced numerous well known characters such as Oliver Cromwell and Rupert of Bohemia. But many women, on both sides of the war, were instrumental in supporting the causes and sometimes even changing the game. Both royal ladies and ordinary … 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.
Martha Kitchings Seawright Ellison was born enslaved on November 20, 1849, in Aiken County, South Carolina. This presentation tells the contextualized story of her life, featuring local history of the antebellum period and Civil War in South Carolina during Martha’s enslavement; a historical account of Martha’s life during the Reconstruction Era; the circumstances that involved … Read more
This presentation explores the reasons why South Carolina used African American labor during the war; the diverse roles of African American labor during the war; SC approval of Confederate pensions for African Americans; notable features of the pension application; and notable South Carolina African American Confederate Pensioners.
Lavinia was born enslaved on June 3rd, 1844, in Aiken County, and this presentation tells her personal story of slavery and survival during the Civil War. Lavinia would follow her master into battle in the Civil War, serving the Confederate army as a cook. Six decades later, she would be among about 100 black South … Read more
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
Since even before America became an independent country, novelists have used their storytelling skills to help us understand our system of governance and our relationships with one another—sometimes with humor, sometimes with irony. Political novels have advocated causes or ideas, have recorded successes and issued warnings. They have revealed our flaws and trumpeted our strengths. … Read more
Covert Action is “an activity or activities of the US government to influence political, economic, or military conditions abroad, where it is intended that the role of the US government will not be apparent or acknowledged publicly.” Such actions have been taken frequently in modern American history and not always successfully. Olin Sansbury examines some … Read more
Counter to the national narrative which championed the patriotic manhood of soldiering from the Civil War through the 1920s, Dr. Pinheiro, Jr.’s research reveals that African American veterans and their families’ military experience were much more fraught. Economic and social instability introduced by military service resonated for years and even generations after soldiers left the … Read more
I served in the US Army guarding convoys on the sometimes bomb-strewn and often chaotic streets of Iraq. On December 2, 2006, the armored vehicle I was driving struck an Improvised Explosive Device, or IED. The blast severely wounded me and one other soldier in the vehicle while luckily only lightly injuring a third. The … Read more
In simple terms, genocide is the mass killing of a specific group because of who they are or because of who the killers believe they are. In its terrible lived realities and its legal definition, genocide is so much more. As a Holocaust historian, Dr. Gibbs speaks about the origins of the term genocide in … Read more
Despite increasing distance in time and the passing of last witnesses and veterans, World War II still defines how Americans see themselves, how they view their own military, and how they think of their role in the world. The war in Europe, though only part of this worldwide inferno, is at the core of those … Read more
What did the National Socialist German Workers Party, NSDAP, or Nazi Party actually believe? What was the role of Adolf Hitler in shaping those views, and how did he and others at the top shape and use those ideas to lead Germany to total war and genocide? As white nationalist and white supremacist groups continue … Read more
For all too long, focus on Holocaust history excluded real explorations of Jewish resistance to Nazi tyranny and mass murder. The misunderstood reality is that Jews resisted Nazi actions at every turn. From early legal challenges and protests when it seemed there was still a state to listen, to later escape, evasion, and armed uprisings, … Read more
Nazi Germany murdered 6 million Jews and a total of 11 million people, counting all of its chosen so-called racial enemies, from 1933 to 1945. The German state did this with its own armed forces, the help of collaborators, and the silence of bystanders. How did the Nazi Party lead a nation to this devastation? … Read more
The Beaufort Volunteer Artillery is one of the longest-serving military units in the history of the United States. Its service includes the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, the Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. This presentation will focus on its Civil War exploits in over a dozen … Read more
General Sherman went to great lengths during the burning of Columbia, South Carolina to protect a friend whose family he had visited frequently while he was a bachelor stationed at Fort Moultrie between 1842 and 1846. The book and letters that Sherman sent to his friend along with an eyewitness account of his visits, finally … Read more
Sherman’s brilliant campaign through Georgia and the Carolinas ended in political turmoil with public insinuations from President Andrew Johnson’s administration that Confederate President Jefferson Davis had bought his freedom from Sherman with gold from the Confederate treasury. Sherman was accused by high government officials of being “a common traitor and a public enemy” while subordinates … Read more
Veteran reporter, author and USC Professor Emerita Pat McNeely presents recently edited military diaries and family histories of her husband and her father-in-law who served in the Cold War and World War I respectively. McNeely has added family pictures and additional information to both diaries to make them lasting histories. Hear about how she pulled … Read more
General William T. Sherman created a new form of physical, economic, and psychological “total warfare” against civilians and private property in Georgia and the Carolinas that he readily admitted would be violent and cruel. In addition to physical and economic assaults, he designed a massive psychological strategy of disinformation, deception, and blame designed to cripple … Read more
A brief history of the approximately 180,000 African Americans that served in the Union Army and Navy during the Civil War, with a focus on the history of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, the regiment that was portrayed in the award-winning movie, Glory. This presentation is given in a Civil War uniform and includes a first-person characterization.
This program will feature songs of the 1960s Civil Rights Movement in the United States discussed in context of historical events. Lyrics are provided. Dive into an investigation of the folk roots of early Civil Rights songs and the influence of soul/R&B on memorable Civil Rights anthems, from Guthrie to Franklin to Cooke, as well … Read more
This program will engage participants in a discussion of literature and music from the Chicano and Puerto Rican American population during the Viet Nam War. Music and lyrics are provided. The presentation includes special emphasis on Roy Brown’s 1970 album Yo Protesto and the continued complicated relations between the US & Puerto Rico.
This program offers a brief history of anti-war music in the United States up to the Viet Nam War and further discussion of specific anti-war songs (for example: “We Gotta Get Out of This Place” by The Animals, 1965, is the most remembered song by VN War Veterans) and their historical context. More recent anti-war … Read more
This program gives an overview of different genres of music of the war, with lyrics displayed while songs play. “Top 40” hits are interspersed with “deep cuts” from the Viet Nam War era, and the discussion includes global cultural, social, and historical contexts for the songs presented.
Humphries authored a book using the letters her great grandfather wrote back home to his beloved wife during 1861-1865. Based on the book The Legacy of A Common Civil War Soldier, this program offers a rare glimpse of what life was really like for a Confederate soldier and his wife.
The French and Indian War pitted the colonies of British America against those of New France, each side supported by military units from the parent country and by American Indian allies. Humphries discusses the experiences of this often-forgotten conflict and the outcome that caused the colonists to want to fight for independence from England.
There is much more to the role of South Carolina than just what happened on the battlefield! In this presentation, Aliene Humphries talks about the fascinating but little-known stories of the Revolutionary War’s Southern Campaigns both on and off the battlefield. She has 64 sites included in the timeline of events. This talk correspondings with Aliene’s … Read more
The years 1933-1939 must be studied to enable an understanding of what came later. The Final Solution, implemented in late 1940-1941, was slowly realized through these early years. Hitler’s appointment as Chancellor in January 1933 paved the way for the Nazis to continue on their path of human destruction, but the economic woes of Germany … Read more
Film is a major component of society’s understanding of history. How have films about the Holocaust changed over time, and how have these films changed our understanding of the Holocaust? Films such as The Diary of Anne Frank in 1959 hardly touched on the Jewish catastrophe and, in fact, eliminated much that was Jewish in the film, … Read more
