Black History Month is celebrated every February to honor the achievements of African Americans who have shaped American history. Historian Carter G. Woodson hoped to raise awareness of African American's contributions to civilization by establishing Negro History Week. The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that included both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass' birthdays. The week was later expanded to a month in 1976 during the United States bicentennial.
PHOTO: On March 20, 1969, Black hospital workers at the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston went on strike to protest the firing of twelve employees and to call for higher wages and union recognition.
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CIVIL RIGHTS - The rights of individuals to be free from unfair or unequal treatment (discrimination) in a number of settings, when that negative treatment is based on the individual's race, gender...
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The children from Pollawana Island in this 1910 photograph came to the Penn School by boat. From the Penn School Collection. Permission granted by Penn Center, Inc., St. Helena Island, SC.
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A small fleet of agile boats owned and operated by members of the African-American community in and around Charleston came to be known as the "Mosquito Fleet." They provided a number of essential...
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Dr. Emory Thomas, the Regents Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Georgia, joins Dr. Edgar for a discussion of the Civil War in this 150th year anniversary of its beginning. Thomas has...
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Dr. Thomas analyzes the impact of introducing African-Americans into Confederate military service near the end of the Civil War. African-Americans completely disproved the notion of “racial...
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The American Civil War shaped every aspect of life in the South, including music. Along with songs and military band music published in the South during the war, a considerable repertoire of solo...
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In this first segment on Civil War piano music, Dr. David B. Thompson briefly discusses the life of African American composer Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins, and plays one of his works.
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Dr. Melissa Walker is the author of numerous books on the Civil War and is co-editor of Upcountry South Carolina Goes to War (USC Press, 2011). She will talk with Dr. Edgar about the role of “plain...
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In this segment, Dr. Walker discusses how in the Up Country, attitudes were more relaxed regarding teaching slaves how to read and write.
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Dr. Julia Stern discusses writing her book Mary Chesnut’s Civil War Epic, and recounts meeting the descendants of Mary Chesnut, along with seeing Chesnut’s personal photo album, containing photos of...
