Wild Eden to Cotton Aristocracy is an impeccably researched and superbly written must-read for all whose hearts call Edisto home. Beautiful Edisto Island has not always been a vacationers' haven in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Before European settlement, it was home to the Edisto Indians, who had seasonal fishing camps in the area, and a wide variety of wildlife. By the beginning of the Civil War, the wealthy planters had largely abandoned the area. What happened between those two periods is a must-read for fans of coastal South Carolina. Author Charles Spencer chronicles Edisto's history, from the early days when English and Scottish planters and their African slaves settled the lush island paradise and established plantations that flourished until the Civil War.
Wild Eden to Cotton Aristocracy is an impeccably researched and superbly written must-read for all whose hearts call Edisto home. Beautiful Edisto Island has not always been a vacationers' haven in the South Carolina Lowcountry. Before European settlement, it was home to the Edisto Indians, who had seasonal fishing camps in the area, and a wide variety of wildlife. By the beginning of the Civil War, the wealthy planters had largely abandoned the area. What happened between those two periods is a must-read for fans of coastal South Carolina. Author Charles Spencer chronicles Edisto's history, from the early days when English and Scottish planters and their African slaves settled the lush island paradise and established plantations that flourished until the Civil War.
For many, Edisto is a little slice of heaven--live oaks festooned with Spanish moss, winding waterways and crashing surf. Yet the waterways were pathways for privateers, smugglers and gunboats. Marauders terrorized residents. Privateers made life uncertain during the War of 1812. John Wilson and Andrew Gillon dueled to the death on the sands of Edingsville. The Civil War brought repeated skirmishes between Union and Confederate scouting parties. Join historian Alexia Jones Helsley as she recounts lost lives, early widows, dashed dreams, unseen secrets--the dark side of Eden.
From Lincoln's election to secession from the Union, this compelling history explains how South Carolina was swept into a cultural crisis at the heart of the Civil War. "The tea has been thrown overboard -- the revolution of 1860 has been initiated." -- Charleston Mercury, November 8, 1860 In 1860, Charleston, South Carolina, embodied the combustible spirit of the South. No city was more fervently attached to slavery, and no city was seen by the North as a greater threat to the bonds barely holding together the Union. And so, with Abraham Lincoln's election looming, Charleston's leaders faced a climactic decision: they could submit to abolition -- or they could drive South Carolina out of the Union and hope that the rest of the South would follow. In Madness Rules the Hour, Paul Starobin tells the story of how Charleston succumbed to a fever for war and charts the contagion's relentless progress and bizarre turns. In doing so, he examines the wily propagandists, the ambitious politicians, the gentlemen merchants and their wives and daughters, the compliant pastors, and the white workingmen who waged a violent and exuberant revolution in the name of slavery and Southern independence. They devoured the Mercury, the incendiary newspaper run by a fanatical father and son; made holy the deceased John C. Calhoun; and adopted "Le Marseillaise" as a rebellious anthem. Madness Rules the Hour is a portrait of a culture in crisis and an insightful investigation into the folly that fractured the Union and started the Civil War.
From the Isle of Mull, Scotland, to the backcountry of the Carolinas, to an island plantation, the story continues, tracing the remarkable saga of a family through war and peace, love and disaster, and its controversies over slavery.This is the story of Aureline Labouisse Ravenal and Henry Edwards the passionate struggle of their stormy marriage a struggle from island jungle cabin to plantation mansion.One abiding passion held them together: their love and their drea
Like cotton, indigo has defied its humble origins. Left alone it might have been a regional plant with minimal reach, a localized way of dyeing textiles, paper, and other goods with a bit of blue. But when blue became the most popular color for the textiles that Britain turned out in large quantities in the eighteenth century, the South Carolina indigo that colored most of this cloth became a major component in transatlantic commodity chains. In Red, White, and Black Make Blue, Andrea Feeser tells the stories of all the peoples who made indigo a key part of the colonial South Carolina experience as she explores indigo's relationships to land use, slave labor, textile production and use, sartorial expression, and fortune building. In the eighteenth century, indigo played a central role in the development of South Carolina. The popularity of the color blue among the upper and lower classes ensured a high demand for indigo, and the climate in the region proved sound for its cultivation. Cheap labor by slaves—both black and Native American—made commoditization of indigo possible. And due to land grabs by colonists from the enslaved or expelled indigenous peoples, the expansion into the backcountry made plenty of land available on which to cultivate the crop. Feeser recounts specific histories—uncovered for the first time during her research—of how the Native Americans and African slaves made the success of indigo in South Carolina possible. She also emphasizes the material culture around particular objects, including maps, prints, paintings, and clothing. Red, White, and Black Make Blue is a fraught and compelling history of both exploitation and empowerment, revealing the legacy of a modest plant with an outsized impact.
On Shishmaref Island in Alaska, homes are being washed into the sea. In the South Pacific, small island nations face annihilation by encroaching waters. In coastal Louisiana, an area the size of a football field disappears every day. For these communities, sea level rise isn’t a distant, abstract fear: it’s happening now and it’s threatening their way of life. In The Rising Sea, Orrin H. Pilkey and Rob Young warn that many other coastal areas may be close behind. Prominent scientists predict that the oceans may rise by as much as seven feet in the next hundred years. That means coastal cities will be forced to construct dikes and seawalls or to move buildings, roads, pipelines, and railroads to avert inundation and destruction. The question is no longer whether climate change is causing the oceans to swell, but by how much and how quickly. Pilkey and Young deftly guide readers through the science, explaining the facts and debunking the claims of industry-sponsored “skeptics.” They also explore the consequences for fish, wildlife—and people. While rising seas are now inevitable, we are far from helpless. By making hard choices—including uprooting citizens, changing where and how we build, and developing a coordinated national response—we can save property, and ultimately lives. With unassailable research and practical insights, The Rising Sea is a critical first step in understanding the threat and keeping our heads above water.
The first comprehensive history of African Americans in the Palmetto State, spanning five centuries. From the first North American slave rebellion near the mouth of the Pee Dee River in the early sixteenth century to the 2008 state Democratic primary victory of Barack Obama, award-winning historian J. Brent Morris examines the unique struggles and triumphs of African Americans in South Carolina. Following an engaging introduction, Morris brings together a wide variety of annotated primary-source documents—personal narratives, government reports, statutes, newspaper articles, and speeches—to highlight the significant people, events, social and political movements, and ideas that have shaped black life in South Carolina and beyond. In their own words, anonymous and notable African Americans, such as Charlotte Forten, David Walker, and Jesse Jackson, describe the social and economic subjugation caused by more than three hundred years of slavery, the revolution wrought by the American Civil War and Reconstruction, and the post-Reconstruction civil rights struggle that runs to the present. Many of these source documents are previously unpublished; others have been long out of print. Morris proposes that reading the narrative-sources black Carolinians left behind brings life and relevancy to the past that will spark new public conversations, inspire fresh questions, and encourage historians to pursue innovative scholarly work. “For everyone interested in South Carolina history Yes, Lord, I Know the Road is a book that has long been needed. Thanks to the judicious selection of documents and thoughtful introductory material, Brent Morris has produced a very readable book on a complex and often contentious topic. It is an invaluable addition to South Carolina historiography—and to my bookshelf.” —Walter Edgar, author of South Carolina: A History “At last, we have a concise document book tracing one of the most troubled and inspiring paths in American history. Exploring this long, rutted road, we meet brave souls who stood tall—Boston King, Robert Smalls, Septima Clark. Morris’s varied collection will spark readers to dig deeper and learn more.” —Peter H. Wood, Duke University, author of Black Majority and Strange New Land “This thoughtfully curated documentary history of Afro-Carolinians spans five centuries with important, vivid, and compelling accounts of South Carolina’s twisted, stony road of anguish and achievement, oppression and hope. An informative introduction and concise headnotes provide historical context and make the book accessible to all students of South Carolina history.” —Michael Johnson, Academy Professor of History Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University
This volume explores the global history of natural dyes from the Americas and asks how their production and trade have shaped globalisation since early modern times. From their extraction and processing to their overseas trade, it shows how this commodity contributed to the rise of the textile industry and consumption in Europe, the United States and Latin America. In doing so, it sheds new light on the emergence of a global economy. Spanning several centuries, Colours, Commodities and the Birth of Globalization takes the reader from 1500 through the industrial revolutions of Europe and the United States and culminates in the synthetic age of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. Ranging from the indigo trade in the Atlantic to the secrets of the Indian production of cochineal, the chapters in this collection transcend nationally bounded historical narratives and explore transoceanic dynamics, imperial ambitions and the cross-cultural exchange of knowledge and techniques to better understand the birth of globalization.
"This field guide volume to the Carolinas provides guides on paleontology of the 'Ashley Phosphate Beds,' urban hydrology in historic Charleston, and neoichnology of Edisto Island"
