Monthly Archives: January 2013

“Sing Your Song” Harry Belafonte documentary; Saturday @ 6:30pm

Great documentary and panel discussion this Saturday at 6:30 pm:

Sing Your Song surveys the life and times of singer/actor/activist Harry Belafonte. From his rise to fame as a singer, and his experiences touring a segregated country, to his provocative crossover into Hollywood, Belafonte’s groundbreaking career personifies the American civil rights movement and impacted many other social justice movements. (singyoursongthemovie.com)

The post-movie moderated Q&A will explore how Belafonte and his peers have influenced Charleston artists, and will touch on the history of social justice in the arts, and the creative value of framing one’s artistic career around a cause. In honor of our guest panelists, GPCFS will give half of all ticket sales and donations from the event to Human Rights Watch.

Noted special guests include Myrtle Glascoe, the first Director of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture; textile designer and curator Cookie Washington, filmmaker Liz Oakley (awarding winning writer/producer of Sentencing the Victim) and South Carolina Poet Laureate Marjory Wentworth. The panel will be moderated by Dr. George Hopkins, historian and activist.

WHERE: The Olde North Charleston Picture House, 4820 Jenkins Ave. just off E. Montague Street, North Charleston
WHEN: Saturday, February 2 at 6:30 p.m. (panel immediately following film)
This event is open to the public; $2 for GPCFS members, $5 for nonmembers. Please note the earlier screening time of 6:30 for this special event.

About the Greater Park Circle Film Society (GPCFS)
The Greater Park Circle Film Society is a volunteer-driven, 501(c)3 nonprofit founded in 2008. Our mission is to screen quality films, educate the public, and engage in community development.

GPCFS has a vision to become an anchor for film and community in the Lowcountry. We seek to showcase local, national, and international filmmakers. We connect aspiring filmmakers with each other and with investors; further community development through collaborations with neighborhoods and other non-profits; and advance knowledge and appreciation about cinema and the filmmaking process.

Mr. Eddie Ganaway the First African American Graduate of the College of Charleston Entered Into Eternal Rest on Sunday, January 13, 2013

Eddie Ganaway grew up in Charleston Heights and graduated from Bonds Wilson High School in 1962.  After graduation he attended Benedict College in Columbia briefly, becoming the first member of his family to attend college.  However, a lack of funds led him to enlist in the United States Navy where he served as a medic in Viet Nam for four years.  After his discharge and seeking to expand his horizons, Eddie considered attending the College of Charleston.  As a youngster the College campus had a certain allure but it was also a somewhat foreboding place also.  The College had only admitted its first African American students in 1967.  After writing to the College, he made contact with Fred Daniels the Director of Admissions who encouraged him to apply.  Ganaway followed through and matriculated in January 1968.  His experience was replete with personal and academic challenges.  Fortunately he developed special friendships with a number of faculty members who encouraged his efforts.  Among them were, Michael Thorn and George Heltai of the History Department and they made a real difference in his experience.  Despite the relative isolation he experienced as one of the few black students on campus, Ganaway came to see the College experience as deeply enriching and rewarding.  When he graduated in 1971, with a bachelor’s degree in history, he became the first African American to complete a degree at the College of Charleston.  He subsequently enrolled at Duke University where he took a master’s degree in history and went on to teach at Illinois State University and South Carolina State University.  Later his professional life assumed a different direction and he took a position with Allstate Insurance Company as a claims adjuster.  Over the years he maintained contact with the College.  He spoke to alumni groups, gave a lecture on Martin Luther King Day and participated in the January 2008 program, commemorating forty years of desegregation at the College of Charleston.  He also contributed financially to the College.  In December 2007 he was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from the College and the degree was presented by Dr. Ted Stern, who had been president when Eddie took his undergraduate degree.  He credited the College with awakening him to “this tremblingly wonderful sense of possibility we all have as human beings” and he encouraged students to step out boldly and faithfully with that knowledge.  The Eddie Ganaway Distinguished Alumni Award has been named in his honor.  Eddie will be missed but we in the College of Charleston family must always remember his life and strive to embody his legacy.

 

Viewing

Date:  Friday, January 18, 2013

Time:  2:00 PM – 6:00 PM

Location:  William A. Holmes Memorial Chapel/Suburban Funeral Home, Inc. – 2366 Meeting Street Rd., North Charleston, SC 29405    http://www.suburbanfuneralhome.com/sitemaker/sites/suburb0/obit.cgi?user=865942Ganaway#

 

Funeral Arrangements:

Sand Hill United Methodist Church, 1961 Summers Drive, Ridgeville, South Carolina.  11:00 a.m. Saturday January 19.

Avery Research Center’s Inaugural Undergraduate Essay Contest

This is a great opportunity for current undergraduates with an interest in the historical and cultural collections housed at the Avery Research Center:

Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture
Inaugural Undergraduate Essay Contest – Spring 2013

The Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture is now accepting essays for its 2013 Undergraduate Essay Contest. The essay, no less than five (5) pages and no more than seven (7) pages, must focus on any of the processed collections at the Avery Research Center, such as (but not limited to) Avery Research Center Oral History Collection; the Septima P. Clark Collection; or the Cleveland L. Sellers, Jr. Papers. Students may contact Avery Research Center staff for suggestions on other collections to research. Essays are due by 11:59 p.m. on March 8, 2013. All essays will be judged on a fifty (50) point scale and winners will be announced on April 5, 2013. Winners will be invited to a luncheon where they will discuss their research and receive their reward. All recipients will be featured in the spring edition of the Avery Messenger.

Prizes:

  • First Place: $200
  • Second Place: $100
  • Third Place: $50

Criteria:

  • Must pertain to Avery Research Center processed collections
  • Must be between five (5) and seven (7) pages and typed, double spaced, with one-inch margins in MS Word
  • Must conform to the Chicago/Turabian formatting style for scholarly papers
  • Papers must be submitted by March 8, 2013 by 11:59 p.m. to Processing Archivist, Georgette Mayo (mayog@cofc.edu)

Please include the following information on your COVER SHEET ONLY:

  • Name
  • Class (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior)
  • Mailing Address
  • Telephone Number
  • Email Address
  • Faculty Advisor

DO NOT include the above information on any subsequent pages of the essay.

Judging will be based on the following criteria:

  • Overall Impression (0–10)
  • Historical Accuracy (0–10)
  • Clarity of Argument (0–10)
  • Quality of Scholarship/Use of Collections (0–10)
  • Quality of Writing (0–10)

Contact Avery Research Center
Phone: 843-953-760
D.L. Calhoun II Georgette Mayo Ardra Whitney
Graduate Assistant Processing Archivist IMLS Fellow
calhoundl@g.cofc.edu
mayog@cofc.edu
whitneyal@cofc.edu

Dart After Dark Book Discussion Series 2013

Dart After Dark Book Discussions:
We are excited to announce the continuance of this Book Discussion Series into 2013. Book discussions will be held on the third Thursday of every month at the Dart Library.
This series was made possible through a generous grant from the National Council of Black Studies.

The Book List for 2013 includes:
January 17:The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore
March 21: Perfect Peace by Daniel Black
May 16: Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny by Hill Harper
July 18: Falling into Grace by Michelle Stimpson
September 19: Sister Citizen by Melissa Harris-Perry
November 21: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz