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Southern Studies Events Spring 2024

Posted by: Julia Eichelberger | February 8, 2024 | No Comment |

Southern Studies Events Spring 2024


Art on display at City Gallery depicted sailor and room with empty chair

Through Feb 11 at the City Gallery: Last weekend to see this free exhibit: “PAYNE-FUL” BUSINESS, CHARLESTON’S JOURNEY TO TRUTH AND SLEEPING WITH THE ANCESTORS The City of Charleston Office of Cultural Affairs presents two exhibitions that re-examine the lives of the enslaved. Sleeping with the Ancestors: How I Followed the Footprints of Slavery uses recent photography by a collection of South Carolina photographers to highlight the work of the Joe McGill and the Slave Dwelling Project, a local non-profit that works to preserve extant slave dwellings throughout the country. “Payne-ful” Business, Charleston’s Journey to Truth pairs reproductions of historic advertisements with paintings of the enslaved by artist John W. Jones.

Friday Feb 9, 5 pm The Arts Management Program’s speaker series, ARTM Exchange.    Sara Arnold, Director of Curatorial Affairs at the Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC, Dr. Karen Chandler, Associate Professor Emerita, CofC Arts Management Program and host, Assistant Professor Dr. Hsin-Ching Wu will discuss the museum initiative, CENTERING ART | VOICES, which engages local Charleston residents from many different backgrounds and walks of life to re-envision more inclusive, diverse and accessible ways that the Gibbes Museum presents art from their permanent collection.          Friday, Feb. 9 at 5:00pm | Harbor Walk West, Room 213 | free

Tuesday Feb 13 3:15 PM Committee on Commemoration & Landscapes meets (President’s Board Room, Randolph Hall, or by Zoom) Would you like to join this committee as we work to interpret our campus’s history and tell a fuller story of our diverse neighborhood? Please contact co-chairs Julia Eichelberger or Valerie Frazier to be added to our listserv and get the meeting agenda. We welcome all interested students, staff, and faculty.

Wed Feb 14 12 PM Join the Waring Historical Library for our February Noon Lecture featuring Lahnice Hollister’s talk – “John A. McFall P.D. — An early African American pharmacist tells his story.” Online (zoom). 🔗 Registerhttps://bit.ly/SHC-202402     John A. McFall (P.D) was among the first generation born in freedom in South Carolina. McFall entered the Philadelphia College of Pharmacy before completing high school at Avery in Charleston; he graduated with honors in 1899. Dr. McFall’s grandniece published his recently discovered, personal story as: Resisting Jim Crow: The Autobiography of Dr. John A. McFall. In his manuscript, McFall wrote about the adversities he faced as a pharmacy student and as a pharmacist in Charleston, South Carolina when segregation was legal. Map of historic walking tour of C of C campus

Friday Feb 16, 3PM “Untold Stories” Campus Historical Tour Sponsored by the Committee on Commemoration & Landscapes. Use this link to register for the free tour, which begins at Porter’s Lodge.

March 28 5 PM, ECTR 118 Commemorating Activists: Continuing the Legacy of Septima Clark. The Committee on Commemoration & Landscapes celebrates a new installation in the Septima Clark Auditorium honoring Septima Clark’s sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha, and College of Charleston students who work for equity and justice. Members of Alpha Kappa Alpha will participate in the program, along with students who have won prizes for art, poetry, and activism.

under: Uncategorized

Spring 2024 Course Offerings

Posted by: Julia Eichelberger | October 30, 2023 | No Comment |

Here are some opportunities to learn more about the South in Spring 2024 from outstanding professors across campus. Many of these courses fulfill other major or Gen Ed requirements.

Take these courses to learn more about the region’s diverse cultural traditions, its history, art, music, foodways, literature, etc.

  • SOST 200 Interpreting Southern Cultures Prof. Moore 3:25-4:40
  • HONS 172 (Honors College equivalent of SOST 200)  Prof. Eichelberger 2-3:25 MW
  • SOST/ENGL 241 Studying Southern Literature and Cultures Prof. Eichelberger 3:25-4:40

These courses count for Elective Credit in the Southern Studies Minor

  • AAST 300.01. The Life and Writings of James Baldwin Mari Crabtree 9:25 TR
  • AAST 300.02/WGST 323 Intersections of Spirituality, Anti-Racism, Social Justice and Practice     Prof. McDaniel  10:50 TR
  • ANTH 306. Historical Archaeology.   Prof Platt          MW 2-3:15
  • BIOL 333 Ornithology  Prof Hughes. M 7:30-11:30
  • BIOL 334 Herpetology  Prof Welch 10:50 TR
  • EDFS 201 Foundations of Education (multiple sections)
  • ENGL/SOST 241 Studying Southern Literature and Cultures Prof. Eichelberger 3:25-4:40
  • ENGL 350 The GOAT [Greatest of All Time]: Toni Morrison. Prof Johnson 3:25 MW
  • HIST 210.01 Indigenous Southeast to Removal  Prof. Boucher         12 MWF
  • HIST 210.02  Civil War and Reconstruction    2-3:15 MW
  • HIST 210.03 Special Topics in Heritage Interpretation. Prof. Veal MW 3:25-4:40
  • HIST 217 African American History since 1865 Prof. Eaves 9:25 TR
  • HIST 250 Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade  Prof. Cropper 10:50 TR
  • HIST 310/JWST 310 Southern Jewish History MW 2-3:15
  • HPCP 299 Preservation Planning Studio  Prof. Moffatt 2-5 M
  • HPCP 290 Rendering Architecture and Landscapes Prof. Muldrow 1-4 W
  • MUSC 222.07 Black Musics in the Americas Prof. Sauberlich 1 MWF
  • MUSC 365.01. Gospel Choir   Prof. Brown   M 4-5:50 (1 credit hour)
  • POLI 359 Afro-Caribbean and Afro-Latin Studies  Prof Thomas 4-6:45 pm T
  • WGST/AAST 323 Intersections of Spirituality, Anti-Racism, Social Justice and Practice     Prof. McDaniel  10:50 TR
under: C of C Program in Southern Studies, Courses, Uncategorized

Fall 2023 Events: Study and Experience Southern Cultures

Posted by: Julia Eichelberger | September 19, 2023 | No Comment |

Please contact eichelbergerj@cofc.edu if you know of other events to add to this listing.

Wed Sep 19 6 PM Addlestone 227 Friends of the Library: Conversation with Neil Kinghan, author of A Moment in the Sun, a new biography of Reconstruction leader and educator Francis Cardoza

Wed Sep 19. 6 PM Gibbes Museum “The Poetics of Witness” with Marjory Wentworth, Titus Brooks Heagins, and Gary Jackson https://www.gibbesmuseum.org/programs-events/the-poetics-of-witness/807

Tues Sep 26. 1:45-2:45 Halsey Gallery Conversation w Dr. Regine Jean-Charles, WGS Scholar in Residence, and Dr. Kameelah Martin, Dr. Robert Sapp, and Cady Walker ’23, Topic: Diaspora, Conflict, Bodies, and the Power of Art.”

Tues Sep 26 3:15 PM C of C’s Committee on Commemoration & Landscapes meeting. New members welcome (C of C faculty, staff, students). Please contact Valerie Frazier or Julia Eichelberger if you wish to attend so we give you the info and add you to our listserv.

Tues Sep 26     4:30-6 pm Halsey Gallery Reception for Dr. Regine Jean-Charles, WGS Scholar in Residence

Tues Sep 26    6 PM, Septima Clark Auditorium, ECTR 118. Conseula Francis Emerging Scholar Lecture “Satirizing Satire” https://libcal.library.cofc.edu/event/11200968   Dr. Brittney Edmonds, “Satirizing Satire: Representing Blackness and the Social Protest Mountain,” comes out of her research on Black humor in the post-civil rights era, specifically her work on Percival Everett’s satirical novel, Erasure.

Wed Sep 27  2:15- 4 PM Culinary Amphitheater, Trident Technical College, 66 Columbus Street: West African Foodways Talk & Taste with Binta N’daw Young (Bintu Atelier restaurant), Dr. John Cropper (History), Dr. Regine St. Charles, moderated by Lauren Ravalico.

Thurs Sep 28 4-5 PM Halsey Gallery and halsey.cofc.edu/live WGS Intersections Discussion of Halsey exhibit Where the Land Meets the Body, by La Vaughn Belle. WGS affiliate faculty Deb Bidwell, Mari Crabtree, Shannon Eaves, moderated by Mary Jo Fairchild.

Thurs Sep 28th 6pm: Charleston Museum Exploring Pottery-making to Learn about Indigenous and African Communities during Charleston’s Colonial Period (ca. 1670-1750) with Dr. Jon Marcoux. More information and registration can be found here.

Fri Sept 29 Wadmalaw Island Study Away Day Trip with WGS Community Leader-in-Residence Tamika Gadsden (Contact Lauren Ravalico, WGS Director, to reserve your space, ravalicold@cofc.edu )

Thur October 19 6pm: Charleston Museum Emergence and Evolution of Carolina’s Colonial Cattle Economy with Dr. Elizabeth J. Reitz. More information and registration can be found here.

Oct 23 Wassamasaw Tribe Powwow https://calendar.powwows.com/events/wassamasaw-tribe-pow-wow/   Students: 30 free tickets are available via Office of Institutional Diversity. Go to Cougar Connect to find this event & sign up for free tickets and transportation, while they last.

Nov  3-12 Charleston Literary Festival – C of C students/fac/staff get discounted tickets! https://www.charlestonliteraryfestival.com/

Thur Nov 9th 6pm: Archaeology at The Charleston Museum: Past, Present, and Future  with Curator of Historical Archaeology Martha Zierden. More information and registration can be found here.

under: Uncategorized

Program Highlights 2022-23

Posted by: Julia Eichelberger | September 3, 2023 | No Comment |

For the past year, faculty and students at the College of Charleston have been busy interpreting the South and making our knowledge available to students and the general public.

Course Offerings and Our Program of Study

Southern Studies Courses Available for Race, Equity, and Inclusion requirement: The College has adopted a new graduation requirement, following several years of study, discussion and strong support by many students and faculty: 2 courses in Race, Equity, and Inclusion (REI) for all students beginning F 23 or later.  Among the many courses students may complete to fulfill a required course in REI–U. S. Contexts are SOST 200, HONS 172, ENGL/SOST 241, and other courses that count for the minor in Southern Studies. Other F 23 courses that count for REI and also for SOST include AAST 300, AAST 340, and ENGL 313. The REI program is directed by Simon Lewis (ENGL), who is organizing training and support for faculty who teach REI courses or add new courses to the available offerings.

Changes to the SOST minor requirements make it easier for students to complete the minor. They may complete their capstone experience via several options, including individual enrollments (SOST 399, SOST 404, or approved coursework in other departments). The SOST program will continue its practice of sharing completed capstone projects with the public, so that our region can benefit from our students’ interdisciplinary learning and their insights on our diverse and dynamic region.

Presentations and Resources

New Libguide: With the support of other students and faculty, the Program in Southern Studies created a new Libguide, Exploring the Indigenous South, a resource for anyone interested in the past and present experiences of Native Americans in our region.

Screenshot of Libguide on Exploring the Indigenous South.

This Libguide was inspired by the capstone project of Southern Studies minor Jenna Chalhoub ’22. Special thanks to Elena Rodriguez for building and maintaining this guide. Let us know if you have updates and additional resources to suggest!

New Exhibition: The Southern Studies Program was happy to co-sponsor a a new exhibit on the life of Septima Poinsette Clark, a Civil Rights activist and educator who was born on Wentworth Street. Martin Luther King, Jr. called Clark “the mother of the civil rights movement.” She pioneered the first citizenship school on Johns Island, which activists replicated all over the South during the 1960s. The exhibit on Clark is in C of C’s Education Center, where an auditorium was named for Clark shortly after her death. This exhibit was created by members of the College’s Committee on Commemoration & Landscapes, who also published online essays, installed a mural by Natalie Daise in the Education Center atrium, and held a celebratory event in February. Screenshot of College Today article on Septima Clark exhibition

The Committee on Commemoration and Landscapes was co-chaired in 22-23 by Julia Eichelberger, Valerie Frazier, and Mari Crabtree, who all contribute to the program in Southern Studies. (Many other SOST faculty and students participate, and the CCL welcomes new members. Please contact the 23-24 co-chairs, Julia and Valerie, if you’d like to join.)

Capstone Project: Catherine Quarles ’23, who completed the Southern Studies minor in Spring 2023, was recognized at the College of Charleston Expo in April for her poster based on her Southern Studies capstone project. For this project, Catherine revisited a prior course, an independent study called “The Queer South” that studied Southern literary representations of queer identities and themes. For her capstone, Catherine designed an undergraduate course, “Queer Southern Literature,” that she would like to see taught at C of C. The course was designed to be accessible to English majors, Southern Studies minors, and any other student with an interest in the topic.Poster on "Teaching Queer Southern Lit"

In the mock-up OAKS course that Catherine created, she wrote, “My goal in creating this class is to provide others with an understanding of how different representations of gender and sexuality have been expressed and interpreted by a range of Southern authors. Students unfamiliar with Southern culture, literature, and queer theory will be able to gain insight into queer Southern literature as a reflection of the diverse and complex history of the region. .” The course was a good reflection of Catherine’s love of Southern writers and also her experiences working with a wide range of C of C students. She served as a member of the Student Advisory Group for the English Department and worked as a Peer Facilitator for a first-year experience course on Charleston Writers.

Interpretive Training: The Southern Studies program sponsored two CCL members’ attendance at a Certified Interpretive Guide workshop at the Avery Research Center in July 2023. This was the second time this CIG Instructor, Research Archivist and Interpretation Coordinator Erica Veal, taught a course with a special focus on supporting Black and Brown interpreters.

Walking Tours: Students in Honors Southern Studies and in ENGL/SOST 241 attended a historical campus walking tour by Fanio King, Director of Marketing and Communications in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences and member of the Committee on Commemoration & Landscapes. After completing this walking tour, students provided feedback after the tour that is currently being used by the CCL in the tours they developed for F 2023. The first historic campus tours for C of C faculty were offered in August by Fanio King, Harlan Greene, and Julia Eichelberger. More will be offered this year—stay tuned!

Map of historic walking tour of C of C campus

Other SOST faculty and student accomplishments:

Tamara Butler, director of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, led the Avery team that won a $2 million Mellon Grant for “the preservation and collection of the South Carolina Lowcountry’s social history.” Amidst her many forms of scholarship, leadership and service, Tamara also contributed to the Libguide, “Exploring the Indigenous South.”

Mari Crabtree, who teaches “Race, Violence, and Memory in American History” (AAST 340), completed an exhibit for the Lowcountry Digital History Initiative on the history of desegregation at the College of Charleston. She also wrote an online essay on the new “Saint Septima” mural, gave a sabbatical presentation on the ethics of historical privacy in Black studies, and discussed her recent book, My Soul Is a Witness: The Traumatic Afterlife of Lynching, at a public presentation in Spring 2023 and with Matthew Cressler on a College Today podcast.

We were sorry to say farewell to Matthew Cressler (RELS), who moved with his family to the DC area this summer. Needless to say, he’s still doing the work, publishing a new webcomic series called “Bad Catholics, Good Trouble,” about “antiracism and struggles for justice across American Catholic history.” We expect nothing less than ongoing “good trouble, necessary trouble,” from you, Matthew.

Tanner Crunelle ’20, a Southern Studies minor now completing his MFA in Poetry at the College as a Woodfin Fellow, did a poetry reading for the Poetry Society of SC in Sept 2022 and in 22-23, served as a research assistant for the SC LGBTQ+ archive.

Shannon Eaves, who teaches courses in African American history, interviewed Tiya Miles on her book All That She Carried: The Story of Ashley’s Sack for the Charleston Literary Festival in November 2022.

Program Director Julia Eichelberger (English) discussed the legacies of slavery in Southern literature with Bernard Powers on his OHM Radio program, “Black History Talks” in Sept 2023.  She was a lead author of the virtual tour, “Sites of Inspiration: Septima Clark and the Civil Rights Movement, Charleston, SC” created to accompany the new exhibition honoring Clark, and the curator of a new online tour to support the College’s second annual Maroon Walk for Juneteenth.

Grayson Flowers ‘21, a Southern Studies minor, is now a project manager at Sifly Homes.

English professor and director of the 1967 Legacy scholarship and leadership program, Valerie Frazier, who teaches African American Literature (ENGL 313) and other courses that count for Southern Studies,  led the ongoing work on Phase II of the Septima Clark Auditorium exhibition, which will focus on C of C and community activists and leaders whose work continues Clark’s legacy.

Joanna Gilmore (Archaeology, Musuem Studies) designed the new exhibition on Septima Clark in the Education Center and began work on Phase II of the exhibition.

Special Collections scholar-in-residence Harlan Greene published The Real Rainbow Row: Explorations in Charleston’s LGBTQ+ History. He spoke on the book at numerous venues, including a standing-room-only talk at the Charleston Library Society and full house at the Rita Hollings Auditorium on campus. The College Today featured Greene’s work on this book and the development of the SC LGBTQ+ Archive in the College’s Special Collections.

Screenshot of College Today story on Harlan Greene

At the 2022 Charleston Literary festival, Harlan Greene interviewed Geoffrey Harpham, author of Citizenship on Catfish Row, along with soprano Alyson Cambridge, on the topic “Porgy and Bess Reassessed.”

Aaisha Haykal, director of archival services at the Avery Research Center, contributed to the CCL’s research and curating of images for the CCL’s exhibition on Septima Clark. She also wrote an essay on the Avery Research Center for the new Discovering Our Past virtual tour accompanying the Maroon Walk for Juneteenth.

The Honors College sponsored a summer institute for high school students, Mapping Memory in Charleston, taught by Dr. Jennifer Cavalli. Two more Charleston-focused summer institute courses were Saving Biodiversity in the Anthropocene, taught by Dr. Chris Freeman, and Bodies and Anti-Bodies: A Visual History of Medicine in Charleston, taught by Dr. Brooke Permenter.

Adam Jordan (EDFS), who recently co-authored an essay “Care Matters: Student Perspectives of Mental Health Determinants in an Alternative High School,” taught SOST 200 during Summer 2023.

Brennan Keegan, who teaches “Religions of Charleston” (RELS 253), published “Contemporary INative American and Indigenous Religions: State of the Field” and contributed her expertise to the development of the new Libguide, Exploring the Indigenous South.

Joseph Kelly (ENGL, IAAS) published an essay in The Conversation entitled “A brief history of the Ku Klux Klan Acts: 1870s laws to protect Black voters, ignored for decades, now being used against Trump.” He also wrote an essay for Discovering Our Past about the Civil War marker at Fort Johnson, placed there in 1961 by C of C. His essay situates this marker within a broader context of South Carolina’s legacies of slavery, Jim Crow, and the misremembering of our collective past.

Gibbs Knotts, Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, is teaching Southern Politics in Fall 2023. This year he’s published three articles in The Conversation, starting with one in February on why the Democratic Party made South Carolina the first primary in the country.

Mark Long (GEOG, Halsey), co-curator of the landmark exhibit Southbound: Photographs of and About the New South, curated a new exhibit featuring art by La Vaughn Belle, including works created in the Lowcountry.

Michele Moore, author of The Cigar Factory: A Novel of Charleston, is teaching SOST 200 this fall, along with courses in first-year writing and Medical Humanities.

Ralph Muldrow (HPCP, Art History), who regularly teaches a course that counts for Southern Studies, “Drawing Charleston” (HPCP 285), published Charleston Renaissance Man: The Architectural Legacy of Albert Simons in the Holy City.

Scott Peeples (ENGL) was interviewed on a podcast about his latest book on Edgar Allan Poe and published an essay for The Conversation, “How Edgar Allan Poe became the darling of the maligned and misunderstood.” (For more info on Poe’s relationship to the Lowcountry, read Scott’s article “Unburied Treasure: Edgar Allan Poe and the South Carolina Lowcountry.”)

Patti Ploehn ‘19, who minored in Southern Studies, is now a Historic Preservation Specialist at the Warren Lasch Conservation Center in North Charleston.

Harriet Pollack, Affiliate Professor, is heading to France in September 2023 to present in the European Southern Studies Forum Conference. She’ll discuss how the Southern writer Eudora Welty addresses the problematic history of the Southern “body politic”– the national cultural body— through the social codes written on the individual female bodies of Welty’s characters. In January 2023 her most recent book, co-edited with Jacob Agner, came out: Eudora Welty and Mystery: Hidden in Plain Sight. And she was the 2023 recipient of a Eudora Welty Review Research Grant to work at the Mississippi Department of Archives and History in their Special Collections.

History emeritus professor and director of the Center for the Study of Slavery in Charleston, Bernard Powers, published an essay in The Conversation, “International African American Museum in Charleston, SC pays new respect to the enslaved Africans who landed on its docks.” The Center for the Study of Slavery was also in the news for sponsoring the research of graduate assistant Lauren Davila, who uncovered the existence of the largest known auction of enslaved human beings in the U. S., here in Charleston. The co-sponsor of Lauren’s research, Margaret Seidler, is completing a book sharing research and reflections on her Charleston ancestor who was a trafficker in enslaved humans.

Dale Rosengarten (Special Collections) was honored by the South Carolina General Assembly with a resolution thanking her for “thirty years of exemplary service” to the state, especially her work collecting artifacts and oral histories for the College’s Jewish Heritage Collection and her research of sweetgrass basketry and her advocacy for Gullah basket sewers. Dale has also done tremendous work with the Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina, has collected invaluable oral histories of South Carolina Jewish residents, and has lead the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture.

screenshot from published tribute to Dale Rosengarten

Tribute to Dale Rosengarten in Jewish Historical Society of SC’s magazine

Dale Rosengarten has created a formidable body of work that will serve Southern Studies for generations to come. Mazel tov and endless thanks to you, Dale! Here’s hoping we’ll continue to see and work with you during your well-earned retirement.

Stella Rounsefell ’19, who majored in English with a minor in Southern Studies, directed a successful summer reading camp at Butler Academy in Hartsville, SC.

Hayden Ros Smith, who teaches courses in Southern history and occasionally teaches SOST 200, recently co-authored “Emergence and Evolution of Carolina’s Colonial Cattle Economy.”

Barry Stiefel (HPCP, Urban Studies) spoke with the National Park Service for a podcast on the “Sustainability of Historic Preservation.”

Robert Stockton, who teaches “Society and Culture of Early Charleston (HIST 323), co-authored Broad Street and Beyond: Charleston’s Historic Nexus of Power with Peg Eastman.

Mary Trent (ARTH) published several articles on photography, including one on Ellen Craft, co-author of the slave narrative Running a Thousand Miles for Freedom. In Spring 2023 she moderated a public discussion with Tamara Lanier, “Should Harvard Own My Enslaved Ancestors?. . . On Repatriating Artifacts of North American Slavery.”

Jewish Studies professor Ashley Walters began directing the Pearlstine/Lipov Center for Southern Jewish Culture in Spring 2023.

Annette Watson (GEOG), who teaches “Reading the Lowcountry Landscape” (GEOG 219), directs the M. S. Program in Environmental and Sustainability Studies.

 

under: African American Studies, C of C Program in Southern Studies, Charleston, Charleston History, Courses, Faculty, LGBTQ+ Lives, Monuments, Research Projects, Southern Literature, Southern Studies Faculty in the News

Course Offerings for Summer and Fall 2023

Posted by: Julia Eichelberger | March 15, 2023 | No Comment |

The following courses can count for the minor in Southern Studies. For a list of minor requirements, which will change in F 2023 for students under that catalog, scroll down on this document.

Summer 2023

SOST 200 Summer I Asynchronous online.

ENGL 313 African American Literature online

MUSC 222 All That Jazz online

Fall 2023

AAST 300 The Black Queer South  1 pm MWF

AAST 340 Race, Violence, and Memory in American History 2-3:15 MW

ANTH 309 Archaeology of the African Diaspora 3:25-4:40 MW

ANTH 347 Intro to Museum Studies 2-3:15 MW

BIOL 300, 300L Botany 9 MWF and 1-5 W

BIOL 338, 338L Entomology 10:50 TR, 1-5 F

ENGL 313 African American Literature 11 MWF

ENGL 360 Coming of Age in Southern Spaces 10:50 TR

ENGL 364/HIST 310 Fire in Little Africa 12:15 TR

GEOG 219 Reading the Lowcountry Landscape online

GEOL 213 Natural Hazards MWF 12-12:50

GEOL 257 Marine Geology MWF 1-1:50

HIST 215 African American History to 1865 9:25 TR

HIST 225 History of the South Since 1865 TR 10:50

HIST 310/JWST 300 African Americans and Jews

HPCP 299 Preservation Planning Studio 2-5 M

MUSC 365 Gospel Choir

POLI 330 Southern Politics 12:15 TR

RELS 253 Religions of Charleston 1:40 TR

SOST 200 Interpreting Southern Cultures 3:25 MW.  [This new title for SOST 200, formerly called Intro to Southern Studies, better reflects the open-ended inquiry of the class and the fact that it is often taken after students have already taken one or more Southern Studies courses.]

CHANGE TO MINOR REQUIREMENTS

The Southern Studies Minor currently requires 19 credit hours that include SOST 200 or the equivalent, 15 hours of elective courses, and SOST 400, 1 credit hour. Beginning with the 2023-24 catalog year, the minor will only require 18 credit hours and SOST 400 will be deleted from the catalog. For the minor’s capstone project, instead of taking SOST 400, students will consult with the Program Director to select an interdisciplinary project completed in one of their minor courses. They may also do a new capstone project while enrolled in SOST 399 or SOST 404 for 1-3 hours and count those hours towards their elective hours. The Southern Studies program will share capstone projects publicly, since this work adds to our collective understanding of the complexity of our region and how its cultures can become more equitable and sustainable.

If students wish to do focused research on a Southern Studies topic not covered in a regular course, they may count tutorials or independent studies in an appropriate department, including SOST 399 and SOST 404, two new courses added to the 23-24 catalog.

Students who are completing the minor under an earlier catalog but graduating in December 2023 or later may switch to the requirements of the new minor. Go to MyPortal and select POSM (Program of Study Management) to switch to a later catalog. Contact the Program Director, Dr. Julia Eichelberger eichelbergerj@cofc.edu to discuss your options.

under: Uncategorized

Studying the South: Spring 2023 Presentations

Posted by: Julia Eichelberger | January 22, 2023 | No Comment |

Learn more about the South at these upcoming presentations! More events will be added throughout the Spring 23 semester.

Jan 24 6-7 pm The Real Rainbow Row with Harlan Greene. Charleston Library Society, 164 King Street. ~  Take a chronological tour through Greene’s new book The Real Rainbow Row,  documenting gay, transgender, and nonbinary people who’ve been in Charleston long before the city’s founding. Greene will be in conversation with Dr. Stephanie Yuhl, author of the important and influential A Golden Haze of Memory: The Making of Historic Charleston and lead scholar for Revisiting Prop Master: A Digital Exhibition and Catalog at the College of Charleston (2019), the digital recreation of a provocative 2009 anti-racist art exhibit at the Gibbes.        Admission is $10 for members, $15 for non-members, but C of C students can get in free by emailing  mwilliams@charlestonlibrarysociety.org or calling 8437239912 to get their name on the list, and be sure to bring their ID to get into the event.   https://charlestonlibrarysociety.org/event/the-real-rainbow-row-with-harlan-greene/

                         POSTPONED DUE TO ILLNESS–TO BE RESCHEDULED Jan 26 6-7 PM Faculty Book Celebration with Gary Jackson, origin story (poems) and Mari Crabtree My Soul Is a Witness: The Traumatic Afterlife of Lynching, McKinley Washington Auditorium, Avery Research Center, 5 pm. Reading and discussion of the authors’ books.

Feb 2nd 6pm Dr. Sarah Platt, C of C Archaeology professor, lecture: “At the Sign of the Pine Tree: Gunsmithing, Urban Slavery, and Archaeological Legacies at 87 Church Street” Charleston Museum, . Click here for info & registration

Feb 5th 2-4 PM Brittlebank Park Food and Faith: Charleston Interreligious Council  This is the Council’s seventh annual event, “a dive into the Jewish and Muslim faiths. This year we will focus on how each religious tradition approaches coming of age. Following the presentation, youth from different religious traditions will lead smaller dialogue groups as we enjoy some snacks prepared by the Jewish and Muslim communities .We will have tables and some chairs, but if possible, please bring a lawn chair.**In the event of bad weather, Food & Faith will be held at Arnold Hall, CofC, 96 Wentworth St. 29424. Check our website or Facebook page for updates.”

Feb 6, 6 pm Black History Month Lecture at MUSC: Healing, Mobility,and Fugitive Logic: Revisiting Harriet Tubman as Both Healer & Intellectual.    Deirdre Cooper Owens probes Harriet Tubman’s intellectual offerings via her community work via entrepreneurship, abolitionism, herbalism, and institution building. As a historian of medicine, Cooper Owens has documented the importance of Black women’s healing practices to the development of American medicine. Herbalism is one of the foundations of their healing arts (and Harriet Tubman was skilled in this artform). In her presentation, Dr. Cooper Owens hopes to reveal Tubman as more than a courageous freedom fighter; but also, as a fierce intellectual figure.              Join in-person or by zoom. Registration is required by Saturday, February 5, 2023, at 6 PM to reserve your seat and/or receive login information.  In-person at MUSC’s Drug Discovery Auditorium. Light refreshments will be served. https://musc.libcal.com/event/9936862

Feb 7, 7 PM. An Evening with Tara Bynum, author of Reading Pleasures: Everyday Black Living in Early America. McKinley Washington Auditorium, Avery Research Center.

Attend this lecture and then join Carolina Lowcountry and Atlantic World program’s book club discussion of this book March 1 and 2. Please email Sandy Slater slaters@cofc.edu to get a Zoom link for these discussions and a copy of the book.

Feb 9th 5 Pm Slave Patrols and the Charleston Workhouse  Webinar presented by Drayton Hall Freedom seekers in South Carolina faced many dangers. From laws seeking to control their movement and access to resources to the perils of living on one’s own in the wild, attempting to self-emancipate was an undertaking in which a person risked everything—including their life. Patrollers monitored the countryside in search of enslaved people who had left their homes, using violence and force to control populations, and punishments in the Charleston Workhouse often awaited those who were found. In this donate-what-you-can webinar, curator Amber Satterthwaite will use Charles Drayton’s diaries and other historic documents introduce you to some of the courageous individuals who risked everything by trying to reach their freedom, the consequences some of them faced, and the determination of men and women who continued to resist enslavement.

Feb 17-19  Southeastern Wildlife Expo (SEWE) demonstrations and chef demos @ Marion Square. SEWE Schedule tells you about free (non-ticketed) events in Marion Square & lets you buy tickets for other events.

Feb 18 6 pm C of C Gospel Choir Presents “The Revolt to Freedom: The Story of Denmark Vesey” Trinity Methodist Church, 273 Meeting Street. Free to C of C students.

Feb 23 5 pm ECTR 118 C of C President Andrew Hsu and the Committee on Commemration and Landscapes celebrate the opening of exhibit in the Septima P. Clark Auditorium honoring civil rights legend and Charleston native Septima P. Clark. If you missed it, watch the recording here!

Mar 9-Apr 1: World premiere of play Septima by Patricia Williams Dockery, on the life of the legendary educator and activist who changed the South and the country. Clark was an Avery graduate and born at 105 Wentworth Street. Dockery is the former director of the Avery. PURE Theater 

Monday, March 20 at 4PM in the Stern Ballroom: Afro-Brazilian Activist Vilma Reis

Tuesday, March 21, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm  Should Harvard Still Own My Enslaved Ancestors?” A Critical Conversations event with Tamara Lanier on Repatriating Artifacts of North American Slavery, sponsored by the Center for the Study of Slavery in Charleston.  Septima Clark Auditorium (Room 118, Education Center)

Mar 22 at 5 PM Septima Clark Auditorium Conversation with our former colleague, Patricia Williams Dockery, about her new play, Septima, now at Pure Theater. Panel moderated by Theater professors Nakeisha Daniels and Gary Marshall.

Mar 23, 5 pm in Addlestone 227, “Black Studies and the Ethics of Historical Privacy: When Archival Silences Are Acts of Refusal” –Mari Crabtree sabbatical lecture

Mar 30 6 pm Charleston Museum “Crafting Freedom: The Story of John “Quash” Williams, Free Man of Color and Master Carpenter in Eighteenth-Century Charleston with Dr. Tiffany Momon of Sewanee: The University of the South and the Black Craftspeople Digital Archive” FREE but you must pre-register here.

April 3-7 The Gibbes Museum will be holding Listening Conversations to get community input on future collections and exhibitions. Register at bit.ly/gibbeslistens

Apr 14, 15, 16 , 7:30 pm  Marcus; or, The Secret of SweetThe Department of Theatre and Dance presents the play Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet, by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Marcus is 16 and “sweet.” Days before Hurricane Katrina strikes the housing projects of Louisiana, the currents of his life converge, overflowing into his close-knit community and launching the search for his sexual and personal identity on a cultural landscape infused with mysterious family creeds. The provocative, poignant and fiercely humorous coming-of-age story of a young gay man in the South, Marcus; or the Secret of Sweet is the stirring conclusion of The Brother/Sister Plays by Academy Award-winning playwright and screenwriter Tarell Alvin McCraney (Moonlight). Recommended for audience members age 12+.

under: African American Studies, Charleston History, Events, Faculty, Health Care, Historic Buildings, LGBTQ+ Lives

Spring 2023 Course Offerings

Posted by: Julia Eichelberger | November 2, 2022 | No Comment |

Here are courses that count for the minor in Southern Studies that will be offered this Spring.

ARTH 261 Fine and Decorative Arts of Charleston 9:55-11:10 TR Patricia Dillon

ARTH 338/HPCP 338 American Vernacular Art & Material Culture 9 MWF Gilmore

 

BIOL 334 Herpetology TR 10:50 plus lab [Prereq: BIOL 111, 112, 211 or 213]

 

EDFS 201 (Multiple Sections)

 

ENGL 241/SOST 241 Studying Southern Literature and Cultures 12:15 TR EIchelberger

ENGL 315 Black Women Writers 11-11:50 MWF Frazier

 

HIST 217 African American History since 1865 MW 2-3:15 Pennebaker

HIST 222 History of South Carolina 5:30-8:15 Stockton

HIST 225 History of the South since 1865 12:15 TR Ingram

HIST 293 Intro to Public History 3:25 MW Haager

 

HONS 175 Honors Intro to Southern Studies 9:25 TR Eichelberger

 

HPCP 285 Drawing Charleston 9:25 TR Muldrow

HPCP 299 Preservation Planning Studio 2-5 M Moffatt [prereq: HPCP 199]

 

MUSC 222 History of Jazz (Online)

MUSC 365 Gospel Choir T 6:30-9 Weeks

 

RELS 270 African American Religions 9:25 TR Cressler

RELS 120 (SOST 175) Searching for the Sacred in the Art, Food, and Music of the South Express II 5:30 8:15 Bjerken

 

SOST 400 Capstone – Individual Enrollment—Contact eichelbergerj@cofc.edu

under: Uncategorized

Jenna Chalhoub presenting research

Jenna at the C of C Research Exposition. April 7, 2022. 

Jenna Chalhoub ’22 completed her minor in Southern Studies with a capstone project on Native Americans living in the South since the era of Removal. Jenna’s project not only explores academic sources, but also seeks to learn from Native Americans what their experiences may have been like and what histories and perspectives they would like to share with non-Native people.  She’s also created this Voicethread based on a presentation she did for the College of Charleston Research Expo in April.
We congratulate Jenna for this excellent and ground-breaking work! A week after graduation, she found time to answer a few of our questions about her research.
Q: Tell us how you got so interested in doing this project for your capstone.
A:When assigned the task to formulate a project summarizing my experience in Southern Studies, I realized there was a huge gap in the historic narrative in need of discussion: the Native American perspective. For the project, I aspired to discover what life was like for Native people living in the South from 1830, the year the Indian Removal Act passed, to the present year of 2022. Due to the complexity of this project, it made sense to start local and learn about Tribes with roots much older than Charleston.
With limited published sources, I began to research the history of the Edisto Natchez-Kusso Tribe of South Carolina and the Wassamassaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians. Indigenous People were not provided the opportunity for recognition by the state of South Carolina until 2004, so written sources on these Tribes histories are limited. To grasp a broader Southern perspective, I sought to read narratives written about one of the largest Tribes in the Southeast: the Lumbee Indians of Robeson County, North Carolina. Although reading is informative, making connections with Tribe members and supporting their publicly held events is the most effective and meaningful way to learn about their histories and culture.
Artwork representing the Edisto Natchez-Kusso Tribe of SCArtwork representing the Wassamasaw Tribe of Varnertown Indians
Q: Is this a topic that was taught in your coursework? 

A: No, not necessarily. Most people are unaware of Native American Tribes living in the South because public school systems have historically not included their perspectives in the narrative. Based on my experience in school, efforts are made to tell the history of how Native people and European settlers interacted during colonization. However, the stories are offered from narrow perspectives and neglect to include the rich and diverse history of Native Tribes before the United States existed, as well as their experiences and contributions to the tale of American history. During the fall semester of 2021, I enrolled in a Native American history class (HIST 215) where I discovered that many Native Tribes remained in the South after the Removal era (1830s) and still live today. One of my first thoughts when I learned about the Edisto’s and the Wassamasaw Tribe was: “Why am I just now learning about these Native communities after I have lived in Charleston for four years?”

Q.  How can C of C professors and students learn more about these communities and their histories?

A. Once I began my research I discovered that sources of information on this topic have been quite limited, and that the first step to truly learn these People’s stories was to make connections with them. As a College of Charleston community, we should continue learning about, listening to, and developing relationships with local and regional Tribes in order to provide a more complete and inclusive history for a place we all call home. My project supervisor, Dr. Julia Eichelberger, and I have worked together to build a bibliography of sources we gathered, so other students and faculty can use them in future research. This is intended to be a continuous growing source that anyone interested in the topic can help us build on. We are also working with Jared Seay to create a Libguide on Native Americans in the South that will be made available. [If you’d like to help us develop this bibliography, please go here to see the work in progress and offer your feedback and ideas.] We hope that these sources will not only help educate the community, but also lead to the development of more classes on the topic. In the meantime, check out this link to learn more about the Native American timeline in South Carolina history.  

Sarah Creel ’22, far right, stands behind Rev. Leondra Stoney ’02 at C of C’s 2021 ‘Land and Labor Acknowledgement.’ Photo by Mike Ledford.

Q: This fall, the College had its first major public event that included a ‘Land and Labor Acknowledgement’. Some C of C faculty researching this topic also attended a webinar about land acknowledgements. One point made in that webinar was the importance of building relationships with present-day Native Americans and learning how one’s institution could learn from and support them. How did you try to build these relationships in the research you did?
A: Every Tribe has different traditions and histories to learn about, and building relationships takes time and patience. After I gathered sources, I connected with Sarah Creel ’22, Edisto Natchez-Kusso Tribe member, to learn about her family’s traditions, as well as their experiences as Native people living in the South this past century. While these conversations provided a richer knowledge than any book could offer, it only made me want to learn more.
The Edistos held their 45th Annual Powwow this past April (see flyer below) where I had the opportunity to experience an event that showcased some of their traditions such as dance, food, and crafts. These events are open to the public, and are some of the best opportunities to learn about different Tribes and their traditions. Try to attend next year! 

The Edisto Natchez-Kusso Tribe Pow Wow Flyer, April 2022.

Q: What do you hope C of C students and faculty will do to build stronger relationships with Native Americans in our state?
A: Aside from using these sources to learn about the histories, C of C students and faculty should incorporate the Native American perspective in the classroom. To access quick, current information about the recognized Tribes in our state, go to South Carolina’s Recognized Native American Indians Entities through the Commission for Minority Affairs website. Here each Tribe in South Carolina has a point of contact listed, their website, or social media handles for the public to access. Following their social media accounts is an excellent way to hear about events they host to educate the public about their culture, as well as opportunities to support them. My hope is that students and staff will reach out to these communities, attend their events, and participate when appropriate. 
under: Uncategorized

Fall 22 Course Offerings

Posted by: Julia Eichelberger | March 30, 2022 | No Comment |

Study the South in Fall 2022 (and Summer 22!)

These courses count for the minor in Southern Studies. Offered in F 22 unless otherwise noted.

SOST 200-02 Introduction to Southern Studies. Summer II Online, Prof. Adam Jordan

SOST 200-01. Fall 22 TR 1:40-3:15, Prof. Michele Moore

ANTH 306 Historical Archaeology  TR 3:05-4:20

ARTH 338/HPCP 338 American Vernacular Art and Material Culture MWF 9-9:50 Prof Grant Gilmore

EDFS 201 Foundations of Education (multiple sections in F 22; one section is online in Summer II)

ENGL 313 African American Literature. Summer I, Online. Prof. Valerie Frazier

ENGL 364 Black Horror TR 12:15-1:30 Prof. Julia Mollenthiel

ENGL 477/577 Coming of Age in Southern Spaces Flyer for ENGL 477MW 4-5:15  Prof. Julia Eichelberger        For permission to register contact eichelbergerj@cofc.edu

ENVT 452.01  Flyer for Environmental Justice courseEnvironmental Justice Contact Dr Allison Welch welcha@cofc.edu for permission to register for ENVY 452. [Crosslisted with AAST 300.03, no preqs, and URST 397] 

GEOL 257 Marine Geology MWF 1-2, Lab W 205 Prof. Leslie Sautter [Prereq: Geol 103/105]

HIST 210 ST: The Civil War and Reconstruction in the Atlantic World TR 3:05-4:20

HIST 210 ST: African American Sexuality from Slavery to Freedom TR 9:25-10:40 Prof Shannon Eaves

HIST 216 African American History to 1865 TR 1:40-2:55 Prof Mills Pennebaker

HIST 250 ST: Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade TR 1:40-2:55 Prof John Cropper

Pre-req for 200-level History Courses: History 115/116 or equivalent

HPCP 205 Drawing Charleston W 1-4 PM Prof Ralph Muldrow

HPCP 299 Preservation Planning Studio M 2-5 [Pre-req: HPCP 199]

MUSC 222 ST: All That Jazz. Online Summer I Prof. Yiorgos Vassilandonakis

MUSC 365 Ensemble: Gospel Choir T 6:30-9 Prof Brenten Merrill Weeks

RELS 253 Religions of Charleston TR 1:40-2:55 Prof Brennan Keegan

Flyer for WGST Quuer Friendship courseWGST 352 ST: Queer Friendship, Kinship, Comradeship, and Community as Liberation Praxis. MW 2-3:15 Prof. Cristina Domingez

under: Uncategorized

Events March-April 2022 focused on our region and community

Posted by: Julia Eichelberger | March 16, 2022 | No Comment |

Attend these events to learn more about the South and contribute to making the region a better place for all.

Tuesday 3.15 5:30-6:30 Post & Courier Uncovered panel discussion on corruption in SC, Rita Hollings Center. Get tickets (free) to attend in person or virtually (or see recording afterward)

Wed 3.16. FLASC group on Mental Fitness discussion of  All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake by Tiya Miles, 1-2pm. Professor Miles will attend virtually. If you are interested in committing to reading/discussing the book and meeting the author please Sign up here 

3.16 6 pm  Presentation by authors of Through Mama’s Eyes: Unique Perspectives in Southern Matriarchy Zoom

3.17 4 pm “Bonds of Empire: The English Origins of Slave Law in South Carolina and British Plantation America, 166-1783” by Lee Wilson HTTPS://COFC.ZOOM.US/J/88442608381

3.17 4-5 PM Beyond the Binary: A Facilitated Conversation about Gender Expansiveness, sponsored by GSEC and I-CAN, 14 Greenway

Friday 3.18 2 pm Social Justice Coffee Hour in Stern 205, including Harlan Greene and alum Tanner Crunelle as panelists

Saturday March 19 Awakening of the Ancestors Through Music: A Gullah Geechee Homecoming. Dance (ring shout) and choral program sponsored by International African American Museum at Mt Moriah Missionary Baptist Church, 7396 Rivers Avenue, N Charleston. 3:45 Dance program 4:00 Choral program. Virtual and in-person attendance options. For more information and to register, visit chscp.co/awakening-ancestors

March 20:  Avery Bottle Tree rededication with Libation Pour by Priestess Osun Wonuola Efunlayo (11 AM) and Open House

March 22  College Libraries and Office of Institutional Diversity community workshop – “Beyond the Filter: Telling Stories with Photographs of Family and Community.” Addlestone Library, Room 127 (or via Zoom), 12:30pm. More information and registration: https://library.cofc.edu/event-beyond-the-filter-tuesday-3-22/

March 24 Avery Research Center and African American Studies Decolonizing the Curriculum lecture – Dr. Erica Dotson: “Black English and Honoring Linguistic Dexterity.” Click Here to Register

March 26 African American Settlement Community Historic Commission Fundraiser for 1904 Long Point School building with Charlton Singleton

Mar 28 Friends of the Library book discussion with historian Orville Vernon Burton (Clemson) and civil rights lawyer Armand Derfner on their book Justice Deferred: Race and the Supreme Court. Mckinley-Washington Auditorium, Avery research Center, 125 Bull Street, 6pm. Register for the in-person event or the simulcast on Zoom.

Mar 30 6 pm Conversation with Margaret Seidler and Polly Sheppard, sponsored by CSSC, location TBD Dorothea Benton Frank series visiting writer — Natasha Trethewey, Nonfiction/Poetry Reading. 7PM, Randolph Hall, Alumni Memorial Auditorium.

Mar 31 7 PM Poetry reading by US Poet Laureate Natasha Tretheway Alumni Hall

April 4 7 PM Charleston Area Justice Ministry’s Nehemiah Action Assembly, 3659 W Montague Avenue

April 5 Women’s and Gender Studies’ fourth “Feminism in Motion” event, celebrating student accomplishments. 3pm, EHHP Alumni Center.

April 7  College-wide Research Expo featuring student research and creative activities from across campus. This event is scheduled for the morning of Thursday, April 7, 2022 in TD Arena

April 18 Center for the Study of Slavery in Charleston’s Annual Lecture featuring Professor James Spady, editor of “Fugitive Movements: Commemorating the Denmark Vesey Affair and Black Radical Antislavery in the Atlantic World”  (Time and Location TBD)

April 22-23 Edisto Natchez-Kusso Annual Powwow, Ridgeville, SC

under: Uncategorized

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