Leading Class Discussion on “Why We Never Danced the Charleston”: Catherine POV
Much like Gabi, I was excited to see a queer text on our syllabus and really enjoyed reading and co-leading a discussion on Why We Never Danced the Charleston. Gabi’s research into the historic background of Ned Jennings and Laura Bragg helped me to contextualize the novel among the other works we’ve read and gain […]
Leading Class Discussion on “Why We Never Danced the Charleston”: Gabi’s POV
I will admit, out of all the works on our syllabus, I was most intrigued by Why We Never Danced the Charleston, and jumped at the chance to lead the discussion with Catherine, who is one of my good friends and frequent academic partner. I found the novel to be a fascinating, if slightly different […]
“A Short History of Charleston” Analysis
Robert Rosen’s A Short History of Charleston covers Charleston from 1670 to 2015, from the founding of the city to a more modern-day representation. Throughout the book, Rosen discusses the development of Charleston as it relates to race, politics, and culture.A Short History of Charleston is told from a historical lens, covering an incredibly wide range of history […]
“The Legend is Truer Than Fact”
The second chapter in Stephanie E. Yuhl’s 2005 publication A Golden Haze of Memory: The Making of Historic Charleston, entitled “The Legend is Truer than the Fact: Artistic Representation of Race, Time, and Place,” details Charleston’s legacy in the elegant paintings of Charleston Renaissance artists like Alice Ravenel Huger Smith and Elizabeth O’Neill Verner, and […]
The Trapman Street Hospital
Trapman Street hospital, census records from the 1861 Charleston city council identifies this site as Dr. Chisholm’s hospital, located at 3 Trapman St. at the corner of Trumbo St. the history of this hospital is somewhat foggy. What is referenced was that Dr. John Julian Chisholm established a free hospital for enslaved people and that […]
The Insiders of Charleston: The Charleston Renaissance
When choosing the “Charleston Renaissance”, what drew my eye the most was the Society for the Preservation of Spirituals. I am currently pursuing an internship with the Charleston Museum with their restored houses, the Manigault House and the Heyward-Washington House. And while the Preservation Society of Charleston is a distinct organization from the Society for […]
Location: Charleston Public Housing – Then and Now
Artist Edward Hopper painted his 1929 watercolor titled Charleston Slum just a few years before the push for public housing recalled by Mamie Fields in her memoir, Lemon Swamp (p. 194-6). The initiative began in 1934 with a federal survey of slums in 64 American cities, and Fields served as one of eight African-American women […]
Class Discussion About John Bennett 2-3-22
Preparing to lead the discussion about John Bennett, my fascination grew and grew. And today, we all heard Harlan Greene say he truly believes the Charleston Renaissance wouldn’t have happened, but for the trail blazed by the ailing man of literary gifts who moved to Charleston from Ohio in 1898. First, I want to thank […]
Pat Conroy’s “The Lords of Discipline”
This excerpt that we read from Pat Conroy’s The Lords of Discipline highlights a number of intriguing aspects of Charleston, and particularly Charleston culture, in the 1960s. One of the most notable things about this work is Pat Conroy’s use of descriptive language, as he acknowledges both the beauty and cruelty of Charleston. I though that this […]
The Apothecary and The Mermaid
The Story There is an old legend and folktale that involves an Apothecary and Mermaid. In June of 1867, Dr. Trott rented out the historic building named after John Lining, a settler who was very valued in the early settlement of Charles Town. Dr. Trott decided to set up an Apothecary in the historic building. […]