Building Great Schools (For All the Wrong Reasons)

Sung to the tune of Johnny Lee’s Country classic “Looking for Love”

Pop Quiz: Which Southern state passed its first sales tax (3%) and spent $124 million dollars on new schools and buses between 1951 and 1956 with the expressed purpose of keeping the state’s children segregated?

A. Georgia
B. Mississippi
C. South Carolina
D. Maryland
E. All of the above

If you answered C, you are correct. If you answered A or B, you get partial credit, since Georgia and Mississippi enacted similar programs. If you answered D, you, like many of that state’s residents, are under the delusion that Maryland is still considered a “Southern” state.

In 1951 South Carolina passed its first general sales tax in order to fund a statewide program of school construction in response to Briggs v. Elliott, a lawsuit based in Clarendon County, which challenged the state’s constitutional “separate but equal” education provision. This “equalization” program was intended to construct new African American elementary and high schools across South Carolina to circumvent a potential desegregation ruling by the Supreme Court. The multi-million dollar school building campaign utilized modern school design, materials, and architecture to build new rural, urban, black, and white schools in communities throughout the state.

SCDAH staffer Rebekah Dobrasko has done an outstanding job of documenting this fascinating, bizarre, shameful, and yet beneficial period in our state’s history through her research and the creation of a website entitled South Carolina’s Equalization Schools, 1951-1960 at http://scequalization.schools.officelive.com. The site is an example of the stimulating research being conducted by members of our busy and intellectually curious staff. Take a look at the website; you won’t be disappointed.

Teaching American History (Instead of "Sports 101")

“History is like an amusement park. Except instead of rides, you have dates to memorize.”

Marjorie Bouvier Simpson


Flash back to the 11th or 12th grade, and you and your classmates are sitting before your high school's assistant football coach. On this day, he is your “history teacher,” and he is supposed to lecture on the causes of World War I. You have read Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August to prepare for the lecture. Your “history teacher,” however, is so excited about Friday’s game that he breaks out the projector and shows grainy film footage of a night, ten years before, when he blew out his knee. He rewinds the film again and again to show the exact moment a white helmet crashed into his leg and negated a scholarship offer from a “big time college program” (if you can call Mars Hill a “big time college program”). The bell rings and you stumble to your next class wondering if Austria-Hungary would have been better served by an emperor with the attention span of your history teacher/coach.

Sound familiar? Well there is a program designed to ensure that budding young historians do not suffer at the hands of poorly-prepared teachers. For the past three years, SCDAH has been a co-sponsor of the Teaching American History in South Carolina program, which provides professional development support to teachers by offering a series of 10-day summer institutes, which take place in the Pee Dee, Upstate, and Midlands. A history professor, or master scholar, leads the course, and provides content instruction in American history. Participants also take part in master teacher workshops and cultural institution presentations. Classes are held at local museums, libraries, and historic sites across South Carolina, and all activities utilize local primary source materials or objects relating to the periods or themes being studied. Participants conduct primary-source research and create original lesson plans.

The program’s goal is to ensure that our state’s history teachers offer accurate and engaging curriculum to their students, instead of regaling them with tales about how they “won the big game” (which is more than Kaiser Wilhelm II could say). For more information about Teaching American History in South Carolina, please contact Don Stewart at stewart@scdah.state.sc.us or 803-896-6224, or visit the website at www.teachingushistory.org.

This Day in SC History: September to Remember

May you find what you are looking for. Chinese proverb (curse)

Charleston, September 15, 1752-South Carolina is suffering through the hottest (and driest) summer in memory, with temperatures consistently over ninety and often over one hundred degrees. Conditions are so severe that Governor James Glen declares July 24, 1752, a day of “fasting humiliation and prayer” with the hope that God “may be graciously pleased to send rain for the preservation of the Earth” (see the Wednesday, September 2, 2009 blog for the complete prayer).

On September 14 Charlestonians witness high clouds forming overhead and increasing winds, both signs that the drought will end soon. On September 15 the city is battered by the most devastating hurricane of the colonial period, with the worst of the storm taking place between eight and eleven in the morning. The storm surge is nine feet above record high tides, and Charlestonians flee to the upper floors of their homes, which were quickly engulfed in water. Fortunately for the city’s residents, the winds shift three hours before high tide, thus saving Charleston, and its frightened inhabitants, from even further destruction.

Charleston, and the coastal regions of the colony, are devastated (think Hugo, but without the 24-hour news coverage). The colony is in political and financial turmoil for months afterwards. Governor Glen, no doubt remembering the wildly successful day of “fasting, humiliation and prayer,” declares “a day of general and Public Thanksgiving,” this time thanking God for not destroying the city with the rain for which the colony has so diligently prayed.

By his Excellency James Glen Esq.r Govern.r in Chief and Captain General in and over his Majestys said Prov.e

A Proclamation

Whereas it pleased Almighty God at whose Command the winds blow and lift up the Waves of the Sea for the Punishment of our Manifold Transgressions lately to visit this Province with a terrible tempest and inundation yet of his infinite Goodness in the midst of deserved wrath to turn from the fierceness of his Anger And to remember mercy by Rebuking the Winds and the Seas and Stilling the rage thereof and thereby saving us from imminent and otherwise unavoidable distruction And whereas it hath pleased him to continue to be gracious to us by send.g favorable Weather since for ripening and gathering in the remaining fruits of the Earth and also by Blessing the Inhabitants with a greater share of Health than they usually enjoy at this Season of the Year and as all Persons in General must have been sinsible of the visible interposition of Providence in our Deliverance and of Gods Great mercies towards us it is the Duty of all to make their general and grateful acknowledgements for the same by paying the Tribute of their joint and just Praises and by offering up the Sacrifices of a General and Public thanksgiving to Almighty God for his Goodness I have therefore thought fit by the advice of His Majestys Council to Issue this my Proclamation for appointing a day of general and Public Thanksgiving to Almighty God throughout this Province And I do hereby appoint Thursday the 23.d Instant for that purpose Willing and Strictly requiring that all manner of Persons to observe the same in the most Solemn and religious manner as they tender the Divine favour and Protection and as they would avoid such Punishment as may be Lawfully inflicted upon all who refuse or neglect to do so.
Given under my Hand and the Great seal of His Majestys said Province at the Council Chamber in Charles Town this 15 day of Nov.r in the 26.th Year of His Majestys Reign.

By His Excellencys Command
W.m Pinckney Dep Sec.y James (L S) Glen

Meet Tracy Power, Story-Teller Emeritus

That’s Power, not Powers, for as he says, “I joke that we were too poor --- we came to America from Ireland not long before the Revolution --- to afford the extra letter.”

Tracy Power has worked at the archives for nearly 24 years, and he’s got a lot of stories to show for it. In fact, he’ll tell you up front that he probably talks too much, but he’s just being modest.

His interest in the Civil War began early – he was five years old when President Kennedy was assassinated. His kindergarten teacher used the experience to relate the students to the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and from there, he fell into the Civil War, never to return. Fast forward a bit, and you’ll learn that Tracy got his doctorate in only seven years, while working full-time, which may not sound impressive until you realize the average time to completion for a history PhD is eight years for a full-time student. If he wasn’t working here, he’d be a professor.

Mr. Power’s official title is Staff Historian of the State Historic Preservation Office. Says Tracy, “My main duties are serving as co-coordinator of the National Register of Historic Places program in the state, coordinator of the Historical Marker Program, and staff liaison to the South Carolina Hall of Fame.” It’s a unique position which combines Tracy’s love of history with, among other things, his love of sports – he and his wife are season ticket holders for USC’s football, basketball, and baseball games.

Still, there’s more to Tracy than that. His most unusual job? “Probably weeding the parking lot at Jack's Hamburgers in Metro Atlanta, in the summer of 1976.” His very first job? “Reshelving books at the Lanier Lake Regional Library in Lawrenceville, Georgia, in 1973, at the age of 15.” Tracy dreams of going back to Rome some day. He feels the defining moment of Beatles history was the day they announced their breakup in the spring of 1970. And in the event of a total suspension of reality, Mr. Power’s backup career plan is to be a clown in the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

So when you see him, say hi to Tracy, or maybe just honk your big red clown nose.

History Detectives R Us

Congratulations to Patrick McCawley and Tracy Power for their stellar performance and hard work on the latest episode of the History Detectives. SCDAH’s recurring appearance on the show once again proves that this is truly the most sought after state archives in the United States. Really, what other state archives can brag about more appearances than South Carolina? How many times has the North Carolina State Archives been on History Detectives, hmm? They think they’re sooo great, with their ginormous staff, unending state appropriations, and decades old North Carolina Troops, 1861-1865 project. Well, we have a better staff, better collections, and, ummm, a sweet 1999 metallic-blue Ford Taurus Station Wagon with a rebuilt engine and close to 200,000 miles on the odometer. You can't top that pretty puppy with just anything.

Anyways, kudos to Patrick and Tracy. Thanks for making us proud.

Historical Markers are like Animal Crackers!

Work with me here.

So there you are, driving along, idly wondering if driving a more obnoxious car would get your more (or less?) notice from the police - and you don’t even realize you whiz past one of these:



Welcome to Historical Markers, where history is made not by scholars opining in an Ivory Tower, or politicians fussing in committee, but from the ground up, with all the stories, particulars, idiosyncrasies, and cultural uniqueness that comes with it.

State money doesn’t pay for historical markers, people do. Real people, raising money for real organizations, who think their piece of the world deserves a marker for being significant.


They raise the money, they write the text, and our own Tracy Power, Story Teller Emeritus, vets them. (That’s Emeritus by volume of stories, people, not by age.)

Think of markers like animal crackers – history for the modern age served up in bite-sized stories. And now the markers are all online in the newly launched Historical Marker Database, which is insanely addicting (just like animal crackers). Pick a town – any town! Pick a building – any building! You may get the horse or the elephant, you never know!

Make mine a llama. With pink icing.

Imagine this as a press conference – wigs optional

We find some interesting things in the records, such as this proclamation made by James Glen, Governor of South Carolina way back in 1752. Tucked among the legal stuff and deeds, a sincere – and desperate - plea for rain.

South Carolina

By his Excellency James Glen Esq.r Govern.r in Cheif and Captain General in and over his Majestys said Province

A Proclamation

Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God to visit this Province with a severe drought whereby the fruits of the Earth are in great danger of perishing and whereas there is reason to fear that we may have offended Heaven by abusing the great Plenty of former years and as it is our duty to humble our Selves before God and to pray that he would yet continue to be gracious to us I have therefore Resolved by the advice of his Majestys Council that a day of fasting humiliation and prayer be observed throughout this Province and that all Ranks and degrees of persons in it may devoutly joint in sending up their Solemn Supplications to the divine majesty that he may be graciously pleased to send rain for the preservation of the Earth And that fryday next the 24th Instant be religiously observed for that purpose:

By his Excellencys Command
Wm Pinckney Dep Sect.

Given under my hand and the great Seal of his Majestys said
province in the Council Chamber at Charles Town this 18 day of
July 1752 & in the 26th year of his Majestys Reign

James (L S) Glen

Meet Eric, Our Delightfully (not) Dull Director

Eric Emerson, our enthusiastic new director and a fresh transplant from Charleston, aspires to be boring. Deeply, irrevocably boring. If you argue the point, he will vehemently insist that he is, in fact, dreadfully dull.

He loves his family, he loves his job, he loves his football team (U. Alabama), and he loves history. The Simpsons show makes him laugh. He doesn’t collect anything, calls himself a minimalist, claims to have no hobbies, and stands at a loss if you ask him his favorites. He goes fishing just often enough to barely mention it. He doesn’t have cable. If you suggest that he turn the beautiful courtyard outside into a petting zoo to generate additional revenue for the department, or perhaps put llamas on the premises, he will suggest goats would carry smaller start-up costs.

Still, Eric fails at boring, and that’s ok. There’s probably a trophy for that, even.

Eric has lived in Tuscaloosa, Charlotte, Asheville, Baltimore, Columbus (GA), and Kentucky (in his youth), but he swears the sun rises and sets in Charleston - although he concedes it does set, occasionally, in Columbia. He appreciates southern manners and polite drivers, and has been known to wear seersucker suits. (Don’t honk at him. Ever.)

He speaks in military acronyms with ease, and after his time in the army, Eric went to Charlotte for a stint in management at a bakery. Four years later he took his appreciation of the corporate ladder – and crackers - and went back to grad school for history, likely subsisting on the very same crackers he’d helped to make.

Now, Eric hates the disappointment he gets when house-hunting reveals the potential for bad neighbors. His office décor consists of 1940’s architectural drawings from various cities, and a few family photos. He likes jazz, not just the artists everyone likes, but musicians that have a take-em-or-leave-em appeal, like Chet Baker. He also listens to 70’s rock. His tastes run towards mid-century modern architecture, and he likes to reflect on the optimism and promise of the Long Decade of post-WWII America. It’s a wistful sort of reflection, the kind that ends with “and the economy was so strong.”

So here’s a warm welcome for Eric Emerson, our minimalist, professional new face of the agency. Like beauty, local pride, and an appreciation for bow ties, boring is in the eye of the beholder.