The ten essays in The Crucible of Carolina explore the connections between the language and culture of South Carolina's barrier islands, West Africa, the Caribbean, and England. Decades before any formal, scholarly interest in South Carolina barrier life, outsiders had been commenting on and documenting the "African" qualities of the region's black inhabitants. These qualities have long been manifest in their language, religious practices, music, and material culture. Although direct contact between South Carolina and Africa continued until the Civil War, the era of Caribbean contact was briefer and ended with the close of the American colonial period. Throughout this volume, though, the contributors look beyond the cultural motivations and political appeal of strengthening the links between coastal Carolina and Africa and examine the cost of a diminished recognition of this important Caribbean influence. Not surprisingly, the influence of the pioneering linguist Lorenzo Dow Turner is reflected in many of these essays. The work presented in this volume, however, moves beyond Turner in dealing with the discourse and stylistic aspects of Gullah; in relating patters of Gullah to other Anglophone creoles and to various processes of creolization; and in questioning the usefulness of "retention," "survival," and "continuity" as operational concepts in comparative research. Within this context of furthering and challenging Turner's work in the barrier islands, and in seeking a truer measure of both African and Caribbean influences there, the contributors cover such topics as names and naming, the language of religious rituals, basket-making traditions, creole discourse patterns, and the grammatical morphology of Gullah and related creole and pidgin languages. Other contributors consider the substrate contributions and African continuities to be found in New World language patterns into new patterns adapted to the various situations in the New World. Opening new and advancing previous areas of research, The Crucible of Carolina also contributes to a further appreciation of the richness and diversity of South Carolina's cultural heritage.

Although suburb-building created major environmental problems, Christopher Sellers demonstrates that the environmental movement originated within suburbs--not just in response to unchecked urban sprawl. Drawn to the countryside as early as the late 19th c

The first history of women's contributions to the Spanish colonization of the New World.

South Carolina 1775 ¿ A Crucible Year is the story of ambition and ego among conscience stricken men in the province of South Carolina on the eve of revolution, men who were still uncertain that independence from England, whether peaceful or violent, was the correct path to follow. After the First Continental Congress issued its Articles of Association in October, 1774, asking American colonies to unite in common cause to implement a trade boycott against Great Britain and its Coercive Acts, enthusiasm wavered greatly among Carolinians. The First Provincial Congress of South Carolina, as a revolutionary government, was organized by low country Carolinians of the Charleston area, who soon realized that back country planters would have to be included among delegates elected to this congress. Few back country farmers had ever participated in provincial governments of South Carolina. Indeed, they were often skeptical about the motivations of Charlestonians, people whom they considered aristocrats. However, by 1775, the back country made up roughly 70-80% of the royal province¿s population. They could not and would not be ignored. Back country Carolinians were more recalcitrant in relinquishing ties to the mother country. The implementation of association soon ran into the unintended consequences of political opportunism and vanity between men of honor, whether Rebels or Loyalists, with regard to a common cause. This narrative is a well-documented history of the political controversy that emerged between low and back country leaders, discussing in their own words the agonizing differences that arose between them, and the manner in which crisis situations on the road to revolution were handled ¿ situations that bordered on civil war. While personal ambition, pride and prejudice motivated the egos of Carolinians, it was still in good conscience that most Rebels and Loyalists defended their beliefs in this crucible year of 1775. Their words and deeds, offered in this narrative, provide exceptional insight into the nature of personal feelings on value issues such as duty, honor and integrity regarding separation from the mother country. These values still resonate with us today, and still remain as important a factor in political thought as they were in the days of the founders of modern South Carolina.

The Gullah people are one of our most distinctive cultural groups. Isolated off the South Carolina-Georgia coast for nearly three centuries, the native black population of the Sea Islands has developed a vibrant way of life that remains, in many ways, as African as it is American. This landmark volume tells a multifaceted story of this venerable society, emphasizing its roots in Africa, its unique imprint on America, and current threats to its survival. With a keen sense of the limits to establishing origins and tracing adaptations, William S. Pollitzer discusses such aspects of Gullah history and culture as language, religion, family and social relationships, music, folklore, trades and skills, and arts and crafts. Readers will learn of the indigo- and rice-growing skills that slaves taught to their masters, the echoes of an African past that are woven into baskets and stitched into quilts, the forms and phrasings that identify Gullah speech, and much more. Pollitzer also presents a wealth of data on blood composition, bone structure, disease, and other biological factors. This research not only underscores ongoing health challenges to the Gullah people but also helps to highlight their complex ties to various African peoples. Drawing on fields from archaeology and anthropology to linguistics and medicine, The Gullah People and Their African Heritage celebrates a remarkable people and calls on us to help protect their irreplaceable culture.

This landmark work provides a fundamental reinterpretation of the American South in the years since the Civil War, especially the decades after Reconstruction, from 1877 to 1920. Covering all aspects of Southern life--white and black, conservative and progressive, literary and political--it offers a new understanding of the forces that shaped the South of today.