Charleston Time Machine

Latest Episodes:

Episode 179: Charleston’s Contested Election of 1868 Nov 06, 2020

Show notes

What happens when politicians refuse to concede defeat and won’t leave office? During a period of smoldering racial and political tensions in post-Civil War Charleston, the city’s incumbent mayor and aldermen created a six-month legal soap opera by repeatedly refusing to heed the results of a municipal election and ignoring court orders to vacate their offices. https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/charlestons-contested-election-1868 #chsnews #chsreads

Episode 178: The Decline of Voting Suppression in South Carolina, 1900–1965 Oct 30, 2020

Show notes

In early twentieth-century South Carolina, conservative White men manipulated the state’s legal framework to silence dissenting voices. The national campaign to dismantle barriers to Black suffrage gained steam in the 1930s and gradually undermined local traditions of White supremacy. Before the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s, a series of legislative changes unlocked the door to Black voting. Read more: https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/decline-voting-suppression-south-carolina-1900-1965

Episode 177: The Rise of Voter Suppression in South Carolina, 1865–1896 Oct 23, 2020

Show notes

In post-Civil War South Carolina, White conservatives regarded suffrage as a privilege that the state’s Black majority did not deserve. The destructive war was followed by a fierce partisan battle over the fundamental right to vote. At the end of this violent and bigoted struggle, the Palmetto State adopted legal barriers that silenced the political voice of its Black citizens. Learn more: https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/rise-voter-suppression-south-carolina-1865-1896

Episode 176: South Carolina’s War Against Beasts of Prey, 1693–1790 Oct 08, 2020

Show notes

To secure the natural landscape for colonial settlement, South Carolina’s early government offered bounty money to white, black, and Native American hunters for destroying “beasts of prey” that menaced settlers, crops, and livestock. Commencing in the coastal Lowcountry in 1693 and spreading westward to the Piedmont, bounty hunters pursued panthers, wolves, bears, and bobcats to extirpation by 1790.

Episode 175: Recall Their Names: The Personal Identity of Enslaved South Carolinians Oct 02, 2020

Show notes

The records of early South Carolina contain thousands of personal names applied to many generations of people held in legal bondage. By sampling this body of names, we detect trends and evidence of resistance that help us understand their experiences and acknowledge the personal identities of the men and women who once formed the state’s enslaved majority. More: https://www.ccpl.org/charleston-time-machine/recall-their-names-personal-identity-enslaved-south-carolinians

Episode 174: Nicholas Trott’s Forgotten Charleston Residence Sep 25, 2020

Show notes

The house of Nicholas Trott, one of the most important figures in colonial South Carolina, disappeared more than two centuries ago, but its former site is now part of a popular venue. The discovery of a trash pit in what was once Trott’s back yard unearthed curious artifacts that provide a new window into the narrative of early Charleston.

Episode 173: The Myth of “Trott’s Cottage” Sep 18, 2020

Show notes

Did South Carolina's cantankerous Chief Justice Nicholas Trott (1663–1740) really live in a small house on the south side of Cumberland Street, or is there some flaw in this popular tale? The definitive answer lies buried in the archival record, where we find the details of a romantic story spanning 300 years.

Episode 172: The Advent of Black Suffrage in South Carolina Sep 11, 2020

Show notes

The roots of voter discrimination in South Carolina are embedded in colonial-era traditions of exclusion that continued through the Civil War. The long campaign to establish the right for black men to vote in the Palmetto State finally succeeded in 1867, but that seminal event sparked a racially-charged backlash that reverberated through the generations to the present.

Episode 171: A Trashy History of Charleston’s Dumps and Incinerators Sep 04, 2020

Show notes

The City of Charleston addressed rising volumes of garbage in the early 20th century with traditional methods of open dumping and the new science of incineration. The advent of new landfill practices in the 1950s ended municipal trash burning, but creative recycling preserved one historic structure and smokestacks that anchor an important part of the city’s trashy history.

Episode 170: Bee Jackson’s 1926 Visit to Charleston: Behind the Scenes Aug 14, 2020

Show notes

Professional dancer Bee Jackson’s brief sojourn to Charleston in April 1926 was immortalized on film, but the motivation behind her visit is less visible. She didn’t come here to work, nor was she paid for dancing at private parties and outdoor photo shoots. So why did Bee take a detour from her lucrative international career to do the “Charleston” in Charleston?

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