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**Walter Edgar’s Journal**

From books to barbecue, and current events to Colonial history, historian and author Walter Edgar delves into the arts, culture, and history of South Carolina and the American South. Produced by South Carolina Public Radio.

Latest Episodes:

**Remembering Dorothea Benton Frank** Sep 04, 2019
Show notes

(Courtesy of Harper Collins)
On Monday, September 2, 2019, South Carolina lost a beloved author. Dorothea Benton Frank, author of 20 best-selling novels set in the Lowcountry, died at the age of 67 after a brief illness.
We’d like to share with you an excerpt of Dottie Frank’s last visit with us at Walter Edgar's Journal, broadcast August 14, 2015.
Listen to Dorothea Benton Frank's first appearance on Walter Edgar's Journal

North Inlet - Winyah Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. Aerial view of meandering tidal creeks and extensive pristine marshes in North Inlet Estuary. Vicinity of Georgetown, South Carolina. — **Community and Conservation - the History of South Caroliona's Coastal Conservation League** Jul 22, 2019
Show notes

(NOAA Photo Library [CC BY 2.0] via Flickr)
In their new book, A Wholly Admirable Thing (2018, Evening Post Books), Virginia and Dana Beach chronicle ten stories that showcase the rise of the Coastal Conservation League to one of the country’s most tenacious and innovative conservation groups. The book highlights transformational initiatives undertaken by the Conservation League over three decades in partnership with community activists up and down the South Carolina coast. Dana Beach joins Walter Edgar to talk about the history of the League and about his journey into the world of enviromental activism.
All Stations: Fri, Jul 26, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, Jul 28, 4 pm

Former President Lyndon B. Johnson (left center) and Vice President Spiro Agnew (right center) view the liftoff of Apollo 11. — **Chasing the Moon** Jul 01, 2019
Show notes

(Courtesy of NASA, July 16, 1969)
Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke joins documentary producer/director Robert Stone to talk with Walter Edgar about the Space Race of the 1960s, and about making the documentary Chasing the Moon.
Chasing the Moon, the upcoming American Experience documentary (premieres July 8 on PBS), thoroughly reimagines the race to the moon for a new generation, upending much of the conventional mythology surrounding the effort. The three-part series recasts the Space Age as a fascinating stew of scientific innovation and PR savvy, political calculation and media spectacle, visionary impulses and personal drama.
(Courtesy of NASA)
With no narration and using only archival footage — including a visual feast of previously lost or overlooked material — the film features new interviews with a diverse cast of characters who played key roles in these historic events. Among those included are astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Frank Borman and Bill Anders; Freeman Dyson, the renowned futurist and theoretical physicist; Sergei Khrushchev, the son of former Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev; Poppy Northcutt, the 25-year-old “mathematics whiz” who gained worldwide attention as the first woman to serve in the all-male bastion of NASA’s Mission Control; and Ed Dwight, the Air Force pilot selected by the Kennedy administration to train as America’s first black astronaut.
All Stations: Fri, July 05, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, July 07, 4 pm

The Apollo 11 crewmen, still under a 21-day quarantine, are greeted by their wives. — **Chasing the Moon** Jul 01, 2019
Show notes

(Courtesy of NASA, July 16, 1969)
Apollo 16 astronaut Charles Duke joins documentary producer/director Robert Stone to talk with Walter Edgar about the Space Race of the 1960s, and about making the documentary Chasing the Moon.
Chasing the Moon, the upcoming American Experience documentary (premieres July 8 on PBS), thoroughly reimagines the race to the moon for a new generation, upending much of the conventional mythology surrounding the effort. The three-part series recasts the Space Age as a fascinating stew of scientific innovation and PR savvy, political calculation and media spectacle, visionary impulses and personal drama.
(Courtesy of NASA)
With no narration and using only archival footage — including a visual feast of previously lost or overlooked material — the film features new interviews with a diverse cast of characters who played key roles in these historic events. Among those included are astronauts Buzz Aldrin, Frank Borman and Bill Anders; Freeman Dyson, the renowned futurist and theoretical physicist; Sergei Khrushchev, the son of former Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev; Poppy Northcutt, the 25-year-old “mathematics whiz” who gained worldwide attention as the first woman to serve in the all-male bastion of NASA’s Mission Control; and Ed Dwight, the Air Force pilot selected by the Kennedy administration to train as America’s first black astronaut.
All Stations: Fri, July 05, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, July 07, 4 pm

Dr. J. Brent Morris — **Conversations on S.C. History: The State & the New Nation - The Unification of the Slave State** May 27, 2019
Show notes

(USC Beaufort)
(Originally broadcast 03/10/17) - In this final installment of public Conversations on South Carolina: The State and the New Nation, 1783-1828, Dr. Brent Morris, associate professor of history and chair of the humanities at the University of South Carolina-Beaufort, talks with Dr. Walter Edgar about the unification of the a divided South Carolina, and its evolution from a strongly nationally-oriented states to a leader in the states' rights movement.
All Stations: Fri, May 31, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, Jun 02, 4 pm

**Conversations on S.C. History: The State & the New Nation - Slavery in South Carolina** May 13, 2019
Show notes

(Originally broadcast 02/17/17) - For the second lecture in this four-part series of Conversations on South Carolina: The State and the New Nation, 1783-1828. Dr. Larry Watson discusses slavery in South Carolina. Professor Watson is Associate Professor of History & Adjunct Professor of History South Carolina State University and the University of South Carolina. He is author of numerous articles on African American life in the American South.
This series of public conversations is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences and the Southern Studies Institute.
All Stations: Fri, May 17, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, May 19, 4 pm

The late Senator Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings — **Senator Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings on Walter Edgar's Journal** Apr 09, 2019
Show notes

(U.S. Senate)
Former S.C. Governor and U.S. Senator Ernest "Fritz" Hollings died on Saturday, April 6, 2019 at the age of 97. A Democrat, he held elective office for over fifty years. In 2008, Hollings talked with Walter Edgar about his life in politics and government, and about how to "make government work" again.
"Performance is better than promise" has long been the motto of Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings, a former Governor of South Carolina and six-term U.S. Senator who has distinguished himself as a stalwart advocate of fiscally responsible progressive programs. In his political memoir, "Making Government Work," Hollings takes aim at our increasingly flawed political system and a government that has gone "into the ditch." As remedy he pulls antidotes from anecdotes about his personal experiences in making government work in spite of itself for the past half century.
Hollings joins Dr. Edgar to talk about the book and about the changes in government and politics he has seen in his decades of public service.
All Stations: Fri, Apr 12, 12 pm | News & Talk Stations: Sun, Apr 14, 4 pm

The first black U.S. senator and first black House members were elected by Southern states during Reconstruction. — **Reconstruction: South Carolina and the Nation After the Civil War** Apr 01, 2019
Show notes

(Library of Congress)
Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr., has said, "Reconstruction is one of the most important and consequential chapters in American history. It is also among the most overlooked, misunderstood and misrepresented." Gates' new four-part television series for PBS, Reconstruction: America after the Civil War begins it run on April 9 on SCETV.
For an overview of this era in American history, Dr. Walter Edgar is joined by a fellow historian, Dr. J. Brent Morris, Director of the University of South Carolina Beaufort's Institute for the Study of the Reconstruction Era, for a discussion of Reconstruction and its aftermath, beginning with the hopeful moment of war's end and emancipation in 1865 and carrying through to 1915, when the nation was fully entrenched in Jim Crow segregation.
All Stations: Fri, Apr 05, 12 pm | News & Talk Stations: Sun, Apr 07, 4 pm

Standardizing South Carolina’s State Flag Feb 25, 2019

Show notes

Believe it or not, there is no standardized design for the South Carolina state flag. There are, however, historical versions which vary from period to period. And there are countless variations on shirts, decals, caps, sweatshirts – each manufacturer creates its own version.

Last year, the state legislature created a committee to come up with recommendations for a standard flag designs. On this week’s episode of The Journal, two members of that committee, Walter Edgar and Dr. Eric Emerson, head of the state’s Department of Archives and History, explore the history of the flag and its various versions.

Shrimp and grits, 21st century style. — **The State of Southern Cuisine** Feb 11, 2019
Show notes

(Greg Turner [CC BY-NC-SA 2.0] via Flickr)
January and February gave us the State of the Union address and the State of the State address – important stuff. But, for a Southerner, there are specific, important areas of life in these United States that these addresses didn't cover – areas that we need to check on once in a while. So, in early 2019, what is the State of Southern Cuisine?
Is it still making inroads in the food ways of other sections of the country? Are chain restaurants affecting what people in the South call ‘Southern Food?’ Who is innovating Southern Cuisine while staying true to traditions?
To find out, Walter Edgar talks with Hanna Raskin, Food Editor and Chief Critic for Charleston’s Post & Courier newspaper; and, Melissa Hall, Managing Director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, a member-supported organization based at the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture.
All Stations: Fri, Feb 15, 2019, 12 pm | News & Talk Stations: Sun, Feb 17, 4 pm

Tariffs... 'It's Complicated' Jan 28, 2019

Show notes

With recent controversies over the use of trade tariffs by the United States, it might be a good time to take a look back at the history of their use. It’s a complicated, often fraught history. In fact, friction between the North and South over tariffs in the early 19^th century almost launched the Civil War, 30 years “early.”

Dr. James C. Cobb, B. Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the History of the American South, University of Georgia, talks with Walter Edgar about the way tariffs have been used by the U. S. from 1789 to the 20th century, and the consequences of those uses.

All Stations: Fri, Feb 01, 2019, 12 pm | News & Talk Stations: Sun, Feb 03, 4 pm