Walter Edgar's Journal
History
About
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.
Episodes
- South Carolina from A-Z in Depth - The Scrabble episode!
Walter Edgar's Journal features another installment of "South Carolina from A to Z" in depth, this time focusing on topics starting with the letters Q, X, and Z, as suggested by listeners Virgil and Mary Ann Hobbs.
- Revelations: The Art of Leo Twiggs
This episode features artist Leo Twiggs, art historian Frank Martin, and Sara from the Gibbes Museum discussing Twiggs's exhibition "Revelations." At 92, Twiggs shares his perspective on South Carolina's historical changes and the shared e…
- Liberty is sweet: The hidden history of the American Revolution
Walter Edgar's Journal presents an encore episode featuring Dr. Woody Holton discussing his book, "Liberty Is Sweet: The Hidden History of the American Revolution." The conversation explores the Revolution through the perspectives of overl…
- Mary Whyte: An artist's life
This episode of Walter Edgar's Journal interviews South Carolina watercolor artist Mary Whyte. The discussion covers her career, awards for large-scale watercolors, and her book "An Artist's Life: Unlocking Creative Expression."
- Exploring "South Carolina from A to Z" - In depth, redux
Walter Edgar and Alfred Turner discuss five new topics from the South Carolina Encyclopedia, featured on their sister podcast "South Carolina from A to Z." This episode is a follow-up to a previous exploration of the same subject.
- “South Carolina from A to Z” in depth
Walter Edgar and Alfred Turner ( SCETV) This week our we are bringing you another episode in our occasional series which explores “South Carolina from A to Z” in depth. South Carolina from A to Z is our sister podcast – also broadcast each…
- The Father of American Opera: Carlisle Floyd at 100
This week we’ll be talking about the life and career of the man that many call the Father of American opera: Carlisle Floyd. Our guests are Floyd's neice, Jane Matheny, and his biographer,Thomas Holliday. A native of Latta, South Carolina,…
- Victoria Benton Frank: Making a new path while walking with grief
Victoria Benton Frank (Molly Lawson) This week we’ll be talking with Charleston author Victoria Benton Frank about her new novel, The Violet Hour . Victoria was born in New York City, raised in Montclair, New Jersey, but considers her…
- Gullah culture in America
Walter Edgar (SCETV) The book, Gullah Culture in America (Blair Publishing), chronicles the history and culture of the Gullah people, African Americans who live in the Lowcountry region of the American South. Written by Wilbur Cross in 200…
- The Ramos Gin Fizz: a history of the complex New Orleans cocktail that survived Prohibition
A Ramos gin fizz (Ralf Roletschek / Wikimedia Commons) This week, in a "nod to all things Southern," we’ll be talking with Dr. John Shelton Reed about his book, The Ramos Gin Fizz (Iconic New Orleans Cocktails) (2025, LSU Press). In the bo…
- 25th Anniversary of Walter Edgar’s Journal
Alfred Turner, Walter Edgar, Sean Birch (SCETV) (Broadcast on SC Public Radio on December 12, 2025) – Today we are featuring a very special edition of the Journal, taken from a live broadcast on SC Public Radio on December 12. Sean Birch,…
- Master of horror: Grady Hendrix
Grady Hendrix and friend. (Courtesy of the author) Today our guest is Mt. Pleasant native Grady Hendrix, author of the horror novel Witchcraft for Wayward Girls (2025, Berkley Books).The novel is set in Florida in 1970 and is about a group…
- Rebirth: Creating the Museum of the Reconstruction Era and the future of house museums
A ballot box from Sumter County used in the 1876 election joined the tissue ballot and Red Shirt in 2024 on display in the bedroom devoted to domestic violence and election fraud. (Courtesy of Historic Columbia) This week we'll be talking…
- Ken Burns: the American Revolution
(PBS) This week Walter will be talking with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns about the American Revolution, focusing on the routing of the British and their allies by revolutionary Partisans during Cornwallis’ Southern campaign. Ken will al…
- "E" is for Edgar
Walter Edgar (SCETV) Today we’ll be switching things up a bit. Instead of Walter and me interviewing a guest we will have a guest interviewing Walter . The conversation is part of the Spring 2025 program put on by the University South Caro…
- Native Nations in colonial South Carolina
(Courtesy of the author) This week we’ll be talking with Dr. Kathleen DuVal about native Americans in Colonial South Carolina. Long before the colonization of North America, Indigenous Americans built diverse civilizations and adapted to a…
- 25 years of Walter Edgar’s Journal
Walter Edgar and Alfred Turner ( SCETV) This fall we are celebrating 25 years of Walter Edgar’s Journal ! We thought that a good way to start that celebration would be to look back on the launch of our podcast. So, this week we bring you a…
- Witness to change: George Anson and colonial Charleston
George Anson (1697–1762), 1st Baron Anson, Admiral of the Fleet (Attributed to Thomas Hudson / Royal Museums Greenwich) This week we’ll be talking with Nic Butler, the historian at the Charleston County Public Library. He has been digging…
- Beyond the western wall: Henry Tisdale and the transformation of Claflin University
Henry Tisdale with students on the campus of Claflin University (Courtesy of Claflin University) This week we’ll be talking with Dr. Henry N. Tisdale, former president of Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina. This Kingstree nat…
- SC A-Z - Back stories
(This week we are going to be exploring South Carolina from A to Z. That’s the title of our sister podcast from which we will select topics that deserve a longer look that just 60 seconds. This time out we'll discuss the ambitious man…
- The South never plays itself: The South on screen
Ben Beard (Courtesy of the author) This time out we are bringing you an encore from our broadcast archive featuring a conversation with Ben Beard, author of The South Never Plays Itself: A Film Buff’s Journey Through the South on Screen (2…
- The Francis Marion papers: The legend, tactics and life of the Swamp Fox
General Francis Marion offering to share his meal of sweet potatoes and water with a British officer. (Currier & Ives / Library of Congress) After two decades of research and investigation, the South Carolina Battleground Preservation…
- Mother Emanuel: Two centuries of race, resistance, and forgiveness
FILE - The men of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc., lead a crowd of people in prayer outside the Emanuel AME Church on June 19, 2015, after a memorial in Charleston, S.C. (AP Photo/Stephen B. Morton, File) (Stephen B. Morton/AP / FR56856 AP)…
- The Zombie memes of Dixie
(GrimDreamArt / DeviantArt ) This week we will be talking Scott Romine, author of The Zombie Memes of Dixie (2024, UGA Press). The book traces the origin and development of several propositions, tropes, types, clichés, and ideas…
- Exploring "South Carolina from A to Z" - Ep. 2
Mary Chesnut and her husband James ( Granger) This week we're going to explore South Carolina from A to Z. Walter and Alfred will take five topics from past episodes of our companion podcast, South Carolina from A to Z, and discuss each at…
- On the trail: Johnny D. Boggs' journey from the swamps of the Pee Dee to the Old West
Author Johnny D. Boggs (Courtesy of the author) This week we'll be talking with Timmonsville native Johnny D. Boggs about his latest novel, Bloody Newton: The Town from Hell (2024, Psicom Publishing), his journey from a childhood in the Pe…
- Exploring "South Carolina from A to Z"
Clayton "Peg Leg Bates" statue, Ft Inn, SC (Mike Burton / Flickr) This week we going to explore South Carolina from A to Z. That’s the title of our sister podcast and the title tells you all you need to know about what that podcast does: L…
- The cost of the vote - George Elmore and the battle for the ballot
Black voters in front of the Sunshine Laundry and Cleaners wait to cast ballots for the first time in a statewide Democratic primary, Aug. 10, 1948. ( From the John Henry McCray Papers / Courtesy South Caroliniana Library, University of So…
- Backcountry war: The rise of Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton, and Thomas Sumter in the American Revolution
This week we'll be talking with Andrew Waters about his latest book, Backcountry War: The Rise of Francis Marion, Banastre Tarleton, and Thomas Sumter (2024, Westholme Publishing). In it Andrew weaves the history of three key leaders…
- "Somewhere toward freedom" - Sherman's March and the story of America's largest Emancipation
"Contrabands accompanying the line of Sherman's march through Georgia from a sketch by our special artist." - An illustation in: Frank Leslie's illustrated newspaper, 1865 March 18, p. 405. (Library of Congress) This week, we’ll be talking…
- North of Main: Spartanburg's historic Black neighborhoods
( Spartanburg County Library) This week, we’ll be talking with Betsy Teter and Jim Neighbors about their book, North of Main: Spartanburg's Historic Black Neighborhoods of North Dean Street, Gas Bottom, and Back of the College. In this boo…
- Settler violence, native resistance, and the coalescence of the Old South
Massacre at Ft. Mims ( Boston, L. P. Crown & Co. Philadelphia, J. W. Bradley / Wellesley College Library ) In his book, Aggression and Sufferings: Settler Violence, Native Resistance, and the Coalescence of the Old South , Evan Nooe ar…
- Remembering Nathalie Dupree
Nathalie Dupree walks the red carpet during the 2015 James Beard Awards at Lyric Opera of Chicago on Monday, May 4, 2015 in Chicago. (Photo by Barry Brecheisen/Invision/AP) (Barry Brecheisen/Barry Brecheisen/Invision/AP / Invision) This we…
- Raptors in the riceland
Rice field, South Carolina (The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs / Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views, Photography Collection, The New York Public Library) In his new novel, Raptors in the Ri…
- Charleston's Nathaniel Russell House: Kitchen house archaeology sheds new light on the life of the enslaved
Cleaning and cataloging Nathaniel Russell kitchen house artifacts. ( Courtesy of the Historic Charleston Foundation, Nathaniel Russell House) This time out we’ll be talking with Tracey Todd, the Director of Museums for the Historic Charles…
- Marjory Wentworth: One River, One Boat
Bridging divides? The Arthur Ravenel Jr., Bridge in Charleston connects the peninsula with Mt. Pleasant. While the Charleston area Republican electorate varies ideologically, in general, from other parts of the state, it nevertheless is pa…
- Romancing the Gullah in the Age of Porgy and Bess
Todd Duncan (Porgy) and Anne Brown (Bess), 1935. (Photo courtesy the Ira & Leonore Gershwin Trusts) Dr. Kendra Hamilton’s book, Romancing the Gullah in the Age of Porgy and Bess , is a literary and cultural history of a place: the Gull…
- Lincoln's unfinished work: The new birth of freedom from generation to generation
Abraham Lincoln, February 9, 1864 (Anthony Berger / Library of Congress) This week, we offer you an encore of an episode from our broadcast archive: A fascinating conversation with Dr. Vernon Burton, the Judge Matthe w J. Perry Jr. Disting…
- Southern/Modern: Modernism in Southern art from the first half of the twentieth century
"Where the Shrimp Pickers Live," 1940, oil on canvas. (Dusti Bongé (1903-93) / Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson, MS. Gift of Dusti Bongé Art; Foundation, Inc. 1999.012 ) This week we will be talking with Jonathan Stuhlman and Martha Seve…
- Walter Edgar's Journal: Reconstruction beyond 150
Photomontage of members of the first South Carolina legislature following the Civil War. ( Library of Congress) In their book, Reconstruction beyond 150: Reassessing the New Birth of Freedom, Vernon Burton and Brent Morris have brought tog…
- Walter Edgar's Journal: A short history of Greenville
(Timothy J / Flickr ) This week, we will be talking with Dr. Judith Bainbridge about her book, A Short History of Greenville (2024, USC Press). The book is a concise and engaging history that traces Greenville, SC's development from backco…
- Walter Edgar's Journal: The miraculous art of jazz
Dizzy Gillespie, New York, N.Y., ca. May 1947 (Ky / Flickr ) In his new book, The Miraculous Art of Jazz , Benjamin Franklin V, Distinguished Professor of English, Emeritus, at the University of South Carolina, has gathered reviews of hund…
- Walter Edgar's Journal: Joy is the justice we give ourselves
J. Drew Lanham, Ornithologist, Naturalist, and Writer, 2022 MacArthur Fellow, Clemson, SC ( John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation ) This week, we will be talking with J. Drew Lanham, about his new book, Joy Is the Justice We Give O…
- Walter Edgar's Journal: 'This fierce people' - the untold story of America's Revolutionary War in the South
"Death of Major Ferguson at King's Mountain." (The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Print Collection, The New York Public Library / The New York Public Library Digital Collections) This week on the Journal…
- Lowcountry at High Tide
"Ichnography of Charleston, South Carolina" (Library of Congress) For centuries residents of Charleston, SC, have made many attempts, both public and private, to manipulate the landscape of the low-lying peninsula on which Charleston sits,…
- Walter Edgar's Journal: How Jewish entrepreneurs built economy and community in Upcountry South Carolina
One of the Davis brothers who operated the Davis Battery Electric company in Greenville, 1930. (Courtesy of Bobbie Jean Rovner, Greenville) This week we will be talking with Diane Vecchio about her book, Peddlers, Merchants, and Manufactur…
- Walter Edgar's Journal: Payne-ful Business - Charleston’s Journey to Truth
Cover illustration from Payne-ful Business: Charleston’s Journey to Truth (2024, Evening Post Books) (Painting by John W. Jones) Margaret Seidler thought she knew her family’s history. Then, a genealogical search on-line led her to connect…
- Walter Edgar's Journal: The story of the Mighty Moo, the USS Cowpens
In 1976, the Cowpens, SC, Bicentennial Committee decided that the next town festival would be called the Mighty Moo Festival in honor of former crewmen of the USS Cowpens WWII aircraft carrier. Over the years since, many veterans who serve…
- Walter Edgar's Journal: Sleeping with the ancestors - The Slave Dwelling Project
Two of four slave cabins restored at Magnolia Plantation and Gardens in Charleston. May 17, 2023 (Victoria Hansen / South Carolina Public Radio) This week we're talking with Joseph McGill and Herb Frazier, authors of Sleeping with the Ance…
- Walter Edgar's Journal: The story of Fort Sumter
Bombardment of Fort Sumter (Artist unknown / From the collections of Fort Sumter Fort Moultrie National Historical Park) This week we'll be talking with Richard Hatcher, author of the book, Thunder in the Harbor: Fort Sumter and the Civil…