Charleston Currents – S.C. Encyclopedia

S.C. Encyclopedia

REVIEW: The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up:

Reviewed by Christine Strampp | Has your New Year’s resolution of decluttering your house not been achieved yet? Then “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing” might be the book for you. Marie Kondo guides you through the decluttering and organizing of your home, but it is not your usual organizing method. Her method involves surrounding yourself with only items that you love or need. The rest of your “stuff” goes to a donation center or the garbage. It is liberating to let things go that you really did not need or love. When you are done with this process, items that “Spark Joy” will surround you.

by Andy Brack · 11/07/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

HISTORY: 241 years ago: Continental regiments for S.C.

S.C. Encyclopedia | In the aftermath of the battles at Lexington and Concord, the Continental Congress passed resolutions that created the Continental army in June 1775. Accordingly, a committee addressed the need for maintaining a regular army, and Congress began the task of apportioning quotas to the states. On November 4, 1775, Congress resolved to maintain “at the continental expense” three battalions for the defense of South Carolina. Continental regiments were units authorized for use by the Continental Congress and were distinct from state militia forces.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 11/07/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

HISTORY: Joseph Alston, governor

Scion of one of the great rice planting families of Georgetown District, Joseph Alston was born ca. 1778, the son of William “King Billy” Alston and Mary Ashe. Educated by private tutors, Alston attended the College of Charleston from 1793 to 1794. In 1795 he entered the junior class of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton), but withdrew before graduating. Alston studied law under Edward Rutledge, who predicted a brilliant future for his pupil. Admitted to the bar in 1799, Alston practiced only occasionally, devoting his career to the management of his extensive rice plantations in All Saints Parish, comprising 6,287 acres and 204 slaves.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 10/31/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

HISTORY: South Caroliniana Library

S.C. Encyclopedia | The South Caroliniana Library building was completed in 1840 as the central library building for South Carolina College (later the University of South Carolina). It was the first freestanding college library building in the United States, predating those of Harvard (1841), Yale (1846), and Princeton (1873).

by Special to Charleston Currents · 10/24/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

HISTORY: Susan Pringle Frost (1873-1960)

S.C. Encyclopedia | Susan Pringle Frost was born in Charleston on January 21, 1873, the daughter of Dr. Francis LeJau Frost and Rebecca Brewton Pringle. With ties to several distinguished Charleston families dating back to the eighteenth century, Frost seemed destined to be a lady of leisure following a privileged childhood and two years (1889-1891) at the prominent Saint Mary’s Episcopal boarding school in Raleigh, North Carolina.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 10/17/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

HISTORY: Hurricanes

S.C. Encyclopedia | The term “hurricane” comes from the West Indian word “huracan,” which means “big wind” and is used to describe severe tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, and the eastern Pacific Ocean.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 10/09/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

HISTORY: Bernice Robinson (1914-1994)

S.C. Encyclopedia | Educator and civil rights activist Bernice Violanthe Robinson was born in Charleston on February 7, 1914. Her father was a bricklayer, plasterer, and tile setter, which made the family financially independent. As such, Robinson’s parents discouraged their nine children from seeking jobs as domestic workers in white Charleston homes. Robinson grew to realize the value of education, a lesson that served her well. She married in the 1930s and had a daughter, Jacquelyn, but her husband left to find work and never returned. During the 1940s Robinson left Charleston for New York City with intentions of becoming a musician. Instead she worked in garment factories, as a beautician, and eventually as a civil servant. In New York she enjoyed the privilege of living in a nonsegregated community.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 10/03/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

HISTORY: Esau Jenkins

S.C. Encyclopedia | Born on July 3, 1910, on Johns Island, Jenkins was the only child of Peter Jenkins and Eva Campbell. He was forced to end his formal education in the fourth grade to help supplement the family’s income. At age seventeen, he married Janie Jones. Of their thirteen children, seven survived, all of whom earned college degrees.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 09/26/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

HISTORY: Football in South Carolina

S.C. Encyclopedia | South Carolinians have been playing football since the late nineteenth century. The sport was first played in the Northeast, and in the decades after the Civil War it spread south as cultural ties between the regions were reestablished. College students were the first to play the game, and club teams were formed on campuses across the state. As the sport became more popular, official college teams were organized and intercollegiate play began.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 09/19/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia

HISTORY: The Post and Courier

S.C. Encyclopedia | Published in Charleston, the Post and Courier is the oldest daily newspaper in South Carolina. The publication’s lineage can be traced through three newspapers. The oldest, the Charleston Courier, began publication on January 10, 1803. It was founded by Massachusetts native Aaron Smith Willington and several partners. The newspaper opposed nullification in the 1830s and secession in the 1850s, ensuring that it would remain in conflict with its chief rival, the pro-states’-rights Charleston Mercury. The Charleston Courier advocated secession in 1860 but counseled moderation during the Civil War. The newspaper was seized by William T. Sherman’s army at the close of the war and was briefly published by two Union war correspondents. In November 1865 control of the paper was turned over to Charleston native Thomas Y. Simons under the auspices of A. S. Willington & Co.

by Special to Charleston Currents · 09/12/2016 · Comments are Disabled · Features, S.C. Encyclopedia