Reprise of BDC Facebook Posts, February 16 - March 19, 2024

Here's a recap of what I posted on Facebook over the past month: 

BLACK HISTORY NOTE WEDNESDAY

February 21 - "Black History Note:" Continuing with the theme "African Americans and the Arts", check out the BDCBCL blog post about folk artist, Sam Doyle.

February 28 - "Black History Note:" Let's end Black History Month with a celebration of one of the area's favorite cooks [Sallie Ann Robinson]. Multiple copies are available of each from the SCLENDS consortium, BCL local history sections, and on Hoopla, the BCL's digital library.

March 6 - "Black History Note in Women's History Month:" Beaufort District has seen a number of amazing women in its past. An unsung heroine who confronted the injustice surrounding her was Susie King Taylor. Taylor served the 33rd USCT [the United States Colored Troops within the Union Army raised locally] as a nurse and a teacher. She did so without payment. She taught and nursed here in Beaufort among the freedmen being treated in the Contraband hospitals.

Consider her words from Reminiscences of My Life in Camp with the 33d United States Colored Troops, Late 1st S. C. Volunteers:

In this 'land of the free' we are burned, tortured, and denied a fair trial, murdered for any imaginary wrong conceived in the brain of the negro-hating white man. There is no redress for us from a government which promised to protect all under its flag. It seems a mystery to me. They say, 'One flag, one nation, one country indivisible.' Is this true? Can we say this truthfully, when one race is allowed to burn, hang, and inflict the most horrible torture weekly, monthly, on another? No, we cannot sing 'My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty'! It is hollow mockery. The Southland laws are all on the side of the white, and they do just as they like to the negro, whether in the right or not... I do not uphold my race when they do wrong. They ought to be punished, but the innocent are made to suffer as well as the guilty, and I hope the time will hasten when it will be stopped forever ... I hope the day is not far distant when the two races will reside in peace in the Southland, and we will sing with sincere and truthful hearts, 'My country, 'tis of thee, Sweet land of Liberty, of thee I sing.

Susie King Taylor was a woman who advocated for equity, diversity and inclusion.

The Library has plenty of options re: copies of her memoir. There's even a version for youth. Hoopla has an audio-book for children entitled the Memoir of Susie King Taylor: Civil War Nurse that you can borrow electronically and download. The Documenting the American South has an electronic version of her document that you can read online as well.

March 13 - "Black History Note in Women's History Month:" In 1863, the Union was unable to adequately fill its black regiments. In an attempt to remedy that, Colonel James Montgomery led a raid up the Combahee River on June 2 to gather recruits and punish the plantations. Aiding him was an expert at freeing slaves--famed abolitionist Harriet Tubman. The remarkable effort successfully rescued about 750 enslaved men, women and children.

Harriet Tubman was a woman who advocated for equity, diversity and inclusion.

The latest book about the raid, Combee by Edda Fields-Black is now on the shelves in the BDC and local history sections - and on display in the BDC's case.

UNIQUELY BDC: MATERIALS MONDAY

February 26 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday"- The BDC has some Coroner's Inquests Records on microfilm in the Research Room. Some of the testimony about the people who were killed during the Hurricane of 1893 is absolutely heartbreaking. H.J. Middleton's account about what happened to his family that night makes me almost cry every time I share it with others. We'd be happy to set up an appointment for you to come read the 200 or so inquisitions in our Research Room: bdc@bcgov.net; 843-255-6446.

March 4 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday:" Today's selection checks off two criteria: Women's History and the BDC having the only copy of this particular title inside the SCLENDS consortium. My Work Among the Freedmen: The Civil War and Reconstruction Letters of Harriet M. Buss edited by Jonathan W. White and Lydia J. Davis (2021) has about 50 pages worth of letters and explanatory footnotes about Buss' time in Beaufort and on Hilton Head as a teacher for the former enslaved in 1863 - 1864. She would later serve in Virginia and North Carolina. Most significantly, she instructed Robert Smalls and his children in the rudiments of reading and writing.

March 11 - "Uniquely BDC: Materials Monday:" Growing up on the Combahee River: An American Story by Charlotte Murray Taylor (Parker, CO: Outskirts Press, 2023) is a very personal memoir of a Black girl who was raised near the river after her young mother died shortly after giving birth. Murray Taylor grew up in the upper reaches of rural Beaufort County on Hobonny and Sugar Hill plantations. She shares reminiscences of her daily life until she went away to college. One of our bookmobiles and the BDC are the only libraries currently holding copies of this self-published work.

March 18 - Today's another "Red Letter Local History" day - and we have three "Uniquely BDC" materials to share with you in honor of the occasion. There are numerous newspaper clippings and articles to be found in our "LAFAYETTE, MARQUIS DE, 1757-1834" vertical file here in the Research Room. We are the only SCLENDS library to hold the title Lafayette: Prisoner of State by Paul Spalding (2010) about the 5 years he spent incarcerated by a coalition of Austrians and Prussians during the French Revolution. We're also the only SCLENDS library to hold The Story of the Life of Lafayette (1831). PS: If you're nervous about QR codes, you can read more about Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert Du Motier, a.k.a. Marquis de La Fayette in Connections.

PROGRAMS & COMMUNITY OUTREACH

March 5 - Two weeks to the return of the BHM/BCL Lecture Series. Lecture 7.3 will be presented by Beaufort Jasper Water and Sewer Authority's own Director of Technology and Innovation, Tricia Kilgore. Tricia will enlighten us with the history of a vital component of local infrastructure. BJWSA is a quasi-governmental entity and a political division of the State of South Carolina that grew out of the Beaufort County Water Authority in 1954 so it's been around long enough for it to "qualify" for a BDC local history program. We'll seat folks at St. Helena Branch Library's big meeting room until we reach the Fire Marshal's room capacity.

March 14 - Ever wonder about the source of our drinking water? Ever wonder about what happens to all that poop and urine we humans make on a daily basis? Ever wonder about when these basic sanitation and health challenges started being dealt with by local governments? If so, do we have a local history program - intentionally close to World Water Day - for you. Join us for "The History of the Beaufort Jasper Water & Sewer Authority, 1954 - " presented by BJWSA's own Director of Technology and Innovation Tricia Kilgore.

Come learn about the circumstances of water and sewage services before 1954, where your water comes from now, why it comes from there, where it goes when you are done with it, and what it has in common with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

This Beaufort History Museum/ Beaufort County Library local history program will be held on Tuesday, March 19, 2024 at 2:00 PM in the St. Helena Branch Library, located at 6355 Jonathan Francis Sr. Road. Space is limited. First come; first seated. Doors will open for seating at 1:30 pm.

March 19 - Later today. Hope to see you at the St. Helena Branch Library. We open the room for seating at 1:30 PM

PS: I posted photos of my trip to the St. Ciara Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians Chapter meeting and the of the Friends of Fort Fremont Board group visit to the BDC on March 11. I did the LAOH presentation on March 6 and the FFF visited on March 1.  I also posted some photos about the LAOH outing on March 8. I try to get the photos posted within 7 days of the event. 

JUST BECAUSE POSTS

February 19 - Even while the Library is closed today for Presidents Day, you can still learn local history. Visit the BDC's Connections blog to answer the question shown in the image. Regular hours resume tomorrow, Tuesday, February 20, 2024.

February 20 - The 18th Annual Beaufort International Film Festival opening today honors Gary Sinise and the 30th anniversary of the making of the movie Forrest Gump. Learn some local trivia about the film on the BDCBCL: Lists, Links and Finding Aids blog.

February 23 - Did you know that the National Parks Service offers free walking tours of downtown Beaufort and other associated historic sites?

February 27 - 87 years ago Beaufort's most famous actress to date [ Maude O'Dell] died backstage in a Broadway theater. Learn more in Connections.

March 1 - You can already read the March Monthly Overview.

March 9 - Happy Anniversary, Town of Port Royal. Here's a flyer from your Centennial Celebration in 1974 as discovered in one of our many vertical files.

March 17 - Happy St. Patrick's Day. I re-worked an old post to include some Irish-born Beaufort District and County residents of the past to show how you can use Library resources to research your Irish ancestors.

FINDING AID FRIDAY

March 15 - "Finding Aid Friday:" The League of Women Voters has long been a group advocating equity, diversity and inclusion. Cassi recently completed the Finding Aid to the Northern Beaufort County League of Women Voters archival collection. Read more. [We'll get the permanent box labels done soon.]