South Carolina from A to Z

“P” is for Pratt, Nathaniel Alpheus (1834-1906). Chemist, engineer, inventor. A Georgia native, Pratt earned his M.D. from Savannah Medical College. During the Civil War he was named assistant chief of the Confederate States Nitre and Mining Bureau at Augusta, Georgia. Pratt moved to Charleston at the end of the war with plans to construct a chemical plant to manufacture fertilizers. He organized...

“P” is for Praise houses. Praise houses (sometimes called “prayer houses”) functioned on antebellum South Carolina plantations as both the epitome of slave culture and symbols of resistance to slaveholders’ version of Christianity. Generally simple, clapboard structures built by the slaves themselves, praise houses were erected with the knowledge--if not always the complete approval--of the master...

“M “is for Mullis, Kary Banks (1944-2011). Scientist.  Born in North Carolina, Mullis grew up Columbia, S.C. A graduate of Georgia Tech, he obtained his Ph. D. in biochemistry from the University of California at Berkeley. While employed at Cetus Corporation, he conceived and developed the idea of PCR, polymerase chain reaction, in 1983. This technique amplifies DNA, enabling scientists to make a...

“M” is for Mullins (Marion County; 2020 population 4,026). Mullins did not exist when the Wilmington and Manchester Railroad arrived in 1854, but the town grew up around the railway station. The town was named for William Sydney Mullins.  In the 1890s bright leaf tobacco became a commercial crop in the area. In 1894 the first tobacco sales building in Mullins was completed and the first auction sa...

“C” is for Coogler, John Gordon (1865-1901). Poet. Coogler was born in Richland County near the town of Doko (now Blythewood) By the mid-1880s he was living in Colombia and printed at his own expense his first volume of poetry. Coogler and his poetry garnered attention of readers and reviewers from across the nation, who found his work entertaining, if not aesthetic. In 1897 Coogler published a on...

“C” is for Conway (Horry County; 2020 population 24,849). Conway, originally named Kingston Village, was established on a bluff of the Waccamaw River about 1735. It became the seat of Kingston County (later renamed was renamed Horry--in honor of Peter Horry, a Revolutionary War hero). At the same time the village’s name was changed to Conwayborough. In 1883 the General Assembly shortened the name...

“C” is for Converse College. Converse College was founded in 1889 by a group of Spartanburg leaders to provide for the education of young middle-class women. The institution was named to honor its founder Dexter Edgar Converse. The college opened its doors in 1890 with 117 students. Unlike many southern women's colleges, Converse offered students a course of study roughly equivalent to that offere...

“B” is for Brewton, Miles (1731-1775). Merchant, legislator. Born in Charleston, Brewton traveled to England to finish his education and establish commercial ties. Through his marriage, numerous land grants, and purchases, he accumulated a large quantity of real estate. However, he made his fortune principally as a merchant rather than as a planter, becoming one of the wealthiest men in South Caro...

“B” is for Brawley, Edward McKnight (1851-1923). Missionary, educator. Brawley was born in Charleston to free African American parents. In 1861 his parents sent him to Philadelphia to further his education. In 1870 he became the first full time theology student at Howard University in Washington, DC. He later transferred to Bucknell University and became that institution's first African American s...

“S” is for South Carolina Land Commission. In 1869 the General Assembly established the South Carolina Land Commission. The commission’s goal was to purchase land for sale in plots of between twenty-five  and one hundred acres, which would then be sold to landless African Americans on favorable terms. From the beginning the Commission was plagued by organizational and other problems. In addition t...

“S” is for South Carolina Jockey Club. The earliest record of horse racing in South Carolina is February 1734. During the next two decades the sport increased in popularity in the colony, but it became organized with the founding of the South Carolina Jockey Club in 1750. By the turn of the nineteenth century, the club ushered in what would be called the “golden age of racing.” The club’s annual r...

“S” is for South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance. The South Carolina Manufacturers Alliance (SCMA), a powerful networking, information, and lobbying group for the state's varied manufacturing industries, began as an organization for cotton mill owners in 1902. The group's first paid lobbyist was hired in the late 1920s, and the association eventually became a visible and powerful voice for the tex...

“S” is for South Carolina Lunatic Asylum / State Hospital. The South Carolina Lunatic Asylum, located on Bull Street in Columbia, was established by the General Assembly in 1821 but did not open until 1828. It is the third oldest state mental institution in the United States. In 1896 the institution was renamed the South Carolina State Hospital for the Insane and it gradually adopted a custodial f...

“S” is for Sinclair, Bennie Lee (1939-2000). Novelist, poet. A native of Greenville, Sinclair was a graduate of Furman University. In 1986 she was appointed the fifth poet laureate of South Carolina. Sinclair taught writing at Furman and gave workshops at the University of Notre Dame, Western Carolina University, and Brevard College. Her commitment to teaching poetry included a twenty-eight-year c...

“G” for Gullah. The term “Gullah,”or “Geechee,” describes a unique group of African Americans descended from enslaved Africans who settled in the Sea Islands and lowcountry of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina. Some believe the term “Gullah” derives from “Angola”; or it could refer to the Gola people of Liberia.  The origin of the term “Geechee” (for residents of the Georgia low...

“C” is for Converse, Dexter Edgar (1829-1899). Industrialist. Born in Vermont, Converse worked in a New York cotton mill and learned how mill machinery worked and how the business was operated. In 1854 he moved to Spartanburg and worked at the Bivingsville Cotton Factory. He soon became the mill’s manager. In 1868 Converse and his brother-in-law purchased the company and in 1870 they changed its n...

“C” is for Continental Regiments. In the aftermath of the battles at Lexington and Concord, the Continental Congress passed resolutions that created the Continental army in June 1775. Congress then delegated the recruitment of soldiers up to the  individual states. The First and Second Provincial Congresses of South Carolina in 1775 and 1776 created six regiments that were adopted into the Contine...

“C” is for Conroy, Donald Patrick (1945-2016). Author. In 1961 the Conroy family moved to Beaufort. After graduating from Beaufort High School, Pat enrolled at The Citadel and graduated in 1967. Conroy then taught at an elementary school on Daufuskie Island. Fired for his unorthodox approach to teaching his nearly illiterate Black students, Conroy turned to writing to vent his frustration and earn...

“C” is for Conner, Henry Workman (1797-1861). Merchant, banker. A native of North Carolina, Conner arrived in Charleston in 1822 where he opened a factory and commission house. The firm pioneered the use of steamships to carry freight and passengers between Charleston and towns in the interior of South Carolina and Georgia. Conner was among the original directors of the Bank of Charleston when it...

“B” is for Brawley, Benjamin Griffith (1882-1939). Educator, author, editor, clergyman. Born in Columbia, Brawley earned degrees from the University of Chicago and Harvard. Between 1902 and 1939 he taught English at predominantly Black colleges in the South and East, including Shaw University in Raleigh, North Carolina and Howard University in Washington, D.C.  He developed into a prolific writer...

“B” is for Brown, Morris (1770-1849). Clergyman. Brown, a free mulatto, was born in Charleston. He became a licensed Methodist preacher and organized an African congregation in Charleston in the early 1810s. After White church officials reduced the control that Black Methodists had heretofore exercised over their church affairs, Brown led most of them from the denomination in 1817 in protest. They...

“S” is for Southern 500. The Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway was the oldest and one of the most storied races on the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing’s (NASCAR) Winston Cup circuit. With a seventy-five car field, the first race was held on Labor Day 1950. It was the first Grand National later Winston Cup race contested on a paved super Speedway and NASCAR's first 500 mile race. Eq...

“S” is for South Carolina Highway Patrol. Operating under the South Carolina Department of Safety, the South Carolina Highway Patrol is a law enforcement organization that concentrates on traffic violations. The State Highway Patrol was originally a field unit of the State Highway Department’s Motor Vehicle Division. Troopers were given uniforms, badges, guns, summons books, and motorcycles. Motor...

“P” is for Post and Courier . 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 in 1803. The Charleston Daily News began in 1865. The owners of the Daily News purchased the Courier , and the first issue of the News and Courier was pub...

“M” is for Moxon, Barbara Wischan (1921-2011). Political activist. Born in Philadelphia, Barbara Moxon moved to Columbia in 1963 where she immediately became involved in the League of Women Voters, serving as state president for three terms. She was appointed and reappointed by governors to the South Carolina Commission on Women. Moxon was also active in the American Association of University Wome...