Narrative

The South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities first began as an idea by Virginia Uldrick, a well-known music teacher in Greenville, S.C. Educators Jennifer Thomas and Scott Gould recently joined StoryCorps to explain the mission of the school, and Uldrick’s standards of excellence for both her students and staff.

Able South Carolina's President & CEO Kimberly Tissot joins Vice President Mary Alex Kopp and Senior Director of Community Education, Dori Tempio, at StoryCorps to discuss their agency's core values and vision for true equity for people with disabilities.

According to the Urban Institute, nearly half of all families across the U.S. with children ages 3 and younger struggle to pay for diapers. Here in South Carolina, a young mom named Ayanna White found herself experiencing that struggle and wanted to find a way to not only help herself, but others as well who were in a similar situation.

Sarah Seegars was intrigued by a sentence in John Codega’s dating app bio: “I was detained in Russia one time.” On their first date, John shared the story of an incident that occurred overseas during the early part of his teaching career. Two years later, in 2024, the couple, who were then engaged to be married, sat down with StoryCorps so that John, a teacher in Columbia, could recount the story...

While friends Chiara Cox and Elen Callahan did not grow up together, they share a similar journey. They were both born in the Philippines, but eventually moved to the United States. Although they sought to assimilate into their new American culture, they began to long for the people and traditions they had once known in their youth.

Mark and Virginia Pulver of Greenwood, S.C., have been together for over 50 years. During that time, their military and humanitarian work has taken them around the world. They sat down with StoryCorps in 2024 to discuss some of their adventures and the occasional cultural differences they would encounter, including at mealtime.

Amanda Hamilton is a South Carolina mom who invited her daughter, Eliza, to join her at StoryCorps in 2024 to ask her candid questions about her life and her experience with depression and anxiety. Hamilton is an employee of South Carolina ETV and SC Public Radio.

South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center’s founder Sue Berkowitz joins her friend and executive director Bridget Brown to share what launched her career path, and what continues to inspire her passionate work at the agency.

Claire Mattes and Sam Livoti met while working at the Anne Frank Center at the University of South Carolina. In 2024, the two sat down with StoryCorps to discuss the impact of the book The Diary of Anne Frank , and how the book can be a helpful starting point for learning about World War II and the Holocaust.

The original Columbia neighborhood of Wheeler Hill is now just a memory for those who once called the historically African American community “home.” That includes former resident Crissandra Elliott, whose childhood home was located at 215 Bull Street.

Cecil Williams is well-known as a chronicler of the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina. The photojournalist was born and raised in the town of Orangeburg where he still resides, as does the museum which he built. The South Carolina Civil Rights Museum is home to hundreds of photographs Williams captured that bore witness to the realities of striving for racial equality.

In the early 1950s, Holly Scott enrolled in the Columbia Hospital School of Nursing, which was first established in 1935 as the School of Nursing for Black Students. When it closed in 1965, the school had graduated a total of 401 nurses in its history, including Scott.

On August 28, 1963, an estimated 250,000 people made their way to Washington, D.C. to demand civil and economic rights for African Americans. In attendance at the March on Washington was Gloria Dreher Eaddy of Columbia, SC, who later became a friend and mentor to Dr. Bobby Donaldson, a professor at the University of South Carolina. They spoke with StoryCorps in 2024.

William Starrett has been dancing since he was a small child. His talent was recognized early, earning him the spotlight with prestigious dance companies such as the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Eglevsky Ballet, and The Joffrey Ballet. Since settling in Columbia, SC, he know directs the South Carolina Ballet.

In 2024, Pam Sulton invited her friend, Yvonne Smith, to join her at StoryCorps to share what inspired her to become a doula and some of her experiences along the way, a conversation Sulton hopes to leave as a legacy for her family so that they may know how much she enjoyed helping bring new life into the world.

Sawyer Drayton was just two years old when he first met Charlotte, who is now his step-mom. Together, they’ve bonded over their many adventures. 

The summer after Peyton Wooldridge of Chester, S.C. graduated from Mary Baldwin University in 1968, two of her female classmates went to Vietnam to serve during the war. One of those classmates wrote to her, encouraging her to also come and serve, saying, “This will change your life.”

After three months of explosive ordnance and heavy equipment training by the U.S. Army, 18-year-old Roger Thompson arrived for duty in Vietnam in March of 1968. During his service, he witnessed firsthand the terrors of war, which inspired his lifetime mission of helping fellow veterans who struggle with both the physical and mental effects of combat. In 2021, Thompson and his friend, Kym Klapperic...

Upon graduating at age 17 in June of 1967, Michael Richardson pondered his future and longed for a career. In December of that year, he decided to enlist in the U.S. Army, where his training began in January 1968 at Fort Benning, Georgia. It was there that Richardson had his first experience working in snowy conditions.

Karen Kustafik is a City of Columbia Park Ranger. She and her friend, Margaret Clarkson, met and bonded over their love for Columbia’s natural resources, and in particular, its system of rivers, which flow through the heart of the city.

William Justice and Taylor Gilliam began their friendship in 2017 as client and attorney. Since his early childhood in West Columbia, Justice had experienced several arrests and incarcerations.

At the turn of the 20th century, the South Carolina State Farmers Market was simply known as “Columbia’s City Market,” located on Assembly Street. It was there that George Oswald and his family labored daily, arriving before the sun rose, then packing up well past sundown.

While friends Chiara Cox and Elen Callahan did not grow up together, they share a similar journey. They were both born in the Philippines, but eventually moved to the United States. Although they sought to assimilate into their new American culture, they began to long for the people and traditions they had once known in their youth.

When Harriet Hancock's middle child, Greg, came out to her as gay, she instantly accepted and supported him. But she learned that his friends who were gay had not received the same kind of acceptance as she had given her son.

After three months of explosive ordnance and heavy equipment training by the U.S. Army, 18-year-old Roger Thompson arrived for duty in Vietnam in March of 1968. During his service, he witnessed firsthand the terrors of war, which inspired his lifetime mission of helping fellow veterans who struggle with both the physical and mental effects of combat.