SOUTH CAROLINA HALL OF FAME

Transcription

1 SOUTH CAROLINA HALL OF FAME Correlation with South Carolina Standards

2 South Carolina Social Studies Standards Early 20 th Century-The Twenties, The Depression Topics include Converse College, Teacher, Lang Syne Plantation, Writer, Carl Sandburg, WEB DuBois, Harlem Renaissance, Green Thursday, Black April, Scarlet Sister Mary, Bright Skin, Roll Jordan Roll Standard 8-6: The student will demonstrate an understanding of the role of South Carolina in the nation in the early twentieth century Explain the causes and effects of changes in South Carolina and the nation as a whole in the 1920s, including Prohibition, the destruction caused by the boll weevil, the rise of mass media, improvements in daily life, increases in tourism and recreation, the revival of the Ku Klux Klan, and the c0ontributions of South Carolinians to the Harlem Renaissance and the Southern Literary Renaissance. SC Language Arts Standards Writing Standards Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effect technique, relevant descriptive details, and well-structured event sequences. Reading standards for informational text 6-12 Key Ideas and Details 1. Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text. 2. Determine the central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgements. 3. Analyze in detail how an individual, event or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text. Craft and Structure 4. Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings. 5. Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph, chapter, or section fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the ideas. 6. Determine an author's point of view or purpose in a text and explain how it is conveyed in the text. 2

3 S.C. Hall of Fame Biography Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1929, Julia Mood Peterkin was the author of many novels depicting the Gullah language and its people. Born Julia Mood in Laurens County, South Carolina, she graduated from Converse College in Moving to Calhoun County as a private tutor, she met and married William Peterkin of Lang Syne Plantation at Fort Motte. Her understanding and inspiration of the people on the plantation came from her involvement with those who lived there. Author of Black April, Scarlet Sister Mary, and many other novels, she received an honorary degree from Converse College in

4 My first encounter with Julia Peterkin The Peterkin story is fascinating How did she become a writer? Transcript Julia Mood was born in Laurens County on Halloween 1880 She would be blessed, or cursed, with the gift of second sight. Her mother died when she was two years old. Julia, as a teenager, attended Converse College and received a Masters degree at an early age. Julia moved to Fort Motte in Calhoun County to become a teacher. In 1903, she married William George Willy Peterkin, who was a rich cotton planter. Lang Syne Plantation employed 400 mostly African-American workers. Voice of Julia: I became interested in the people who worked the stubborn fields and forced them to make the good crops that provided my food and clothes and pleasures. Julia began writing stories about life on the plantation, featuring realistic African-American characters which she sent to H.L. Mencken and Carl Sandburg. The result in 1924 was her first book, Green Thursday. The first story was Ashes, about an attempt to remove an elderly woman from her home. Man: 4

5 I m gonna build a house here. And you gotta move. Maum Hannah: Yes sir. Reviews were favorable. She is a Southern white woman, but she has the eye and the ear to see beauty and to know truth. -W.E.B. Du Bois, The Crisis The fledgling author made a visit to New York City. Her next book, Black April, was the story of a plantation foreman, a powerful man taken down by the system. Everybody respects him, everybody fears him, everybody loves him, i.e. the women. But Black April s life ends sadly, and his last words are poignant. Scarlet Sister Mary was her third published work, set on a rice plantation. It sold more than a million copies. In the spring of 1929, Scarlet Sister Mary won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction! But at this high point, there was a growing disconnect between Julia s celebrity as an author and her life on the plantation. On one hand, African Americans criticized her for writing about people who can t escape her view, for living a life she had no right to live. A.J.: She s got the view, she s got the paper and the pen. And she s got the words, which is the real wealth. Bright Skin, in 1932, was Peterkin s last work of fiction. The desire of Cricket, the lead character, was to get away from the plantation. 5

6 Unfortunately, there was no such escape for Julia Peterkin. In her later years, Julia Peterkin collaborated with photographer Doris Ulmann in Roll, Jordan, Roll. Theodore: It was a paean to the Old South, to a way that is no more. The Depression years found Peterkin collecting stories and folklore for the WPA and courted by Eleanor Roosevelt to help popularize the New Deal in the South. At Bennington College in Vermont, Peterkin met actress Katharine Hepburn who visited her in South Carolina. But these were long, silent years. Julia Peterkin died in

7 Credits South Carolina Social Studies Standard Correlations were provided by Lisa Ray The purpose of the South Carolina Hall of Fame is to recognize and honor both contemporary and past citizens who have made outstanding contributions to South Carolina's heritage and progress. Funding for Knowitall.org was provided by the S. C. General Assembly through the K-12 Technology Initiative. Visit scetv.org/education for more educational resources. 7