intracoastal wanderings

9 notes "The Gettysburg Address talks about not not having died in vain, and dying so that a nation might live. That was not the experience of the Confederates. They died and their nation did not live, so how do they understand those deaths?"
— Drew Gilpin Faust, on Walter Edgar’s Journal, “Death and the Civil War”

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The Christopher Gadsden flag

(Source: hummingbirdknowledge, via l-e-v)

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756,517 plays

Southern Linguistics by a Southern plantation tour guide

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southerncharmandsunflowers: psychedelicpunch:

In New Orleans.

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earthiscrammedwithheaven:

Remembering Hurricane Hugo, 23 years ago today
Charleston, SC

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I’m the guy who crosses out C.E. and replaces it with A.D. for dates.

(Source: cvilletochucktown)

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From a package of benne wafers:

When Africans first came to South Carolina, they brought with them — as their most valued possession — a little handful of benne seed (Sesamum indicum) which they believed held for them the secret of health and good luck.

Planted near the slave quarters of the early plantations, benne became a traditional part of “The Old South”. Cooks in the “Big House” kitchens knew just how to use this rich, spicy, honey-colored seed to make delicious and exotic concoctions.

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The story of Middleton Place's main house

It was burned down in 1865, but what did this center of Middleton family life look like?

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Wild’s Brigade Cemetery
Folly Beach, SC

The other side of the sign reads: Camp of Wild’s “African Brigade,” 1863-1864. Folly Island was occupied by Union troops April 1863 - February 1865. Gen. Edward A. Wild’s “African Brigade” camped nearby from November 1863 to February 1864. The two regiments in Wild’s brigade were the 55th Massachusetts, made up largely of free blacks, and the 1st North Carolina, made up of former slaves.

(Source: Flickr / mhlucero)

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fycharleston :

Battle of Secessionville Reenactment
James Island, SC

4 notes "The geographical isolation of the Sea Islands’ Gullah populations is also undoubtedly a powerful ally of those in favor of language retention. The island was for many years an overwhelmingly African American population that until relatively recently did not have a great deal of interaction with the mainland. It wasn’t until 1927 that the first bridge between St. Helena and Beaufort was built, and there are reports from as late as 1949 that some residents of St. Helena had never even been to the mainland. This isolation strengthens the Gullah language in two ways: first, by insulating the island from the influence of English, and second, by protecting its residents from white-majority prejudice. As Patricia Jones-Jackson writes, ‘Growing up as a black majority almost free from outside social influences, such as racial prejudice characteristic of the white-dominated society in the inland parts of the United States, undoubtedly affected the attitudes and perceptions of the islanders, to the extent that few of them wish to leave the islands today.’"
— Elizabeth Little, Trip of the Tongue: Cross-Country Travels in Search of American’s Languages, p. 153

2 notes "Even more troubling, as we’ve seen, the deep and persistent shame engendered by [the negative perception of minority languages and creoles] is a surefire way to effect language loss. And when a community loses its language, it loses incalculable cultural artifacts. It would be as if someone had walked into Charleston’s historic homes and set them all on fire. No more armoires, no more grass mats, no more wallpaper. No more names, no more stories, no more songs. An entire people would lose the chance to know their history."
— Elizabeth Little, Trip of the Tongue: Cross-Country Travels in Search of American’s Languages, p. 152