Join us for this new series that weaves its way through the tapestry of South Carolina. This state has a rich main character energy. Learn more about it to help you improve your characters, settings and plots. From the Mountains to The Sea weaves South Carolina through your writing. Members: $20 per class, $60 for all six classes, with first class free; nonmembers: $25 per class, $100 for all six classes.

All sessions are via Zoom and start at 7 p.m.'; link provided upon registration

May 28 - Gullah Geechee Diasporas with Dr Elizabeth West and Dr Mohammad Fraser-Rahim
June 11 - Eastern Cherokee, Southern Iroquis and United Tribes with Chief Lamar Nelson
July 9 -  The music of the Carolina Coast with Dr Rick Simmons
July 30 - Back Country Resistance with Carl Borlick
August 9 - Batter Up! with Charles Hall
August 13 - Charleston: Gateway to the Sea with Dr Sal Mercoligano

May 28th- Mapping the Gullah-Geechee diaspora across time and space

Gullah-Geechee Diasporas counters romantic portrayals of Gullah-Geechee culture as a static, geographically isolated remnant of the past. Across eight interdisciplinary essays, the book's contributors trace an arc, described in time and space, from pre-Middle Passage Africa through the Caribbean and coastal United States into the interior South and beyond. They consider how Gullah-Geechee cultural traditions are simultaneously rooted in the physical Lowcountry homeland and represent a dynamic cultural ethos that is not bounded by geography and has shaped Black life across North America and the Caribbean Basin. Together, these essays reveal the resilience and adaptability of people whose history defies myths of isolation and immobility. Gullah-Geechee Diasporas is a fresh framework for understanding African American cultural origins, migrations, and transformations.

June 11th- Learn about the Native American Cultures that formed South Carolina

Join us as the rich heritage South Carolina’s first inhabitants, dating back 25,000 years, and the tools and ingenuity that allowed them to survive come alive. With vivid detail, learn how these early peoples hunted mastodons and later developed farming, pottery, and permanent villages. Learnabout the challenges the tribes face today, from the loss of ancestral lands to the erasure of Native cultures. 

July 9th- The music of the Carolina Coast

Music plays an important part of the community's soul. Learn about the distinct sound of Carolina beach music. While rock groups such as the Beach Boys and Jan and Dean defined the beach music of Southern California during the 1960s, a different, R&B influenced sound could be heard along South Carolina's Grand Strand.

July 30- Backcountry Resistance

As we celibrate the 250th Anniversy of the founding of the United States, we will once again hear the stories of the founding fathers but what about that South Carolina tobacco farmer? Join us to learn about the real backbone of the Revolution. Carl P. Borick's new book Backcountry Resistance delivers a groundbreaking account of the citizen militia that defied British forces in South Carolina's volatile Backcountry during the pivotal Southern campaign of the Revolutionary War. When Charleston fell in May of 1780 and the Continental Army retreated, many assumed the Patriot cause in the South had collapsed. In the state's rugged interior, though, partisan militias waged a brutal insurgency that challenged British control and changed the course of the war.

August 6- Batter up!

Learn how the sport of baseball helped form the sense of community in the state. From the early mill leagues to today's professional leagues the fingers of South Carolina are spread across America's Game.

August 13- Charleston: Gateway to the World

Join us to learn about the importance of Charleston in the United States Maritime History. From precolonial to today Carleston is a gateway to the world. Charleston has such a connection to the sea that there is no better city in the state with the possiblity of setting a historical fiction.