Time Periods

Geddings was an active participant in the intellectual life of antebellum Charleston. He was a friend of the author William Gilmore Simms, who dedicated one of his books to Geddings, and was an early subscriber to the works of John James Audubon, whom he also knew.

In June 1781 Emily Geiger volunteered to be a courier for General Nathanael Greene, who needed an urgent message delivered to General Thomas Sumter. Geiger evaded capture the first day, but the British stopped her on the second day. While waiting for the British to bring a woman to search her, she read and memorized Greene’s message and then ate it.

Much of the evolution of the South Carolina General Assembly revolves around attempts by conflicting factions to preserve or gain an advantage in representation. For example, increasingly powerful Carolina-based leaders struggled with proprietary and royal authorities during the colonial era to establish the dominance of the Commons House of Assembly as a basis for political independence (1670–1776).

The original Davidian group, which today counts only around fifty congregations headquartered in Missouri, came from the followers of Victor T. Houteff, an immigrant from Bulgaria who was active in Seventh-day Adventist circles in Los Angeles until he was expelled from the church in 1934.

The General Textile Strike in South Carolina sprang out of old grievances and fresh hopes. For years mill people worked long hours for low wages in lint-filled factories. Beginning in the 1920s, mill owners, pinched by increased competition, raised workers’ machine loads without increasing their pay. Workers called this the “stretch-out,” and fought back.

Georgetown’s designation as a port of entry by royal authorities in 1732 greatly improved its prospects. Port activity in Georgetown thrived and the town briefly supported its own shipbuilding industry to meet demands of area planters.

During Reconstruction, with its large black majority, Georgetown County became a Republican Party stronghold. Even after the return of Democratic rule to South Carolina after 1876, African Americans in Georgetown County still held significant political power. They shared control in uneasy cooperation with local whites in a process called “fusion” until 1900, when white control was reestablished.

Georgetown Steel Company was among the earliest foreign-owned companies wooed to South Carolina as part of a campaign to attract foreign investment. A subsidiary of Korf Industries of West Germany, Georgetown Steel provided hundreds of well-paying jobs to the economically depressed city, although pollution from the plant would be a recurring concern throughout its existence.

Sixteen German men constituted themselves as a social and mutual-assistance society to pay sick and death benefits, and allow members to borrow funds at low rates of interest. Almost immediately, German ethnicity was not necessary for membership, nor was the ability to speak German.

The Gibbes Museum of Art is the home of the Carolina Art Association, an organization dedicated to the cultivation of the arts and art education in Charleston since its inception in 1858.

Inspired by her “urge to write,” in 1895 she became the first woman to enroll in South Carolina College (later the University of South Carolina), two years after the General Assembly mandated that women should be allowed to attend the school as special students.

During his fifty-four-year career at the College of Charleston, Gibbes taught mathematics, chemistry, physics, and astronomy, and endeared himself to generations of students despite his exacting standards.

As one of only three proprietors’ deputies in the colony when Governor Edward Tynte died in June 1710, Gibbes proceeded to bribe his way into the governor’s office and brought government to a virtual standstill for nearly two years.

Keenly interested in natural history, Gibbes collected bird specimens, mollusk shells, and minerals. He was especially interested in vertebrate fossils, and it was in the field of paleontology that he made lasting contributions.

Gibbons entered the national spotlight in 1984 as a reporter-anchor on Entertainment Tonight, a nationally syndicated television program.

Gibson played nationally and internationally. In 1956 she won sixteen of the eighteen tournaments she entered. That same year she became the first African American to capture a Grand Slam event when she won the French Championship. She went on to win Wimbledon in 1957 and was welcomed home with a ticker tape parade. Ranked as the number one tennis player in 1957, Gibson won her first U.S. championship and was named Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press.

For his popular column, “Doing the Charleston,” Gilbreth wrote under the pseudonym Ashley Cooper. The column became one of the longest running in American newspaper history.

Between big bands, Gillespie led small ensembles or performed with all-star aggregations such as Jazz at the Philharmonic. As a bandleader, he was among the first to introduce Latin musical elements into modern jazz.

Most of Gillisonville proper, including the courthouse, was burned by Union troops in January 1865. According to tradition, the Baptist church was undamaged because troops sheltered themselves and their horses there.

Gillon’s fluency in several languages, handsome appearance, and social graces helped him rise quickly in the commercial trade.