SOUTH CAROLINA

by Sally Edwards ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 15, 1968

Miss Edwards offers her native state as a harmonious blend of magnolias and mechanization: textile center of the world, the site of expanding industries (often attracted by the no situs law), still reliant on tobacco as the first money crop, always taking pride in public and private gardens. Education (separate but not equal) was considered unimportant (a conspiracy of self-pity, Plessy vs. Ferguson, the Industrial Revolution for children, and the climate); the state awoke in the 1950's when residents ""rediscovered their brains."" (No mention that expenditure per pupil is still below the national average.) Acknowledging the Negro exodus since 1940, she refers to a ""continuing and sometimes violent search for a democratic ideal"" (no examples of the violence). When describing the pride Charleston takes in its efficiency and stick-to-it-ness, she does relay an honest sense of involvement but the claims for Carolina courtesy and religious ties to the land are too effusive. Cursory as history, better on natural resources, especially the photographs of cotton from boll to cloth.

Pub Date: May 15, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Coward-McCann

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION