Removal of flask from grave of negro boy incites voodoo vengeance ending in insane terror.

DuBose Heyward (1885-1940) was a central figure in both the Charleston and the Southern Renaissance. His influence extended to the Harlem Renaissance as well. However, Heyward is often remembered simply as the author of Porgy, the 1925 novel about the poorest black residents of Charleston, South Carolina. Porgy--the novel and its stage versions--has probably done more to shape views worldwide of African American life in the South than any twentieth-century work besides Gone with the Wind. This volume acquaints readers with writings by Heyward that have been overshadowed by Porgy, and it also plumbs the complex sensibilities of the man behind that popular and enduring creation. James M. Hutchisson's introduction relates aspects of Heyward's life to his creative growth and his gradual shift from staunch social conservatism to a liberal (though never revolutionary) advocacy of black rights. The reader collects ten essays by Heyward on topics ranging from an aesthetics of African American art to the history of Charleston. Heyward's poetry is represented by eighteen pieces from the collections Carolina Chansons, Skylines and Horizons, and Jasbo Brown and Selected Poems. Also included are three song lyrics Heyward wrote for the opera Porgy and Bess. The sampling of Heyward's fiction includes the stories "The Brute" and The Half Pint Flask and excerpts from the novels Porgy, Mamba's Daughters, and Peter Ashley. Here is an ideal introduction to a figure whose inner conflicts were closely tied to those of his beloved South: struggles between privilege and poverty, black and white, and art for the few versus art for the masses.

A maritime archeologist recounts twenty years of remarkable discoveries and adventures both in and under the waters of South Carolina. Through personal anecdotes and archeological data, Carl Naylor documents his experiences in the service of the Maritime Research Division of the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology. Along the way he shares a unique foray into the Palmetto State’s history and prehistory. Naylor’s fascinating career includes raising the Confederate submarine H. L. Hunley; dredging the bottom of an Allendale County creek for evidence of the earliest Paleoindians; exploring the waters off Winyah Bay for a Spanish ship lost in 1526 and the waters of Port Royal Sound for a French corsair wrecked in 1577; and many other adventures. He recounts his investigations of suspected Revolutionary War gunboats in the Cooper River, the famous Brown’s Ferry cargo vessel found in the Black River, a steamship sunk in a storm off Hilton Head Island in 1899, and other mysteries of maritime history. Throughout these episodes, Naylor gives an insider’s view of the methods of underwater archaeology in stories that focus on the events, personalities, and contexts of historic finds and on the impact of these discoveries on our knowledge of the Palmetto State’s past. His memoir is a personal, authoritative account of South Carolina’s efforts to discover and preserve evidence of its remarkable maritime history.