Beyond the Ashes: The Lowcountry’s New Beginnings
The Charleston Museum is pleased to announce that its new permanent galleries addition, Beyond the Ashes: The Lowcountry’s New Beginnings, opened to the public on October 25. The exhibit covers Reconstruction, the Jim Crow era, the 1886 earthquake, the transformation of Charleston in the 20th century, the impact of the World Wars on the area, the local Civil Rights struggle, Hurricane Hugo, as well as other topics. A key initiative in the 2023 Strategic Plan, this achievement is a critical step forward for the Museum. The Museum’s permanent exhibition galleries now offer a complete history of the Lowcountry, in terms of cultural history from Native Peoples to the 21st century and natural history from 400 million years ago to the current epoch.
The exhibition begins with the Reconstruction era and the gains that formerly enslaved people made in education, economically and politically. It features a pew from an Edisto Island Church that was made by enslaved people in the 1830s then used by them in the balcony of the church, where they were relegated for worship. When freed during the Civil War, they sat in the main section of the church, but then formed their own church when the White congregation returned. This area also displays an academic medal awarded to Theodosia Cox Gordon, who attended the Shaw Memorial School. Freed people of color understood the importance of education to succeed economically and politically, so a number of schools were formed in the wake of the Civil War specifically for African Americans, including the Shaw Memorial School, named after the commander of the 54th Massachusetts, an African American regiment that fought in the Civil War.
Significant resistance to the new social order by Whites emerged after the Civil War. Since the state militia was comprised of mostly Black men, White males formed their own militia units under the guise of gun or rifle clubs, and frequently outfitted themselves in a red shirt, gaining them the designation Red Shirts. The Museum has had an example of this textile in its collection since the 1920s, but is now for the first time putting it on permanent display. It was worn by Josiah McKie at the Hamburg massacre, where several Blacks were killed by Red Shirts and others. Ultimately, Reconstruction efforts failed, and White southerners regained control of state legislatures, which ushered in the era of segregation that would last nearly a century.
A case covering the earthquake of 1886 includes pattress plates and part of a bolt. These items were used to secure many of the buildings the earthquake had destabilized. These circular pattress plates, seen around Charleston, are often incorrectly referred to as earthquake bolts. Technically, the pattress plates secure the bolt that runs through the building. The case also shows beer bottles from a local brewery that produced “Charleston Earthquake Beer,” which it advertised as “the only Beer made entirely out of Cistern (Rain) Water.” As Curator of History Chad Stewart writes in the exhibit label, “it is not known how the shaken public responded to the marketing.”
The 20th century section contains a collection piece that many Museum goers are familiar with – the piano from the Siegling Music House that George Gershwin used to compose his opera, Porgy & Bess. It is now placed in a much better context in the area covering the Charleston Renaissance, the artistic movement which revitalized the culture of the Lowcountry. The image panels here include reproductions of etchings from the Archives collections by Elizabeth O’Neill Verner, Minnie Mikell, and Alfred Hutty, renowned Charleston Renaissance artists. A large case that will house rotating objects related to the 20th century currently displays additional pieces created by Anna Heyward Taylor. A case related to the world wars and Charleston’s military installations will also have rotating textiles.
For those of you who appreciate the historic pharmacy, or apothecary, the Museum has exhibited for decades, we are pleased to announce that visitors will now be able to enter it to have a better look inside. The pharmacy fits nicely into the interpretation related to the 20th century as it was used until the early 1920s. It is also representative of the Museum’s efforts to preserve the city’s history as it came into the collection shortly after it was removed from its original building.
The section of the new exhibition of which we are particularly proud is that related to the local Civil Rights struggle. Staff were pleased to work directly with Dr. Millicent Brown on this area. Dr. Brown, a PhD. in history who had a long career in teaching, also lived the Civil Rights movement as she was one of the first eleven students to integrate Charleston County schools in 1963. The display cases in this section of the exhibit include collection pieces that belonged to her father, J. Arthur Brown, head of the local NAACP, and William “Bill” Saunders, another Civil Rights activist. Dr. Brown also coordinated the interviews of several local residents who were part of the Civil Rights struggle in the Charleston area. Staff recorded these interviews and their stories are part of the audiovisual component of the exhibit.
The casework dedicated to Hurricane Hugo includes one of our newest acquisitions, a clock donated by former Curator of Historical Archaeology Martha Zierden. Zierden lived in McClellanville at the time, which was ground zero for the storm when it came ashore, and the clock is stopped at 12:54 AM, the exact time flood waters reached it on the nightstand.
One of our most prized acquisitions this year, was a quilt made by Torreah “Cookie” Washington, honoring the victims and survivors of the 2015 Mother Emanuel AME Church shooting.
The exhibit concludes with an assessment of the Lowcountry in the 21st century and a reflection on its past:
The people who have lived in the Lowcountry throughout its history have had a resilience to them and the area’s residents have experienced much throughout its history – natural disasters, epidemics, oppression of an entire race of people, wars, and economic downturns. Yet, they have persevered. Ever influenced by its past, the Lowcountry can be considered a beautiful mosaic, one with many imperfections in the history that is interwoven through it, but one that continues to evolve and to flourish.
We hope that you will visit the Museum soon to see this wonderful addition to our exhibits, which greatly enhances our ability to educate guests concerning the natural and cultural history of the South Carolina Lowcountry.
Carl P. Borick
Director