The Palmetto State: The Making of South Carolina
ISBN: 9781611171327
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / University of South Carolina Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter



A concise approach to the major themes and events that define contemporary South Carolina

The captivating, colorful, and controversial history of South Carolina continues to warrant fresh explorations. In this sweeping story of defining episodes in the state's history, accomplished historians Jack Bass and W. Scott Poole trace the importance of race relations, historical memory, and cultural life in the progress of the Palmetto State from its colonial inception to the present day.

In the discussion of contemporary South Carolina that makes up the majority of this volume, the authors map the ways through which hard-won economic and civil rights advancements, a succession of progressive state leaders, and federal court mandates operated in tandem to bring a largely peaceful end to the Jim Crow era in South Carolina, in stark contrast to the violence wrought elsewhere in the South. This volume speaks directly to the connections between the state's past, present, and future, and it serves as a valuable point of entrance for new inquiries into South Carolina's diverse and complex heritage.


Jack Bass is a professor emeritus of humanities and social sciences at the College of Charleston. He is the author or coauthor of seven other books about the American South.

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