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2015
Meetings
November
Speaker: Angela Williams
Topic: "Hush Now Baby, a story of Berkeley County and coming of age in a changing South"
Author
Angela Williams has been a , lecturer, community activist, consultant,
writer, editor and personal/professional coach. Her story, as
told in her new book, Hush Now, Baby published by the Texas Review
Press, is legendary and one of the most interesting books I have every
read. The story of Eva, her childhood nanny and how she
raised her from birth to her wedding day, is brilliantly told.
Angela
Williams will share story at the upcoming meeting of the Greater
Piedmont Chapter of The Explorers Club at Capital Cities Club, Columbia
on November 13, 2015.
It started as a simple paper for an
undergraduate class. And then came a question and as Angela
Williams dug around for an answer she uncovered other questions and so
she became, out of necessity, minutely organized, beginning to uncover
ever so slowly. She made a grid and she dusted it carefully. And
what started as a simple paper became an expedition and Angela Williams
became an explorer.
Reading from a small portion in the early pages of Hush Now, Baby.
“My
grandfather’s passion for the land often got him involved with
politics. Political intrigue not only affected prohibition issues in
the Low Country, but also surrounded the decision to inundate thousands
of acres of fertile plantation country. The proposed creation of
Lakes Moultrie and Marion as part of a hydro-electrical plant proved
controversial. It pitted family against family.”
Angela’s
grandfather Russell Williams headed a syndicate which had bought
Hanover Plantation dating to 1714. They used the house as a
hunting lodge and the land for raising timber and growing cotton.
It took a lot of work and politics to save Hanover House but the
Department of Interior labeled Hanover as “the only house in the
proposed region of inundation of national importance.” It was
dismantled and moved to Clemson University.
Angela
Williams, born in Berkeley Hospital in Moncks Corner and raised in
Pinopolis and Moncks Corner is a true daughter of the old south.
After Berkeley Schools and Ashley Hall in Charleston, Queens College in
Charlotte and later a Master’s degree from Duke University,
Angela married, raised a family, divorced, and for over 20 years taught
English at the Citadel.
Her remarks to the
Explorers Club will, as best- selling author Ken Burger wrote in his
review, “will take us back in time when generations of white children
were raised by the calloused hands of slaves, who despite being breed
by Lincoln, remained chained to a stubborn way of life, instead of
killing us in our sleep, they became our guardian angels for reasons
still mysteriously misunderstood.
Dr. Patricia Williams,
Professor Emeritus, Sam Houston State University, wrote of Angela’s
book, “Her account of Southern life provides a thought provoking
realistic view of those turbulent decades. While slowly grasping
how injustices permeated Southern culture, she faced her owns
family’s struggle with abuse, alcoholism, and philandering. This
is a poignant coming of age story with Eva there every step of the way.”
Ceille Baird Welch, Playwright, and a childhood friend of Angela, wrote in her review,
“You
will not put this aside until you’ve read it cover to cover. When
a rich little white girl, newly born, is placed into the arms of a poor
and uneducated black woman, it’s a beginning to last a lifetime.
Angela Williams is audacious. In this true, brave tale, she honors the
woman who became, in essence, her mother, while in so doing, she
unveils tawdry secrets of her influential white family. All this
against the backdrop of a confused and racially changing world.
Just when I thought I understood the South, here came Angie and Eva.
October
Speaker: Albert C. Goodyear, III, Ph.D
Topic: “Recent Discoveries Concerning the Earliest Humans to Inhabit South Carolina, the Topper Site and Beyond”
Investigations
in the Savannah River valley of South Carolina over the past two
decades have revealed a number of significant archaeological findings
concerning the earliest people that came into what is now known as
South Carolina. Artifacts and sites of early Paleoamericans have
been found in Allendale County that show that people arrived here and
in North America well before the last Ice Age over 20,000 years ago.
Known as preClovis, stone tools have been recovered from the banks of
the Pleistocene Savannah River dating in excess of 50,000 years, well
past the currently accepted 17,000 years ago for several preClovis
sites in the Americas. Named the Clariant Complex, these
stone implements were typically small microlithic tools which in other
parts of the world which were hafted in bone and wooden handles and
probably used to manufacture organic tools and weapons such as those
made from wood and antler. The moist acidic soils have not
preserved organic artifacts leaving only artifacts made of the
flint-like chert. The site that has produced these ancient
remains is known as the Topper site which is located near a chert
quarry which was the source of stone for tools. Later in
time, some 13,000 years ago,the largest widespread Paleoamerican
culture known as Clovis was present throughout North America.
Clovis artifacts have been found in profusion at Topper and nearby
sites and radiocarbon dated to that age. The origins and meaning
of the Clovis culture continues to be something of a mystery and at one
time was thought to be the earliest culture in America. Clovis
seems to have lasted only a few centuries and was quickly gone along
with many of the large Ice Age animals such as mammoths and mastodons
which they hunted. It was during this time that the northern
hemisphere suddenly descended into another Ice Age known as the Younger
Dryas, the cause or causes of it also remain quite a mystery.
Recently it has been proposed that some sort of extra terrestrial
impact occurred probably in what is now Canada which may have triggered
the cold spell known as the Younger Dryas. The Topper site has
produced some of the geochemical markers in the Clovis layer which are
thought to be from a comet-like impact. This ET hypothesis is
currently under evaluation by scientist in several countries with
promising results. During Clovis times in South Carolina it is
thought that a neighboring band of Clovis people lived in what is now
North Carolina and the two bands met and interacted along the Congaree
and Santee drainages which likely functioned as a cultural
boundary. Artifacts originating from both regions have been found
spread up to 200 miles apart. Such widespread territories would
have been possible and even desirable due to low population densities
amongst Clovis groups which needed interaction with other groups over a
multi-state area for vital information about the environment and for
finding suitable mates for their children. After the Clovis
culture there appears to be another major change with post-Clovis
people dwelling in smaller territories and apparently few
numbers. Whether they represent the remnants of the Clovis
culture after being damaged by an ET impact certainly seems
possible. These findings for Paleoamerican groups while
temporarlly distant from our society today, nevertheless provide
fascinating evidence for the early colonization of the western
hemisphere out of the Old World and the role of dramatically
changing climatic and environmental conditions in their lives.
They give new meaning to the old, and really old, South.
About our Speaker:
Dr. Albert C. Goodyear
is a research affiliate with the S.C. Institute of Archaeology and
Anthropology at the University of South Carolina where he recently
retired after a 40 year career there. He is the Director of the
Southeastern Paloamerican Survey, a program at the Institute which
searches for the earliest people in the Southeast and he is the overall
project director of the Topper site excavations. Currently he is
involved with several research projects which examine sites spanning
from North Carolina to Florida.
September
Speaker: Alan Shoemaker, FN'94
Topic: Conservation Issues Facing Tigers in 2015
Alan
Shoemaker is a graduate of Furman University (1967) in Biology; in 1972
he obtained a M.S. degree in Biology from the University of South
Carolina. Mr. Shoemaker worked at Riverbanks Zoological Park from
1972 until his retirement in 2002. During his tenure at
Riverbanks, he held the position of Curator of Mammals and Collection
Manager.
After retirement, he was named an
Honorary Member of the America Zoo Association (AZA). Alan has
authored 125 professional papers. Prior to attending graduate
school, he served in the U.S. Army for two years, including a
five-month of tour of duty in Vietnam as a platoon leader with the 9th
Infantry Division where he was decorated with the Army Commendation
Medal and the Bronze Star.
A lover of travel, Shoemaker has visited all 50 states and 45 countries.
July
Speaker: Alison Ormsby, Ph.D, FN'02
Topic: Linking Culture and Conservation: Sacred Forests of Ghana, India, and Sierra Leone
Alison
Ormsby recently relocated to Asheville. She has been an Explorers Club
member since 2002 and is now switching to our Greater Piedmont Chapter.
She has a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies and her doctoral research
focused on people/park interactions in Madagascar. Alison’s
recent research has investigated the links between culture and
conservation, specifically at sacred forests in Ghana, India, and
Sierra Leone. She was a Professor of Environmental Studies at
Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, Florida, for 12 years. She is now
a consultant with United Plant Savers/Sacred Seeds and is a graduate
mentor for the environmental studies program at Prescott College.
For more information about the Sacred Seeds project, visit: http://sacredseedssanctuary.org/
June
Speaker: Cary Mock, Ph.D,
Topic: Reconstructing Hurricane Histories from Historical Records
This
presentation describes the importance of documenting and understanding
tropical cyclone histories encompassing the last several hundred
years. It emphasizes studies for the Atlantic Basin but also
describes research being conducted in the North and South Pacific as
well. Reconstructing historical tropical cyclones is within a
field of study known as "Historical Climatology." These
"pre-modern" records (mostly pre-twentieth century) richly describe
extreme hurricane events that are not clearly evident in the modern
record, and that will occur at times more frequently in the
future. Understanding the magnitude and frequencies of tropical
cyclones in a longer perspective is vital to calculate hurricane
probabilities and return intervals, to understand the forecasting
aspects and climatic mechanisms that drive active hurricane periods,
and to assess societal impacts in worse-case scenarios involving major
hurricanes.
About our speaker:
CARY MOCK
(Ph.D., University of Oregon, 1994) is a Professor of Geography, and a
Faculty Affiliate for the Institute of Southern Studies at the
University of South Carolina. He received a B.S. degree in
Geography from the University of California-Davis, a M.S. degree in
Geography from the University of Utah, and a Ph.D. in Geography from
the University of Oregon. After his PhD, he taught as a Visiting
Assistant Professor at the Department of Geology and Geography at the
University of Massachusetts, Amherst (1995), and he subsequently did
Post-Doctoral research at the University of Washington. Dr. Mock
joined the University of South Carolina as an Assistant Professor in
1999 and he was promoted to the ranks of Associate Professor in 2004,
and to Full Professor in 2012. His research specialties are in
climatology/meteorology, historical climatology, hurricanes, and arctic
and alpine environments. His most recent research directions
involve historical weather and climate impacts on society, and
involving archive research internationally, particularly from various
places in Europe. His research has been funded by various
programs from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the National
Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He has published over
50 research articles that include leading journals in climatology and
global environmental change such as in the Bulletin of the American
Meteorology Society, Journal of Climate, Climatic Change, Quaternary
Research, Arctic and Alpine Research, Proceedings of the National
Academy of Sciences, and others. He has edited books on
Historical Climate Variability and Impacts in North America, and The
Encyclopedia of Quaternary Science. Dr. Mock has served as an external
reviewer for dozens of journals and research proposals, and served on
several NSF panels. He has been a member on the National Research
Council’s U.S. Delegation to the International Quaternary Association
(INQUA), and served as Treasurer as well as Paleoclimate Councilor for
the American Quaternary Association (AMQUA). He has also conducted
about 100 media interviews concerning his research and expertise on
meteorology and climatology (mostly on hurricanes) since coming to
USC.
May
Speaker: Howie Scher, Ph.D,
Topic: A Hitchhiker's Guide to Climate Change
Description of talk:
Howie Scher
is a geochemist who specializes in reconstructing changes in Earth's
past climate. His interest in past climate developed as an
undergraduate student, after tripping over a fossil crocodilian femur
near the north pole and asking the question "why was the north pole so
warm in the past?". He continues to ask questions, and is currently
interested in how the Earth's climate system moves in between
equilibrium states. The talk will deliver a perspective on present day
climate change by examining the geological record of climate change, in
a non-technical and accessible style. Howie is currently appointed as
an Assistant Professor at the University of South Carolina.
About the speaker:
Howie
Scher grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is a product of the
public school system. In 1995 he enrolled at University of Rochester in
New York State, and took Geology 101 with Professor John Tarduno. A
year later he was in the high Canadian Arctic with 25 kilos of rocks on
his back and a shotgun to scare away the polar bears.
After two
trips to the Arctic to collect rocks and fossils, he moved to the
University of Florida in 1999 to study with Professor Ellen Martin. One
of his main research questions was, "Why was the Arctic so warm in the
past". His Ph.D. thesis focused on evaluating the response of the
oceans to changes in the configuration of the continents.
With
his doctoral work completed in 2005, Howie returned to the University
of Rochester as a Visiting Assistant Professor, where he learned to
teach. After 18 months and with some National Science Foundation grant
money in hand, he moved to the University of California Santa Cruz in
2006, where he studied rapid changes in climate in the distant past
with Professor Margaret Delaney.
He moved to the University of
South Carolina in 2009 where he established the Geochemical
Paleoceanography Lab and co-founded the Center for Elemental Mass
Spectrometry. He has participated in deep sea scientific drilling in
the Equatorial Pacific and North Atlantic, and remains interested in
Earth's past climate.
April
Speaker: Marc Bremmer
Topic: "Hubble Space Telescope: An Operational Perspective."
Marc
Bremmer grew up in Central New York State under dark skies and
developed a keen interest in astronomy at age ten. He graduated from
SUNYCO with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Physics & Astronomy and
Mathematics. He worked at the Space Telescope Institute in Baltimore on
the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). This work involved assisting
astronomers performing research with Hubble, providing technical
support, logistics and scheduling observations. Marc worked
specifically with the Wide Field Planetary Camera Team and served as a
member of a Guaranteed Telescope Observers team with the Princeton
Center for Advanced Studies that was headed by noted astrophysicist
John Bahcall. This team was made up of particular researchers involved
in the scientific and technical development of the HST, and were thus
given observing time with the telescope based upon their involvement.
Marc’s
presentation will be a “behind the scenes” look at the HST and he will
provide anecdotes from practical experience as part of the team that
has operated Hubble. April 2015 is the 25th Anniversary of the launch
of Hubble, and Marc will share some of the accomplishments of this
amazing scientific instrument and provide us with a perspective of how
the frontier of space has been pushed during the last 25 years.
March
Speaker: Dr. Janice Chism
Topic: "Studying a Monkey with No Name: The challenges of working with a species that has not been identified."
The topic:
Dr.
Chism's talk will cover the flooded forest habitat, interrupted with
palm swamps, where their field work is performed. The communal reserve
was founded by conservationists and local people to protect an
endangered monkey species, the red uacari, and the overall immense
biodiversity of the area. Dr. Chism will briefly describe some of
the conservation studies that she and her students have carried out and
their recent work on the Saki monkeys and the challenges this work
presents.
About our speaker:
Dr. Chism recieved, from
the Universtity of California, Berkeley, an A.B. in Anthropology, and
M.A. and Ph.D in Physical Anthropology. She is currently a Professor of
Biology and Anthropology and Director of Graduate Studies in the
Department of Biology at Winthrop University. Dr. Chism has been
recognized with the Winthrop Graduate Faculty Award, the Winthrop
University Kinard Award for Excellence in Teaching, and a National
Award from the American Library Association– Best Scientific Books for
The Guenons: Diversity and Adaptation in African Monkeys.
February
Speaker: Christopher R. Moore, Ph.D
Topic: "Early
Hunter-Gatherer Tool Use And Animal Exploitation In The Southeast:
Protein Residue And Microwear Evidence From The Central Savannah River
Area."
The topic:
Over
the last two years, immunological studies of animal protein residues
preserved on stone tools from Flamingo Bay (38AK469) and more recently,
a larger study of 75 hafted bifaces (all time-periods represented) from
the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA), have produced fascinating
results with regional implications for animal exploitation by early
hunter-gatherers. The most recent results have identified animal
proteins on Paleoamerican Clovis and Redstone artifacts, including the
presence of bovid or bison (B. bison or B. antiquus), on several fluted
points, a Dalton, and single Morrow Mountain hafted biface. One of the
major questions we now want to address with additional immunological
testing relates to the possible extirpation of bison in the mid-
Holocene based on the presence of bovid protein residue on a single
Morrow Mountain hafted biface and none on later points. Also, previous
immunological testing found bison residue on Clovis points but no
evidence of other extinct megafauna. This may mean that large
megafauna were regionally extinct by the time of Clovis, were hunted
infrequently, or that our sample size was just too small. Analysis of
additional Clovis points could help address these questions.
About our speaker:
Chris,
his wife Wendy, and their young son Nicolas relocated to Aiken from
Greenville, North Carolina in 2008. Chris holds a BS in
anthropology (minor in geology) from Appalachian State University, a MA
in anthropology from East Carolina University, and a Ph.D. in Coastal
Resources Management (with a focus in Geoscience) from East Carolina
University. His specialty areas include geoarchaeology,
hunter-gatherer archaeology, prehistoric stone tools, quarry sourcing,
geologic dating, GIS technology, and remote sensing. His
dissertation research was on archaeologically stratified dunes along
the Tar River in North Carolina. Chris spends approximately 50% of his
time conducting public outreach, and the other 50% conducting research
in support of SRARP compliance activities.
January
Speaker: Dave Cicimurri
Topic: "A 30 million-year-old leather-back sea turtle in South Carolina"
Our
speaker for January was Dave Cicimurri. Dave is the Curator of Natural
History at the South Carolina State Museum. He received a Bachelor's
Degree in Geology from Temple University and a Master's Degree in
Paleontology from South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He spoke
to us on the discovery of a 30 million-year-old leather-back sea turtle
fossil found near Summerville, South Carolina. This is touted as one of
the biggest finds of the year in the paleo world and the specimen is in
excellent condition.
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