Mary Long’s Yesteryear was an educational series featuring notable moments of South Carolina history told by historian Mary Long. Originally produced at WNSC in Rock Hill, the program quickly earned fame and was one of SCETV’s most popular TV series of the 1990s.
Prior to her television career, Long worked for more than 40 years in the aspects of theater and drama, including 21 years as a speech, English, and Social Studies teacher at Rock Hill High School. In addition to her work as an educator, she also worked on many plays including "The Lost Colony" as Queen Elizabeth.
In each program, Long takes her audience on a field trip to learn the history of famous South Carolina sites—places viewers may be aware of but not fully understood their history. Through her tours of these landmarks, she conveys the history of each one, focusing on its past and providing context for our state's rich and complex history.
Some of the most famous places Long has talked about have included Fort Sumter, Historic Camden, the life of Thomas Spratt, The Battle of Cowpens, and more.
In this episode of Mary Long’s Yesteryear, featured in ETV Classics, viewers of the program will get to know more about the Penn Center, which was established as one of the first schools in the south for freed slaves.
What other classic SCETV shows do you want to see released from our vault?
We would love to hear from you at https://scetv.org/contact. Add "ETV Classics" to the subject line.