Culture

Cedric Umoja is a hybrid--Western and Southern. He was born and partly raised in California but moved to South Carolina after high school. He was drawn to art at an early age with hip-hop and comic books being his biggest influence. Today, his work is influenced by graffiti and modern European and American art.

This week Bobbi Conner talks with Dr. Laura Carpenter about the importance of early identification of autism spectrum disorder, and early interventions and therapy for children with this disorder. Dr. Carpenter is a Professor of Pediatrics in the College of Medicine at MUSC.

Though it premiered in the 1930s, the world-famous opera "Porgy and Bess" did not receive its debut production in Charleston, South Carolina–the city of its birth–until 1970, due to segregation laws. "When Porgy Came Home" offers a glimpse at the people and the culture that inspired the show’s author, Dubose Heyward. Produced and directed by Lauren Waring Douglas this soon to be released documentary shares the untold stories of the performers from the 1970 show. The documentary also features a look at the most recent rendition of "Porgy and Bess" at the 2016 Spoleto Festival in Charleston...

South Carolina has a rich Gullah culture in the state’s Lowcountry. Many of the Gullah people adopted Christianity, but the laws, for hundreds of years, prohibited them from learning to read. It was a law that did not allow them to fully appreciate the word. Today that has changed and there’s even a Gullah version of the Bible. Watch the full episode: Celebrate Black History Month

David Drake was an enslaved African American in Edgefield, South Carolina during the first three quarters of the nineteenth century. He’s known today for the magnificent quality of the pots he made, the size of the pots, and he wrote poems on some of his pots—during an era when it was a crime for slaves to know how to read and write.

Sherine Chan Co-Founder of Neuroene Therapeutics After spending her early professional life in medical research and education, Sherine Chan has turned to the world of entrepreneurship. Alongside her role as an Associate Professor at the Medical University of South Carolina, Sherine has co-founded a potentially groundbreaking pharmaceutical company. She and her business partner have discovered novel Vitamin K-based therapeutics that target new mechanisms and are safe, specific, and different from current drugs on the market for the treatment of epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, and other...

Multiple weather-related hazards are possible Wednesday night and Thursday over a large portion of the Palmetto State. First round Wednesday night An increasingly warm and humid air mass will surge northward across the state Wednesday afternoon into Thursday. A fe showers may develop as soon as Wednesday morning, especially over the Upstate and Midlands. The showers and thunderstorms are then likely to become more widespread Wednesday night. This initial round of rain may be heavy and lead to areas of flash flooding, particularly across the South Carolina Upstate late Wednesday night...

This month we want to highlight African American history and South Carolinians who have left a lasting legacy on the palmetto state. Click the links or players below to watch the documentaries. A True Likeness "A True Likeness" tells the story of a little-known African-American photographer from South Carolina whose posthumous discovery transcended stereotypes and brought to light a significant legacy. Richard Samuel Roberts is heralded as one of the south's most accomplished photographers of the 1920's and 1930's. Beyond Barbados: The Carolina Connection Sometimes the history of a place...

Stephen Brown is a swing bridge operator working in Beaufort, S.C. At a young 66 years old, Mr. Brown told us stories of growing up in Beaufort, his 35 years with the fire department and his love for the bridge. He left us with words of wisdom, that you can do anything if you put your mind to it. Mr. Brown would know. He was the first African American firefighter to work for Beaufort County.

It’s not the harpsichord just inside the entryway of the Carolina Music Museum that comes as such a surprise, but the sign on top of it. “Play Me,” it reads—two words seldom seen on keyboards in public spaces unless preceded by “Please Do Not.” Dr. Thomas Strange, Artistic Director and Curator of the museum located on Greenville’s Heritage Green, considers such interaction an important part of a visitor’s experience. “It’s a bit of an experiential museum, so there are things that you can actually play. And we encourage people to explore a little bit,” Strange says. With an exhibit like Seven...