Recovering the Piedmont Past

Moments in Nineteenth-Century Upcountry South Carolina History, Timothy P. Grady joins with Andrew H. Myers to edit this second anthology of Recovering the Piedmont Past, volume 2, to uncover the microhistory of this northwest region of the state during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Topics include the influence of railroads on traveling circuses, tourist resorts and visits by Booker T. Washington during the rise of Jim Crow, pioneering medical efforts by progressives to identify the cause of pellagra disease, and a debate over populism involving Pitchfork Ben Tillman.After years of being overshadowed by the coastal elite, upcountry South Carolinians began to play a vital role in modernizing the region and making it an integral part of the New South. In a study of this shift in the balance of power, the contributors examine religious history, the economic boom and bust, popular recreational activities, and major trends that played out in small places. By providing details and nuance that illuminate the historical context of the New South and engaging with the upcountry from fresh angles, this second volume of Recovering the Piedmont Past expresses a deep local interest while also speaking to broader political and social issues.The volume includes a foreword by Melissa Walker, the George Dean Johnson, Jr. Professor of History Emerita at Converse College and coeditor of Recovering the Piedmont Past: Unexplored Moments in Nineteenth-Century South Carolina History.