Great Depression (1930-1938)

Born in Charleston, Carrie, Mabel, and Anita Pollitzer were artists, activists, and social reformers.

With America’s entry into World War II, Pope, a National Guard captain, was called to active duty. He served in North Africa and Italy with the 107th Antiaircraft Battalion.

The Poppenheims helped bring the burgeoning women’s club movement to Charleston, as founding members and officers of the Century Club, the Civic Club, the Intercollegiate Club, and the Charleston City Federation of Clubs.

Reporters took an instant liking to the modest Purvis, and the mild-mannered G-man quickly became a national celebrity.

Despite his failure as a novelist and magazine publisher, he kept his sense of humor and somehow came to grips with the cards that life had dealt him.

Ravenel is possibly the best example of the influence of the Poetry Society of South Carolina on local writers; its founding in the year of her husband’s death brought her into a poetry-conscious environment.

In 1980 Ravenel served as U.S. associate deputy secretary of commerce and was the Democratic Party’s candidate for the First Congressional District seat.

It is her work at Algonquin Books, however, for which Ravenel is renowned in American letters. In 1982 she and her former teacher Louis Rubin established Algonquin in Chapel Hill. Her first position there was senior editor and member of the board of directors; through the years she progressed to editorial director and vice president.

In 1903 Rea became professor of biology and geology and curator of the museum at the College of Charleston. He would remain at the college until 1914. He assumed his position as curator of the museum at a time when it needed a leader with vision and a commitment to increasing the educational and research potentials of the collections.

In 1999 Ennis Rees was awarded recognition for his literary contributions by being inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors. He counted his influences as Homer, Chaucer, Emerson, and Whitman. All of his writing—his children’s books, his various translations, and his own poetry—is notable for its uncomplicated diction, sense of optimism, humor, and wordplay.

He composed many original songs in the early days of bluegrass, most of which he recorded on the King label with his longtime partner Arthur “Red” Smiley.

Typically, his writing concerned the flora and fauna of South Carolina, farming practices, and environmental issues. Rice served as chief game warden of South Carolina (1911–1913) and as an inspector for the U.S. Biological Survey (1913–1917). Among many groups and associations in which he was active were the Audubon Society, the American Forestry Association, and the Conservation Society of South Carolina.

In 1933 Rice first gained nationwide attention when the demand for his resignation from Rollins College sparked a highly publicized investigation by the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

Richards entered Congress in 1933 as a New Deal Democrat. He was an enthusiastic supporter of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s domestic and foreign policies until 1941, when the congressman, now a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, raised serious questions about Roosevelt’s request for a watered-down Neutrality Act.

After an unsuccessful bid for the governorship in 1910, Richards was appointed to the state Railroad Commission, where he sat for twelve years between 1910 and 1926. During that time he shifted his political allegiance from Tillman to Coleman Blease, the victor in the 1910 gubernatorial election.

Richardson taught herself to paint while growing up, eventually settling on birds as the primary subjects of most of her works. She received permits to create a wildlife sanctuary on James Island, South Carolina, where she rehabilitated birds and other wildlife and used them as models for her paintings.

Popular as a teacher, Richardson named the literary societies that played a significant part of campus life. She also became noted for her promotion of women’s suffrage, with her stated goal at the Greenville Woman’s College being to educate “girls who are staunch advocates of women’s rights.”

Richardson earned national attention when he hit a grand slam in Game Six of the 1960 World Series, in which he set a Series record of twelve runs batted in and was voted the Series MVP. Richardson again gained national acclaim during the final play of Game Seven of the 1962 World Series.

By the end of Clinton’s second term, Riley had helped the Department of Education reach record levels of federal education spending. After eight years in the post of secretary of education, Riley was hailed in the national press as “one of the great statesmen of education” in the twentieth century and “one of the most decent and honorable men in public life.”

In 1986 Ripley was chosen to write a sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize–winning classic, Gone With the Wind (1936), by Mitchell’s estate. In 1988 Warner Books successfully bid $4,940,000 for the publishing rights.