#11: The origins of the term "Sandlapper", founding mothers at Historic Brattonsville, and a beloved SC song
For South Carolina history lovers far and wide! Enjoy weekly SC history and upcoming SC historical events
Dear reader,
Welcome to Newsletter #12 of The South Carolina History Newsletter! I’m so happy you’re here.
I hope you enjoy today’s newsletter, and as always, please feel free to reply to this email with your ideas and suggestions on South Carolina history you’d like to learn more about. I’m only a click away.
Additionally, please join us & keep the conversation going by becoming a member of our SC History Newsletter Facebook Community here! I can’t wait to meet you.
And now, let’s learn some South Carolina history!
Yours truly,
Kate
(Writing from Greenville, SC)
3 ➳ Upcoming SC History Events
To celebrate Black History Month, each newsletter in February highlights one Black History focused event. The Black History events will be listed first below.
While I have curated the following 3 events below to feature in today’s newsletter, please click here to visit my SC History Events Calendar that organizes all the events I have featured in the newsletter to date, as well as others I have discovered. Please let me know if you’d like to add an event to the list! Reply to this email or send me a note at schistorynewsletter@gmail.com.
I.
BLACK HISTORY MONTH HIGHLIGHT: Through February 29th, 2:00 - 5:00 pm | “Exhibit: Black History in Aiken’s Equine Industry” | Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame and Museum| Aiken, SC | Free admission
“In celebration of Black History Month, an exhibit celebrating the contributions made by Aiken’s African-American community to the equine industry will be on display at the Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame & Museum. The exhibit will include highlights from the careers of Wilbert “Boots” Breland, who was a rider for Mrs. Ambrose Clark in the 1940’s, Charlie Carter, long time groom for Greentree Stable, and Jimmy “Wink” Winkfield who worked for Pete Bostwick and was the last African-American jockey to win the Kentucky Derby (1902). On exhibit February 1-29. Admission is free.”
III.
Saturday, March 9th from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm | Living History Day: Founding Mothers: A Home in the Wilderness | Historic Brattonsville | McConnells, SC | General Admission: Members & children 3 and younger (FREE), Youth 4-17 ($5), Seniors 60+ ($7), and Adults 18-59 ($8)
“Join us for this month’s Living History Saturdays which focus on the lives and daily activities of women of different social classes in the Brattonsville community. We will look at the important and changing roles of women in the development of the Brattonsville community through the 18th and 19th centuries. This weekend’s activities include Huck’s Defeat: Martha Bratton’s Perspective Tours (11 a.m. & 2 p.m.) and 18th Century Food Preparation.”
III.
Wednesday, March 13th from 2:30 - 3:30 pm | “Columbia’s Irish History” | Richland Library Main: Walker Local and Family History Center | Columbia, SC | FREE & Open to the public
“Did you know that in the 19th century Columbia S.C. was home to a strong and growing Irish community? Historian Tom Elmore spent years researching and gathering stories about the people of the Highlands and the Emerald Islands who lived in Columbia area from the colonial era to today. Join us in the Walker Local & Family History Center to learn from Elmore about the history of Irish in Columbia. Elmore is the State Historian for the Ancient Order of Hibernians in America, a member of the Robert Burns Society of the Midlands and the Scottish Clan Davidson. He has a B.A. in History and Political Science from the University of South Carolina. He is the author of Celtic Columbia.”
2 ➳ SC History Fun Facts
I.
Where does the phrase “Sandlapper” come from to describe South Carolinians?
The origins of the nickname “Sandlapper” are debated. First of all, what does the word mean? From The Dictionary of American Regional English, it means “One who eats dirt; by extension, a low-class or countrified white person. Chiefly South Atlantic. Derogatory. Compare to: Clay-eater.” Well, that’s not very nice! Indeed, in the early days, being called a Sandlapper was no compliment. Here are a few ways it was used in the 1800s:
1854 – "He was a little, dried-up withered atomy – a jaundiced 'sand-lapper' or 'clay-eater,' from the Wassamasaw country." (William Gilmore Simms, Scout)
1854 – "The piebald caricature he calls a State – a thing of lean and famished 'sand-hillers' and poor white folks, slaves and slave-holders." (Benjamin F. Wade, US Representative from Ohio, Congressional Globe)
As I looked further into the term, it is important to note that not all South Carolinians consider themselves Sandlappers. It is believed to only pertain to people from certain regions of the state; in particular, those from the Sand Hills, a “distinct geographic area which covers about 12% of our state, including much of the Midlands” where the “clay is intersperse with plenty of sand, leftover from the days when this part of South Carolina was its coast.”
From 1943-1983, a statewide study was done that compiled input from people around the state regarding the origin of “names common to South Carolina.” In 1967, Neil Hester (originally of Mullins in Marion County, which is in South Carolina's Pee Dee) submitted this info on "the sobriquet Sandlapper":
"As you say, the term Sandlapper never was widely circulated in the state. I remember it chiefly as a colloquial nickname for South Carolinians from my native area of the state and it originally seemed to refer to folks from a sandy region. I can lay claim to being a genuine Sandlapper by virtue of my birth 69 years ago at Mullins in Marion County in the heart of the South Carolina coastal plain. This area is known for its sandy soil favorable to the growth of bright leaf tobacco and the long-legged anopheles mosquitoes of its black water rivers and creeks. In fact, there was a point of the Little Pee Dee River near Mullins that was called Sandy Bluff, a favorite fishing and recreation area…Offhand, I'd say the term Sandlapper probably was used more in sandy eastern South Carolina than in other parts of the state."
Many people have also become familiar with the term from South Carolina’s state magazine, The Sandlapper, which ran from 1968-1983, and then from 1989-2011. And there is also a well-known song…
II.
Did you know that the song “Good Sandlappers” was composed for South Carolina’s Tricentennial celebration — and that the Governor Henry McMaster bestows an “Honorary Sandlapper” award?
Nell McMaster Sprott (1917-2017, wow, she was 100 when she died!) was a music teacher in Winnsboro, SC at Mount Zion and Everett schools for 26 years, and served for over 50 years as the organist and choir director at Bethel A.R. Presbyterian Church. In 1969, Mrs. Sprott was commissioned by the South Carolina Tricentennial Committee to compose the official state songs for the 1970 celebration. These songs, “especially ‘Good Sandlappers’ and ‘Carolina Sunshine’ are remember by school children across the state.” Soon after the celebration, Mrs. Sprott was Recognized as the State Teacher of the Year. Please see the YouTube video below to hear the Good Sandlapper song!
And finally, I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that in 2022, Governor Henry McMaster establish a new state aware, “The Honorary Sandlapper” Award, which is bestowed at the Governor’s discretion “upon individuals who are neither natives nor current residents of the State of South Carolina has a means of recognizing and pressing the State’s gratitude for significant contributions to the State of South Carolina or its citizens or for extraordinary leadership, service, or achievement benefitting the State of South Carolina or its citizens.”
I was not able to find a list of people who have been given the Honorary Sandlapper award, but I’ll keep looking and let you know what I find!
1 ➳ Quote from an SC historical figure
I.
“We love South Carolina,
Good old South Carolina,
And we hope to always stay,
Here at home, right at home
in the very finest state of the USA!”
—Verse from the “Good Sandlappers” song by Nelle McMaster Sprott, who was commissioned to write the song for the South Carolina Tricentennial Celebration in 1970
Sources used in today’s newsletter:
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