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South Carolina From A to Z
South Carolina from A to Z
All Stations: Mon-Fri, throughout the day

From Hilton Head to Caesars Head, and from the Lords Proprietors to Hootie and the Blowfish, historian Walter Edgar mines the riches of the South Carolina Encyclopedia to bring you South Carolina from A to Z.

South Carolina from A to Z is a production of South Carolina Public Radio in partnership with the University of South Carolina Press and SC Humanities.

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  • “P” is for Pickens County (497 square miles; 2020 population 127,983). Located in South Carolina’s northwest corner, Pickens County is an area of lakes and mountains.
  • “M” is for McMillan, Claude Richelieu (1899-1961). Engineer, government official. McMillan’s tenure as chief highway commissioner was one of unparalleled growth.
  • “M” is for McLeod, Thomas Gordon (1868-1932). Governor. As governor, he signed the 6-0-1 Law, which guaranteed all children in South Carolina six months of schooling per year. H
  • “L” is for Littlejohn, Nina (1879-1963). Hospital administrator. Aware that African Americans did not have access to suitable medical care, Littlejohn created the John-Nina Hospital in 1913.
  • “H” is for Highway 301. The highway’s many nicknames are an indication that it was popular among tourists: “Tobacco Trail,” “Highway of Southern Hospitality,” “Tourist Highway,” “Shortest Route from Maine to Florida,” and “The Washington-Florida Short Route.”
  • “H” is for Highway 17. The modern route of Highway 17 extends from the North Carolina state line to Interstate 95 near Beaufort, closely following the route that Native Americans, early settlers, and even President George Washington traveled many years ago.
  • Gray, Wil Lou (1883-1984). Educator, public servant. Gray transcended race and class barriers by focusing her energy on the eradication of illiteracy through progressive educational program designed for adults.
  • “F” is for Frost, Susan Pringle (1873-1960). Preservationist, suffragist. Frost’s historic preservation initiatives contributed substantially to the movement that transformed the streets of Charleston and made it a national tourist attraction.
  • “E” is for Evans, Matilda Arabella (1872-1935). Physician. Matilda Arabella Evans’s walk-in clinics and hospitals were the first available for many Deep South Blacks.
  • “D” is for Doolittle Raiders. On April 18, 1942, eighty Americans and sixteen B-25 bombers carried out the first attack on the Japanese Islands following Pearl Harbor. The participants began training for the mission in Columbia.