This episode continues our Dubose and Dorothy Heyward month, discussing these two Charleston Renaissance writers. We’re talking with Annette Guild, the Metadata Specialist at the SC Historical Society, who recently finished a project to digitize some of the papers of the Heywards. Those are now available on the Lowcountry Digital Library, as well as Digital Library of South Carolina, and the Digital Public Library of America.

We are heading back to the roaring 20s to talk about Dubose and Dorothy Heyward, the Charleston writers. Dubose was best known for his novel "Porgy," which became a play and then opera, "Porgy & Bess" developed with Ira and George Gershwin.

In this episode, we’re talking with author and historian Harlan Greene, who recently wrote the book “Porgy’s Ghost: The Life and Works of Dorothy Heyward and Her Contribution to an American Classic”.

We’re exploring the story of two men who were accused of similar crimes, but whose fates were very different. John Burnet, a Scottish immigrant, was taken into custody in the summer of 1775 in today’s Colleton County. He was accused of preaching to enslaved people and encouraging them to preach on their own, as well as revolt against their enslavers. An enslaved man accused of preaching at these same gatherings was named George and while John eventually went free, George met a very different end.