Happy Earth Day from SC Humanities! This week we are exploring public humanities projects that celebrate environmental literacy.

Caroline McIntyre , Greenville Chautauqua Administrator and Historical Interpreter, joins us to reflect on Rachel Carson's contributions to the environmental movement.  Greenville Chautauqua  won a Governor's Award in the Humanities in 2019 for its work bringing history to life through interactive theater and compelling discussion aimed at stimulating critical thinking.

We are also taking this opportunity to dive into the Let's Talk About It book discussion series titled " Changing Places: Reflections on the Natural World ." The LTAI book discussion series is usually offered by public libraries in partnership with SC Humanities and the SC State Library, but we have made the series discussion guide available for download for your virtual book club's use.
Caroline McIntyre reflects on Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
The first Earth Day – April 22, 1970 – found me teaching high school history. With no other readable material available, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring became my classroom text. She was able to take dull scientific fact and translate it into lyric prose, and my students rallied to the cause. Silent Spring is said to have been the genesis of the environmental movement. It entered the words “ecology,” “reverence for life” and “balance of nature” into our common language. It inspired a nation to proclaim “our fundamental right to a healthy environment.” It etched on our national consciousness Jean Rostand’s words: “The obligation to endure, gives us the right to know.” Once Silent Spring was published, our planet would never be seen in the same light again. April 14, 1964 – six years before the first Earth Day – Rachel Carson, a young woman of 56 died of cancer. To many of us she was Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa and Lois Lane all rolled into one. For the young women of the 60s, Rachel Carson was our first hero. Her epic book focusing on the powerful and often adverse effect humans have on the natural world has never been out of print.

This Earth Day with our nation cloistered inside for another kind of “silent spring,” perhaps Rachel Carson’s words can help:

“Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.”

“For there is symbolic as well as actual beauty in the migration of birds; in the ebb and flow of the tides; in the folded bud ready for the spring. There is something infinitely healing in these repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
Caroline McIntyre
Greenville Chautauqua Administrator and Historical Interpreter
Photo : As a member of the SC Humanities Speakers Bureau , Caroline McIntyre recreates the roles of three of her heroes – Frances Perkins, Rachel Carson and Mary Draper Ingles. She weaves the stories of these heroic women and, in Chautauqua fashion, inspires the audience to ask questions directly to the characters.
Learn more about Chautauqua , a nonprofit, experiential oral tradition that brings history to life through interactive theater and compelling discussion aimed at stimulating critical thinking.
Let's Talk About It - Changing Places: Reflections on the Natural World
Let’s Talk About It is a book discussion series centered on themes ranging from women’s autobiography to the cultural importance of South Carolina’s literary heritage. Funded by South Carolina Humanities and coordinated with assistance from the  South Carolina State Library , LTAI has long been the backbone of library programming offered by SC Humanities.

This week, we are pleased to offer a Let's Talk About It book discussion series that will be perfect for your virtual book club. " Changing Places: Reflections on the Natural World " is a survey of American Nature Writing in the 20th Century, which encompasses perspectives from a junkyard to a greenhouse and from the Blue Ridge Mountains to Wisconsin. Visit our website to download our free discussion guide for the series.
Join us on Facebook for a lecture with Dr. Margaret J. Oakes!
Dr. Margaret J. Oakes, Professor of English at Furman University, will host a brief lecture on Shakespeare on the SC Humanities Facebook page on Thursday, April 23 at 12:00 PM.

The expression “The Bard” does Shakespeare and playgoers a huge disservice. The guy with the ruff and the beard is “too highbrow,” “out of touch,” and “stuffy.” Sometimes, however, Shakespeare is raunchy, extraordinarily violent, and witty, as reflected in numerous phrases and concepts in our language.