Believe it or not, there is no standardized design for the South Carolina state flag. There are, however, historical versions which vary from period to period. And there are countless variations on shirts, decals, caps, sweatshirts – each manufacturer creates its own version.

Last year, the state legislature created a committee to come up with recommendations for a standard flag designs. On this week’s episode of The Journal, two members of that committee, Walter Edgar and Dr. Eric Emerson, head of the state’s Department of Archives and History, explore the history of the flag and its various versions.

January and February gave us the State of the Union address and the State of the State address – important stuff. But, for a Southerner, there are specific, important areas of life in these United States that these addresses didn't cover – areas that we need to check on once in a while. So, in early 2019, what is the State of Southern Cuisine?

Is it still making inroads in the food ways of other sections of the country? Are chain restaurants affecting what people in the South call ‘Southern Food?’ Who is innovating Southern Cuisine while staying true to traditions?

To find out, Walter Edgar talks with Hanna Raskin, Food Editor and Chief Critic for Charleston’s Post & Courier newspaper; and, Melissa Hall, Managing Director of the Southern Foodways Alliance, a member-supported organization based at the University of Mississippi’s Center for the Study of Southern Culture.

All Stations: Fri, Feb 15, 2019, 12 pm | News & Talk Stations: Sun, Feb 17, 4 pm

With recent controversies over the use of trade tariffs by the United States, it might be a good time to take a look back at the history of their use. It’s a complicated, often fraught history. In fact, friction between the North and South over tariffs in the early 19th century almost launched the Civil War, 30 years “early.”

Dr. James C. Cobb, B. Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor Emeritus in the History of the American South, University of Georgia, talks with Walter Edgar about the way tariffs have been used by the U. S. from 1789 to the 20th century, and the consequences of those uses.

All Stations: Fri, Feb 01, 2019, 12 pm | News & Talk Stations: Sun, Feb 03, 4 pm

Four years before the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Brown v. Board of Education, a federal judge in Charleston hatched his secret plan to end segregation in America. Julius Waties Waring was perhaps the most unlikely civil rights hero in history. An eighth-generation Charlestonian, the son of a Confederate veteran and scion of a family of slave owners, Waring was appointed to the federal bench in the early days of World War II.

Faced with a growing demand for equal rights from black South Carolinians, and a determined and savvy NAACP attorney named Thurgood Marshall, Waring did what he thought was right: He followed the law, and the United States Constitution. In fact, he helped guide Marshall down a narrow legal path that led to the end of segregation schools.

Brian Hicks talks with Walter Edgar about Waring’s plan, and about his life, in the new book, In Darkest South Carolina: J. Waties Waring and the Secret Plan that Sparked a Civil Rights Movement (2017, Post and Courier Books).

All Stations: Fri, Jan 25, 2019, 12 pm | News & Talk Stations: Sun, Jan 27, 4 pm

The film producer, actor, and Columbia Native Julian Adams joins Walter Edgar to talk about his new film, The Last Full Measure, and to talk about his journey into the world of filmmaking. Adam’s previous features include Phantom (2013) and Amy Cook: The Spaces in Between (2009).

The Last Full Measure tells the true story of William Pitsenbarger (Jeremy Irvine), an Air Force medic who saved over sixty men in one of the harshest battles of the Vietnam War. Offered the chance to escape on the last helicopter out of the combat zone, Pitsenbarger stayed behind to save and defend the lives of his fellow soldiers. Twenty years later, Pitsenbarger's comrade in arms (William Hurt) and father (Christopher Plummer) seek the help of investigator Scott Huffman (Sebastian Stan) and other surviving veterans of the battle to finally procure him The Congressional Medal of Honor he deserved.

All Stations: Fri, Jan 18, 2019, 12 pm | News & Talk Stations: Sun, Jan 20, 4 pm

This week's program is an encore of an episode aired in 2012, featuring T. Moffatt Burriss. Burriss was a former Columbia area contractor, Republican state lawmaker and American World War II battlefield hero. He died January 4, 2019 at age 99.  

(Broadcast 06/29/12) - Anderson native T. Moffatt Burris is a WWII veteran and concentration camp liberator who also participated in the invasions of Sicily and Italy. During Operation Market Garden in Holland, he led the amphibious assault across the Waal River made famous in the movie, A Bridge Too Far. Burriss is the subject of the upcoming ETV special Man and Moment: T. Moffatt Burriss and the Crossing. He joins Dr. Edgar, State newspaper reporter Jeff Wilkinson, and documentary producer Lee Ann Kornegay, to talk about the war and about making the film.

• Watch the film, Man and Moment: T. Moffatt Burriss and the Crossing

All Stations: Fri, Jan 11, 2019, 12 pm | News & Talk Stations: Sun, Jan 13, 4 pm