The Voting Rights Act was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson in August of1965. This landmark legislation aimed to eliminate obstacles created by state and local governments to keep African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment (1870) to the Constitution.

Walter Edgar talks with University of South Carolina historians Bobby Donaldson and Patricia Sullivan about the history leading to passage of the Voting Rights Act, and about its impact through the years.

All Stations: Fri, Dec 11, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, Dec 13, 4 pm

  Charleston surgeon Richard Hagerty began painting before medical school honed his eye and hand coordination. He is a self taught artist who draws his surreal, fantastical imagery from dreams, mythology, history, science and stories. He works in a variety of media, including pen and ink, watercolor and oil. Hagerty and art curator Roberta Sokolitz talk with Walter Edgar about his art, his career, and about the new collection of his work, American Surrealist: The Art of Richard Hagerty (Evening Post Books, 2015), and exhibition of Hagerty’s work at the City Gallery at Waterfront Park, Charleston.

All Stations: Fri, Dec 4, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, Dec 6, 4 pm

 In September of 2014, the Violence Policy Center ranked South Carolina second in nation in rate of women killed by men. Their report was release just weeks after Charleston's The Post and Courier newspaper ran a three-week series on criminal domestic violence called “Till Death Do Us Part," which later won the Pulitzer Prize.

Jennifer Hawes was part of The Post & Courier team that reported and wrote the series. She joins Sara Barber, Executive Director of The South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, talk with Walter Edgar about the problem of domestic violence in South Carolina, and what's being done about it.

  Several miles outside of Moncks Corner is, arguably, the most significant extant Revolutionary War site in South Carolina. Fair Lawn Plantation’s Revolutionary War significance stems from historic battles, events, famous people, geographic location, and landscape architecture. Near Stony Landing on Biggin Creek, the fortified Colleton house and separate redoubt fort played a substantial role on many occasions as a post, support base, and hospital.

The Lord Berkeley Conservation Trust and The South Carolina Battleground Preservation Trust are partnering in a project to protect and preserve Fort Fair Lawn. SC Battleground Preservation Trust Director Douglas Bostick talks with Walter Edgar about this site, and some of the other Revolutionary War sites the Trust is working to preserve.

All Stations: Friday, Nov 6, 12 pm | News Stations: Sunday, Nov 8, 4 pm

 The late Ken Burger’s A Sporting Life (Evening Post Books, 2015) is a collection of his best and most requested columns from his legendary career as a sports writer for the Charleston Post & Courier. At the end of each piece is a post script - updating the reader about the person or event. This book resonates with Southerners, who recognize and relate to the locations, mannerisms, and mascots. But, it is universal in its humanity and emotion.

Ken joined Walter Edgar in our studio not long ago for what turned out to be our their last conversation. He talked about the book, his career, and sports.

All Stations: Fri, Oct 23, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, Oct 25, 4 pm

  This week's special Pledge Edition of Walter Edgar's Journal features an encore of segments from Walter's January 16th conversation with South Carolina author Ron Rash.

-- All Stations: Fri, Oct 2, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, Oct 4, 4 pm --

  In 1915, Georgia O'Keeffe radically redefined herself as an artist. Rejecting all she had done before, she found her voice with a series of black and white charcoal drawings she collectively titled, Specials. Her great Charleston friend, Anita Pollitzer, took these drawings, unbeknownst to the artist, and showed them to Alfred Stieglitz (noted American photographer, gallery owner, and promoter of modern art) who proclaimed, "At last, a woman on paper." This was the beginning of one of the most important careers in all of American art.

Will South, of the Columbia Museum of Art, and Dr. Erika Doss, of the University of Notre Dame, talk about O’Keeffe’s life and work, including the Specials, which she created while teaching at Columbia College in 1915 and 1916. They’ll also talk about the ongoing O’Keeffe exhibition at the Museum, Her Carolina Story.

-- All Stations: Fri, Sep 25, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, Sep 27, 4 pm --

    Since the early 1960s the Confederate battle flag had been flying at the South Carolina State House--at first, on the Capitol dome; then, as the result of an NAACP boycott of businesses in the state, it was moved to the Confederate Soldiers monument. On July 10, 2015, as a result of growing public pressure following the shooting deaths of the pastor and eight parishioners of Emanuel A. M. E. Church in Charleston, the flag was removed to a museum.

This week on Walter Edgar's Journal, Dr. Bobby Donaldson, a historian from the University of South Carolina, and Dr. James Cobb, Phinizy Spalding Distinguished Professor of History at the University of Georgia, join Dr. Edgar to look at the history of the battle flag and other Confederate symbols, and at how their meanings have changed over the years. 

All Stations: Fri, Sep 18, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, Sep 20, 4 pm

  South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice Jean Toal is retiring at the end of 2015. First elected to the court in 1988, Toal has served as its chief since 2000. This week on Walter Edgar's Journal, Toal joins Dr, Edgar to talk about her career and about the changes she has helped bring to South Carolina’s court systems. And she gives a preview of her upcoming James Otis Lecture, September 18th.

All Stations: Fri, Sep 11, 12 pm | News Stations: Sun, Sep 13, 4 pm

  Walter Edgar welcomes two old friends to Walter Edgar's Journal this week, Dorothea Benton Frank and Mary Alice Monroe. Monroe talks about her new novel, The Summer’s End (Gallery/Simon & Schuster, 2015), the final installment her Lowcountry Summer trilogy of books. In All the Single Ladies (Harper Collins, 2015), Dorothea Benton Frank again takes us deep into the Lowcountry of South Carolina, where three unsuspecting women are brought together by tragedy and mystery.

--All Stations: Fri, Aug 14, 12 pm; News Stations: Sun, Aug 16, 4pm---