Millen Ellis papers, 1962-2005.

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Millen Ellis papers, 1962-2005.

http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/79480147

Letters, postcards, photographs and ephemera documenting Ellis' career as a teacher in Beaufort, S.C., his active involvement with the Anderson Literary Society, and his impact on the lives of his students, many of whom continued to correspond with Ellis long after graduation. Topics include desegregation / integration of public schools in Beaufort, S.C., during the 1960s, including a letter [ca. 1965] written by Ellis describing a tense school year as Beaufort High School teachers rode the buses to prevent potential violence between newly integrated students, "There were 27 Negroes on my bus and I had no incidents. Seven white women ganged up on Gene (Norris) because their children had to stand. Actually there were seats; they just didn't want to sit with the Negroes. My Negro children were cleaner and dressed better than the white children.... One white mother told my driver and me she would beat her children half to death if they touched a Negro but I noticed on Thursday her children were telling the Negro girls goodbye." Among the primary correspondents in the collection is Gene Norris, who also taught English at Beaufort High School. Norris was a mentor to Pat Conroy and model for the fictional character Ogden Loring in Conroy's novel, The Great Santini. An early supporter of civil rights, Norris befriended the first black student to enter Beaufort High School in 1965. He included this young man in many group activities, helping to break the color barrier in several Beaufort institutions. Correspondents include: novelist Pat Conroy; Alexia Hellsley (archivist, historian, and author); Bruce Gandy (former student with rank of Chief of Staff Marine Forces South who joined the Marines in 1977; also a commanders during the Kosovo exercise. These letters are especially noteworthy for their exotic locales and descriptions of life abroad in Chile, Spain, and elsewhere); Dr. Harry Bayne (Professor of English at Brewton-Parker College and expert on works of S.C. novelist, Henry Bellamann); Ruth Ilg (artist and poet of Asheville, N.C., and Lake Constance, Germany); and Tharin Williamson (poet). Other correspondents include authors John S. Bayne, Pat Grice, Brabham McKinney, Francis Mims, and Valerie Sayers, architect Evan Mann, educator James Wiggins, musicologist Brooks Kuykendall, artist Daisy Youngblood, and longtime director of Beaufort County library services Julie Zachowski.

2.5 linear ft. (2 cartons)

University of South Carolina, System Library Service, University Libraries

Information

SNAC Resource ID: 8234294

University of South Carolina, System Library Service, University Libraries

Related Entities

There are 15 Entities related to this resource.

Helsley, Alexia Jones

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6931jk8 (person)

McKinney, Jean Brabham

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ng5gc5 (person)

Bayne, Harry McBrayer, 1955-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6kh1d12 (person)

Gandy, Bruce A., 1951-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w68p6rch (person)

Anderson Literary Society (S.C.)

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w65b4w77 (corporateBody)

Mann, Evan Steele

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60g49tn (person)

Youngblood, Daisy, 1945-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60g4b8w (person)

Ellis, Millen

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6ms4jh6 (person)

Educator and poet of S.C.; teacher of English at Beaufort High School (S.C.), beginning in 1962; T.L. Hanna High School (Anderson, S.C.); and at Dixie High School (Due West, S.C.) from 1979-1996; graduate of Erskine College, Erskine Seminary, and Florida State University; native of Due West (Abbeville County, S.C.) From the description of Millen Ellis papers, 1962-2005. (University of South Carolina). WorldCat record id: 79480147 ...

Williamson, Tharin

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6df7gt7 (person)

Kuykendall, James Brooks, 1975-

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w60s0f6t (person)

Mims, Francis Larkin Flynn

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66q2pbf (person)

Ilg, Ruth Merkle

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w66h57w9 (person)

Sayers, Valerie.

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6v990gc (person)

Conroy, Patricia

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6zk5gtt (person)

Pat Conroy was born on October 26, 1945, in Atlanta, Georgia, to a young career military officer from Chicago and a Southern beauty from Alabama, whom Pat often credits for his love of language. He was the first of seven children. His father was a violent and abusive man, a man whose biggest mistake, Conroy once said, was allowing a novelist to grow up in his home. Since his family had to move many times to different military bases around the South, Conroy changed schools frequently, finally att...

Norris, Gene

http://n2t.net/ark:/99166/w6543d19 (person)