The Sea Islands Hurricane of 1893

On August 27, 1893, a massive hurricane struck the coast of South Carolina and Georgia, battering the Sea Islands and Lowcountry through the next morning. Around 2,000 people in the thriving African American community perished that night, and many more died in the coming days and weeks as the impacts of the storm continued to be felt. The Red Cross, led by Clara Barton, organized relief efforts in conjunction with the local communities but with little money, as both the state legislature and the US Congress declined appeals to help.

Joining me to help us understand more about this 1893 hurricane and how it affected the course of South Carolina politics is Dr. Caroline Grego, Assistant Professor of History at Queens University of Charlotte, and author of Hurricane Jim Crow: How the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893 Shaped the Lowcountry South.

Our theme song is Frogs Legs Rag, composed by James Scott and performed by Kevin MacLeod, licensed under Creative Commons. The episode image is: “Black women prepare potatoes for planting, February 1894,” from Clara Barton, The Red Cross, 199; the image is in the public domain.

 

Additional Sources:

• “Remembering the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893: Mermaids, culpability, and the postbellum Lowcountry,” by Caroline Grego, Erstwhile: A History Blog, September 21, 2016.
• “1893 Sea Islands Hurricane,” by Michele Nichole Johnson, New Georgia Encyclopedia.
• “The Sea Island Hurricane of 1893, 4th deadliest in U.S. history,” Eat Stay Play Beaufort.
• “The Great Sea Island Storm of 1893,” By Fran Heyward Bollin, Welcome to Beaufort.
• “The Sea Island Hurricane of 1893,” by Betty Joyce Nash, Economic History, Winter 2006.
• "Black Autonomy, Red Cross Recovery, and White Backlash after the Great Sea Island Storm of 1893," by Caroline Grego, Journal of Southern History, vol. 85 no. 4, 2019, p. 803-840. 
• “Sea Islands Hurricane,” Scribner’s Magazine, February 1894.

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