Buies Creek—Dr. Lloyd Johnson, professor of history at Campbell University, has reviewed a book for the Georgia Historical Quarterly on African American life in South Carolina. The book is titled, “African American Life in South Carolina’s Upper Piedmont, 1780-1900” by W.J. Megginson.“Megginson has produced a meticulously researched study of African American life in an area known as the Pendleton District, which later evolved into Oconee, Pickens and Anderson counties in the upper Piedmont,” Johnson said. “Because of the close proximity of these counties to the Georgia border, this study should also engage Georgia readers who have an interest in African American history.”Johnson goes on to say that this is the first extensive African-American rural community study that reflects how the majority of African Americans lived in rural areas throughout the American South. Relying on oral histories, church records, private papers, account books, tax lists, newspaper stories and state and federal records, Megginson presents a portrait of a stable community that thrived for over 100 years in the region. Most whites who settled in the Pendleton District were Scots-Irish descent and few owned slaves during the antebellum period. Despite the disparity of records, 68 free people of color lived in the Pendleton District in 1800.A native of Harnett County, Johnson received a bachelor’s degree in history and a Master of Education in Guidance and Counseling from Campbell University. He earned a master’s degree in history from East Carolina University and a Ph.D. in American history from the University of South Carolina. Johnson is the author of “The Frontier in the Colonial South: South Carolina Backcountry 1736-1800.” His reviews of more than a dozen history books have appeared in numerous professional journals.
Johnson reviews book for the Georgia Historical Quarterly