And I’m Glad: An Oral History of Edisto Island

And I’m Glad: An Oral History of Edisto Island explores the island’s history through the eyes and in the voices of two Edisto farmers, Sam Gadsden and Bubberson Brown, who grew up, labored, raised families, and made their lives on the island. These narratives, tracing the arrival of the first black pioneers, the subsequent slave culture during the 1800s, the difficulties of Reconstruction, to the Edisto of the twentieth century, document both the African-American legacy of the island and the personal struggles of two black men. Overcoming the unpredictability of the Lowcountry’s weather, such as the historic Hurricane of 1893 and subsequent storms, the hardships of Depression-era America, and the double standards of a pre-Civil Rights South, Gadsden and Brown detail triumphant lives full of service, hard work, good humor, and faith.