Charleston's real 'Porgy'

To any readers who may have heard of American composer George Gershwin, or indeed anyone who has ever heard the song 'Summertime' (hopefully everyone), I've discovered some really interesting things about the opera Porgy and Bess whilst doing this research on Charleston.

Gershwin's famous opera is based on DuBose Heyward's novel, Porgy, a novel set in 1920s Charleston which traces the lives of poor black Charlestonian's. Neither the play or the opera was performed in Charleston until 1970 because of the racial climate which forbade it.




The main character Porgy is based on the black crippled beggar Sammy Smalls who was arrested in 1924 but later released. I've always been a fan of the songs and overture of Porgy and Bess, which now means more to me having visited and studied the city where it was originally set. And The Jenkins Orphanage Band were the band in Charleston that Heyward describes in his novel (I understand the passage is copyrighted so I cannot produce it here).

I've also just learnt that the song 'Summertime' is actually about the feelings of the survivors from the devastating hurricane of 1911.

After world war one, when the rest of the nation was busy building themselves as modern progressive cities, Charleston was alone in the South for wanting to look backwards and preserve its past. The city has always been proud of its heritage, and is willing to accept, and publicize, the large part it played in the slave trade. Walking past the swaying palmetto trees on the seafront and the rich southern planters homes, and comparing them to the rundown parts of Harleston village and the derelict county jail next to the original home of the orphans, you can almost see Sammy begging on the side of the street with his goat cart, and see the disgust of former slave owners adjusting to a world in which cotton and rice were no longer king.
.

The county jail:

Below: a few examples of southern planter homes

And, seeing as we're talking about Heyward, he is coincidentally a descendant of one of only four South Carolinian signers of the Declaration of Independence (Thomas Heyward Jr.). Joseph and I signed a version of the document in the 'Old Provost and Exchange' building, and also got to dress up, which I suspect was really an activity for small children. So naturally, photographic evidence was needed.