FMU to host symposium on civil rights legacy of former Gov. McNair

FLORENCE — Noted South Carolina historian and ETV radio personality Walter Edgar will headline Francis Marion University’s first McNair Center Symposium on Thursday and Friday.

The two-day symposium, the purpose of which is to analyze the role of the former governor in the civil rights movement, is sponsored by the Robert E. McNair Center for History and Government located on the FMU campus.

“With its focus on teaching, research and outreach, the Center provides an ideal platform for the symposium. We are honored to recognize the contributions of this highly respected and truly extraordinary leader,” FMU President Dr. Fred Carter said in a press release issued by the university.

SYMPOSIUM SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Thursday
- 6 to 6:30 p.m.m Chapman Auditorium, McNair Science Building
Opening Comments and Introduction of Keynote Speaker by Dr. Fred Carter, President of Francis Marion University
- 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., Chapman Auditorium, McNair Science Building
Keynote Address, “Robert McNair and the Art of Governance” Professor Walter Edgar
- 7:45 to 9 p.m., Wallace House
Reception hosted by Dr. Fred and Folly Carter, FMU president and first lady

Friday:
- 10 to 11:30 a.m., Thomason Auditorium, Lee Nursing Building
“Robert McNair, Education and Civil Rights”
Panelists: U.S. Senior District Judge Matthew J. Perry Jr., Phil Gross
Moderator: Former S.C. governor Jim Hodges
- 11:45 a.m. to 1:15 p.m., The Cottage
Lunch with guest speaker
- 1:30 to 3 p.m., Thomason Auditorium, Lee Nursing Building
“Robert McNair, Leadership and Civil Rights”
Panelists: Merle Black, Earl Black and Edgar Dyer
Moderator: Former S.C. governor Jim Hodges
- 3:15 to 3:30 p.m., Thomason Auditorium, Lee Nursing Building
Closing comments

Organizers of the symposium and co-directors of the Robert E. McNair Center for Government and History Scott Kaufman and Alissa Warters said the focus of the civil rights symposium will be two-fold: leadership and education.

Edgar was born and reared in Mobile, Ala. He received an AB degree from Davidson College and master’s degree and doctorate from the University of South Carolina. After serving two years in the U.S. Army — including a tour with an advisory team in Quang Tri Province, Vietnam — he returned to USC as a Post-Doctoral Fellow of the National Historical Publications Commission. In 1972, at the conclusion of the fellowship, he joined the History Department at USC and by 1982 was a full professor. He was the founder and first director of the History Department’s acclaimed Public History Program. In 1980, Edgar was named the director of the Institute for Southern Studies.

Since 2000, he has been the host of two popular weekly programs heard statewide on South Carolina ETV-Radio: “Walter Edgar’s Journal,” a look at contemporary events in context, and “Southern Read,” his reading of some of the best contemporary Southern fiction. In addition, he responds to numerous requests from local, regional, national, and international media for commentary on the state and region.
Edgar is the holder of three named professorships: the Claude Henry Neuffer Professor of Southern Studies, the George Washington Distinguished Professor of History and the Louise Fry Scudder Professor of Liberal Arts.