Rice being harvested on coastal SC plantation
Harvest at Middleton Place part of Lowcountry Rice Culture Forum at sites in Charleston
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) -- The importance of rice to South Carolina's economy and history is one of the topics to be discussed at the Lowcountry Rice Culture Forum.
The forum beginning Thursday includes sessions on cooking rice as well as actual harvesting of rice at Middleton Place Plantation.
A delegation of officials and historians from Guinea in West Africa is also attending. That's an area from which slaves were brought to colonial South Carolina.
The forum is sponsored by the Lowcountry Rice Culture Project formed by noted artist Jonathan Green.
Green, whose colorful Gullah paintings are featured in art collections worldwide, says the forum will focus on the significance of rice in colonial Charleston and serve as a basis for discussions of how race, class, art and history still influence the region today.
