Preserving Charleston's Past, Shaping its Future The Life and Times of Susan Pringle Frost (review)

plexities ofNewbold better than has been done heretofore, but I believe the full complexity of this reformer and his evolving views on the education of African Americans has yet to be developed. The Newbold who tries to convince country superintendents in 1914 to 1916 to hireJeanes teachers is not the same Newbold who suggests in 1928 to 1932 that federal aid be used to redress the balance between white and black schools, or that iflawsuits are necessary to force localities to provide for their black schools, it is preferable for the state rather than the NAACP to bring such suits. James Leloudis has opened die door to what can be done when a sophisticated study is made ofpublic schoolingwidiin a state, and at the same time, his work suggests several new avenues to be pursued. We can hope that Leloudis will follow up this work and pursue some of those avenues himself. Preserving Charleston's Past, Shaping its Future The Life and Times of Susan Pringle Frost By Sidney R. Bland Contributions in American Studies, No. 105 Greenwood Press, 1994 256 pages. Cloth, $49.95 Reviewed by W. Fltzhugh Brundage, National Humanities Center, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. Susan Pringle Frost's legacy is pervasive in Charleston, South Carolina. Millions of tourists have strolled dirough the city's preserved neighborhoods, admiring their elegance and charm. As a founder of and force in the early preservation movement, Frost contributed mightily to making Charleston what it is today. Sidney R. Bland's biography of Frost is a welcome addition to the history ofmodern Charleston and South Carolina. Indeed, Bland's book belongs beside Walter J. Fraser's Charleston! Charleston! as an essential guide to the modern history of the city. Even when Frost's life (1873—1960) is shorn of details, it remains noteworthy. A descendant of prominent Charleston families, Frost was born into a world where family networks dictated one's opportunities and standing. She grew up amidst faded gentility; her family, although by no means rich, retained die houses , furniture, and social privileges acquired by richer ancestors. Her formal education was appropriate to her gender and class and ended with a stint in a girls boarding school in North Carolina. She returned to Charleston in 1891 and enReviews ? 1 1 joyed for two years the charmed life for which she had been prepared. Her family 's bankruptcy, however, propelled her out of her comfortable routine and into the unfamiliar role of career woman. After acquiring secretarial skills and working as the personal secretary to the chief architect of the South Carolina Interstate and West Indian Exposition of 1901 to 1902, Frost became a U.S. District Court Stenographer. For the next sixteen years she traveled the state, recording testimony and court proceedings, and earning an adequate salary despite galling discrimination because of her sex. While pursuing a career, Frost also threw herself into civic activities. She joined other women of her class and pedigree in various women's voluntary associations . She especially was committed to such "social housekeeping" as public healtii and city beautification campaigns. Her family connections enabled her to exert influence even at a time when women lacked the right to vote. Simultaneously , her experiences as stenographer and club woman made her increasingly sensitive to gender discrimination, and by 1914 Frost had risen to the presidency of the Equal Suffrage League of Charleston. Frost's career as a suffragist carried her across the spectrum of suffragist organizations , from the National American Woman Suffrage Association to the Congressional Union and finally to die National Woman's Party. Her social prestige, personality, and earnestness, rather than any administrative skills, explain her rapid rise within the movement. Although she spoke widely on behalfofsuffrage her efforts failed to sway South Carolina's senators (who voted against women's suffrage in 1919). Even so, Frost was profoundly gratified when die Nineteenth Amendment was ratified in 1920. Yet afterwards, when many ofher friends in the suffrage movement remained active in politics, Frost became more of a cheerleader than an activist. Her focus instead shifted to the buying, selling, and preservation of Charleston's past. Frost began to dabble in real estate in 1909. During...