12 www.CharlestonWomenPodcast.com | www.ReadCW.com | www.Instagram.com/CharlestonWomen Extraordinary ELIZABETH MATTHEWS HEYWARD AND LOIS HALL During the British occupation of Charleston from May 12, 1780, until Dec. 14, 1782, Charleston’s population was divided in half between loyalists and patriots, many of whom were arrested and sent to St. Augustine for imprisonment. One such nationalist was Thomas Heyward, Jr., a signer of the Declaration of Independence. His wife Elizabeth Matthews Heyward and her pregnant sister Lois Hall (whose husband had also been arrested) were left behind with their children in the house at 87 Church St. on the embattled peninsula. Under British rule, an illumination decree was established, requiring Charleston residents to place a lit candle in their windows in celebration of Redcoat victories near and far. When news of a win in North Carolina arrived, Heyward refused to light candles and place them in the windows. Soon came a knock at the door from a soldier, demanding Heyward comply with the ordinance. However, Heyward stood firm. When she was informed of the next British triumph, she did not illuminate again. On this occasion — according to historian and board member of the Charleston Tour Association Lee Ann Bain — a mob of royalists convened on the house, threw trash at its walls, smashed the windows with bats and broke down the door. During the siege, Hall was in the throes of giving birth and whether from pain, fear or a combination of both, tragically, she died. When soldiers came to the house the next day offering to make repairs to the property, Heyward turned them away since they had known there were two women alone in the house, yet they had done nothing to ward off the rioters. Because of her bravery and conviction throughout the occupation, Heyward was given the title “Queen of Love and Beauty” by George Washington at a ball in Philadelphia, where she moved to reconvene with her husband who had been freed but was banned from Charleston. SEPTIMA P. CLARK Nearly a century later, just after the Civil War ended in 1865, the Avery school on Bull Street in downtown Charleston was established as a private institution for educating Black teachers. In 1955, the school closed when students transferred to state-funded Burke High School. The building remained empty until 1980 when the College of Charleston partnered with the community Feature Eras of Extraordinary Lowcountry Women Well-behaved women rarely make history BY SARAH ROSE PHOTOS PROVIDED BY CHARLESTON WALKING TOURS
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