05-04-2023
Episode 30: Southern Author Josie Olsvig
Today's episode is with Southern Author Josie Olsvig discussing the Gullah Culture and her two newly published books.
Guest Bio & Links:
Josie Olsvig is a new Southern author who lives in the Sea Islands of Beaufort, South Carolina. In the past year, she has published two books on the Gullah culture of West African slave descendants living in the Coastal Carolinas. Her children’s book entitled Growing Up Gullah in the Lowcountry has been well received and is available through the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, and other local vendors. Her historical novel, Gullah Tears, The Enslaved Souls of Charleston, was released in November 2020 and is set in antebellum Charleston, South Carolina. It is currently being adapted for a miniseries.
In her prior life, Josie was an attorney and social worker who spent her career addressing child abuse, domestic violence, sexual assault, and human trafficking. Her call to service was spurred by early life experiences growing up in poverty in the inner city. Josie experienced a great deal of hardship, strife, and violence and subsequently felt called to serve others. Josie was challenged to change her life circumstances and put herself through undergraduate and graduate school, where she gained degrees in social work and law. (BA Social Work, Wright State; MSSW University of Louisville, JD Hofstra Law) She also studied public administration and public policy at the London School of Economics. She was subsequently barred in multiple jurisdictions and admitted to the U.S. Supreme Court. Before her retirement, Josie wrote legal articles on social and child welfare issues.
After moving to the South from the Midwest, Josie became deeply interested in the Gullah culture and race-based slavery. After a career fighting injustice, Josie chose to put pen to paper and focus on one of the greatest injustices of all time, slavery in the Antebellum South. After publishing her first two books, she has begun to write articles for local and regional websites, blogs, and the Modern African Diaspora Experience Museum located in Dayton, Ohio.
Josie Olsvig's Social Media:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Josie-Olsvig-Author-106661331462930
Instagram:
@josieolsvig
Website:
www.josieolsvig.com
Links to Josie Olsvig's Books and more information on topics discussed in the interview:
Children's book link on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Growing-Gullah-Lowcountry-Josie-Olsvig/dp/1641114029/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=olsvig&qid=1613188742&s=books&sr=1-1
Historical Fiction Novel: https://www.amazon.com/Gullah-Tears-Enslaved-Souls-Charleston/dp/1646631463/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=olsvig&qid=1613188804&s=books&sr=1-2
Artist Jonathan Green products on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=jonathan+green+art&i=stripbooks&crid=PCNZY1O713P7&sprefix=jonathan+green%2Cstripbooks%2C197&ref=nb_sb_ss_ts-doa-p_7_14
Jonathan Green primary website: http://www.jonathangreenstudios.com/
More information about sweetgrass baskets: https://www.thecharlestoncitymarket.com/main/sweetgrass-baskets
Charleston City Market where sweetgrass baskets are available: https://www.facebook.com/ChasCityMarket
Corey Alston, a Charleston entrepreneur, comes from a long family line of sweetgrass basket makers. He is probably the preeminent basket maker and Lowcountry photographer. Here is his Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/sweetgrassbasket/
Book, Gullah Culture in America by Wilbur Cross and Emory Shaw Campbell: https://www.amazon.com/Gullah-Culture-America-Wilbur-Cross/dp/089587573X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Gullah+Culture+in+America&qid=1613189732&s=books&sr=1-1
