Eliza Lucas Pinckney (1722–1793) revolutionized Colonial American agriculture by successfully cultivating commercial indigo dye production in South Carolina. She was a teenager at the time, entrusted by her father with the management of his Lowcountry plantations. At 21, Eliza married widower Charles Pinckney, and their sons, Thomas and Charles Cotesworth, played distinguished roles in the founding of the new American Republic.
Eliza Lucas Pinckney became the first woman inducted into the South Carolina Business Hall of Fame in 1989, and in 2008, she was also inducted into the official South Carolina Hall of Fame.Pinckney’s legacy as an entrepreneurial innovator and challenger of societal norms is brought to life in Natasha Boyd’s historical novel The Indigo Girl.According to the Charleston Post and Courier, the novel “breathes new life into an absorbing true account of one of South Carolina’s preeminent historical figures. Eliza Lucas Pinckney’s empowering story of persistence and autonomy in defiance of societal and familial expectations makes for imperative reading at a time when disenfranchised voices are powerfully coming to the fore, invigorating new dialogues about the future of our democracy and unwilling to be silenced.”
Southern Livingwrites, ”If you love historical fiction, this book should be on your reading list.”
Natasha Boyd will discuss her novelization of the life of the iconic South Carolinian Eliza Lucas Pinckney on Sunday, January 13, at 5:00 p.m. Free and open to the public, this program will be presented at and in partnership with First Presbyterian Church of Hilton Head Island (540 William Hilton Parkway). A book signing will follow the author’s presentation.
Internationally acclaimed and USA Todaybest-selling writer Natasha Boyd’s debut novel Everseawas a finalist in the 2013 Winter Rose Contest for Contemporary Romance and won the 2014 Digital Book Award for Adult Fiction. She is a member of the Hilton Head Island Writer’s Network.
Part of the Pat Conroy Literary Center’s Visiting Writers Series, this program is sponsored in part by South Carolina Humanities, a not-for-profit organization; inspiring, engaging and enriching South Carolinians with programs on literature, history, culture and heritage.
The nonprofit Pat Conroy Literary Center is South Carolina’s first affiliate of the American Writers Museum and second American Library Association Literary Landmark. Through its interpretive center, year-round educational programs, and annual literary festival, the Conroy Center preserves and continues the literary legacy of Pat Conroy (1945–2016) as a teacher, mentor, advocate, and friend to readers and writers alike. The Conroy Center is located at 905 Port Republic Street in downtown Beaufort, open to the public from noon to 4:00 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. To learn more, please visit www.patconroyliterarycenter.org.
