Professor of History Emeritus, Dr. Philip Racine of the humanities department, has been nominated to receive a Governor’s Award in the Humanities as part of the 2025 South Carolina Awards. This award program was established in 1991, celebrating the Palmetto State’s humanities academics and advocates. He will be recognized and awarded on Oct. 16 in the 34th annual ceremony for his academic and cultural achievements.
According to Tiye A. Barnes, the communications director for South Carolina Humanities, the award recognizes exceptional achievement in the field.
“The Governor’s Awards recognize outstanding achievement in humanities research, teaching, and scholarship; institutional and individual participation in helping communities in South Carolina better understand our cultural heritage or ideas and issues related to the humanities; excellence in defining South Carolina’s cultural life to the nation or world; and exemplary support for public humanities programs,” Barnes said in her press release.
Now a retired professor, Racine fondly remembers his time teaching college students.
“One of my former students nominated me for this, and low and behold, I never expected this to happen but I was chosen as one of the four selected,” Racine said.
Not only is Racine a former professor, but an author of multiple books as well, including “Spartanburg County: a Pictorial History”, “Living a Big War in a Small Place: Spartanburg, South Carolina” and “During the Confederacy”. He has also written introductions and edited other similar publications.
Racine is particularly interested in Spartanburg’s pre-Civil War and Civil War eras, thus they are the subjects of most of his works. His fascination with these complex periods in history inspired him to write about them.
“I found great stuff that not only pertained to Spartanburg, but to the South as a whole, and even to the nation as a whole. So I edited a lot of those documents and published them as well as publishing some aspects of local history illustrating how Spartanburg fit into and led the state,” Racine said.
Learning about human experiences connects the past to the present, offering different perspectives to every reader.
“The humanities are not only good for a person’s growth and career, but especially good to grant people knowledge about what their leisure life may be like, for example, to broaden their perspectives about art and other forms of culture,” Racine said.
Racine’s favorite publication is “Piedmont Farmer: The Journals of David Golightly Harris”, which covers his own experiences, living through the confederacy and the ways the journal became his friend.
Racine remains a beloved Wofford legacy, cherished for his academic and intellectual achievements, as well as his eye for keeping stories alive. Racine emphasizes the importance of treasuring and protecting lived experiences so that they are never erased.
It is the teaching of history and the humanities that encourages students to look at the past and consider how different the modern day is. These books serve to educate students as well as honor those whose stories are being highlighted.
The luncheon and ceremony at which Racine will receive the award will be held at the Pastides Alumni Center in Columbia, SC on Thursday, Oct. 16 at 11:30 a.m.
Table sponsorships are available now and individual tickets will go on sale after Sept. 1. To learn more about this event, call 803-771-2477.
