Meet Eartha Kitt – Actress, Activist and Superstar

​In our continued celebration of Women’s History Month GaffneyLewis LLC is proud to shine the light on Eartha Kitt (born Eartha Mae Keith; January 17, 1927 – December 25, 2008). Kitt was an American singer, actress, dancer, voice actress, comedienne, activist, author, and songwriter.

Hailing from North, South Carolina, Kitt played Cat Woman on the final season of Batman; and her beautiful, growly voice is the one we hear on the original Christmas favorite, “Santa Baby.”

Kitt was an activist. She spoke publicly against the Vietnam War.  For many years, she fought for LGBTQ rights. She also started the Kittsville Youth Foundation and Rebels with a Cause, which were non-profit organizations focused on helping underprivileged youths who worked together to clean up depressed parts of Los Angeles (Watts) and Washington, D.C. (Anacostia) and establish recreation areas for the youth in these areas.

Said Kitt,

 “We’re all rejected people, we know what it is to be refused, we know what it is to be oppressed, depressed, and then, accused, and I am very much cognizant of that feeling.  Nothing in the world is more painful than rejection.  I am a rejected, oppressed person, and so I understand them, as best as I can, even though I am a heterosexual.”

She accomplished much in her life and was generous in her support of others, but it is Kitt’s sense of empathy and acceptance that makes her a superstar.

March is Women’s History Month commemorating and encouraging the study, observance and celebration of the vital role of women in American history. As a South Carolina women-owned, ethnically diverse law firm, GaffneyLewis, LLC is proud to shine the light on some of the women who blazed the trail before them.

Meet Augusta Baker

Augusta Braxton Baker was a pioneer for black librarianship.

She was the first black person to earn a B.S. in library and information studies from SUNY Albany. Baker spent most of her career working in the New York Public Library system (37 years) in many roles, including Children’s librarian, storytelling specialist, assistant coordinator of children’s services, and coordinator of children’s services. 

During her career she became the first African American Coordinator of Children’s Services for all 82 libraries within the New York Public Library system. In this role, and throughout her career, Baker worked to diversify the genre of children’s literature and to make books for young readers more reflective of the young people who read them. 

Baker’s love of books extended into writing. As an author, she wrote “Books about Negro Life for Children” (later renamed “The Black Experience in Children’s Books”), the first extensive bibliography of children’s books that featured positive black role models.

In 1980, after a remarkable career, Augusta Baker moved to Columbia, South Carolina. She became the University of South Carolina’s storyteller-in-residence. She served in this role for 14 years, continuing to influence the youth of South Carolina and beyond.

Augusta Baker died on February 23, 1998. Truly an innovator, her life’s work lives on through the Augusta Baker Collection of Children’s Literature and Folklore and the “Baker’s Dozen: A Celebration of Stories,” which is an annual storytelling festival sponsored by the School of Library and Information Science, College of Information and Communications, and the Richland Library. The University of South Carolina School of Information Science also established the Augusta Baker Endowed Chair in her honor.

Well done, Augusta Braxton Baker, well done.

GaffneyLewis is proud to be the Production Sponsor of PURE Theatre’s virtual production of, “Satchmo at the Waldorf,” streaming on demand from December 17 through January 2.

It’s 1971, and the greatest trumpet player in the world has just finished a set at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. Now at the end of his career, Louis Armstrong reflects back on his life and the ever-evolving struggle to live with dignity as a Black musician in a White world. Based on the 2009 biography written by playwright Terry Teachout, Satchmo at the Waldorf is an intimate exploration of Armstrong’s life, legacy, and—above all—jazz.

Since 2003, the ensemble actors of Charleston’s acclaimed PURE Theatre have built a solid reputation for artistic excellence in provocative contemporary theatre. The 20 professional actors comprising the Core Ensemble are the soul of PURE’s work. Serving a sophisticated and diverse audience with a taste for new work, PURE presents a compelling six-play season between August and June. Endeavoring annually to outdo what was accomplished in years past, PURE continually makes three promises to its audience:

• To always tell a story worth listening to
• To only pursue excellence
• To always gift the audience something to talk about

The company has been lauded for coupling artistic risk-taking with a passionate commitment to addressing the important and often hilarious challenges of being human in the world today, yesterday, and tomorrow.

See the PURE website: www.puretheatre.org for details about the production and tickets.

November 2, 2020 – GaffneyLewis LLC is pleased to announce that Emmanuel Ferguson has joined the firm as an attorney in the firm’s Charleston office.

In addition to private practice experience, Ferguson served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Charleston location of the United States Attorney’s Office where he litigated cases before the U.S. District court judges and juries. Ferguson worked as an assistant solicitor in the Charleston County Solicitor’s Office, and he was recently appointed by Charleston City Council as a municipal judge. Ferguson is a graduate of the College of Charleston and the Charleston School of Law.

“We are so pleased to have Emmanuel join the firm and know that he will be an asset to our team and our clients,” said Robert Blain, managing partner of the Charleston office.

Ferguson will focus his practice in the areas of tort law and personal injury, primarily representing businesses in cases across the state of South Carolina.

Three GaffneyLewis LLC Partners Named to The Best Lawyers in America® 2021

GaffneyLewis LLC is pleased to announce that partners Amy L. Gaffney, Regina Hollins Lewis, and Randi Lynn Roberts have been selected for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America©2021.

Recognition by practice areas include:

Amy Gaffney (since 2012)

• Employment Law – Individuals
• Employment Law – Management
• Litigation – Labor and Employment

Regina Hollins Lewis

• Mediation

Randi Lynn Roberts

• Commercial Litigation

Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers® has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers lists are compiled based on an exhaustive peer-review evaluation. For the 2021 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America©, 9.4 million votes were analyzed, which resulted in more than 67,000 leading lawyers being included in the new edition.