author

Ambrose Elliott Gonzalez

1857–1926

A newspaper founder, storyteller, and distinctive Lowcountry voice, he helped build The State in South Carolina and became known for writing about Black life in the Gullah region. His career mixed journalism, politics, and regional literature in ways that still make him a notable figure in Southern history.

1 Audiobook

The black border : $b Gullah stories of the Carolina coast (with a glossary)

The black border : $b Gullah stories of the Carolina coast (with a glossary)

by Ambrose Elliott Gonzalez

About the author

Born in Colleton County, South Carolina, in 1857, he was the son of Ambrosio José Gonzales, a Cuban revolutionary who later served the Confederacy, and Harriet Rutledge Elliott, daughter of writer and planter William Elliott. Much of his education happened at home, and as a teenager he worked as a telegraph operator to help support his family during the hard years after the Civil War.

After periods in South Carolina, New York, and New Orleans, he returned to journalism in the 1880s and joined his brother Narciso Gonzales at the Charleston News and Courier. In 1891 the brothers founded The State in Columbia. The paper became known for backing reform causes including opposition to lynching, support for child labor reform, and women's suffrage, while also criticizing the powerful South Carolina politician Benjamin Tillman.

He is also remembered as a writer of regional sketches and stories, especially pieces connected with African American life and Gullah culture in the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry. After Narciso was killed in 1903, he continued to be associated with The State and remained an important South Carolina public figure until his death in 1926.