Monthly Archives: July 2019

Dr. Portia, Part 2

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Peter McKnight, Portia’s father, showed Alexis the cotton fields on the McKnight plantation. Graciously, the McKnights invited Alexis to study cotton hybridization at their property instead of going to the Durham plantation in Winnsboro as was the original plan.

At the first meal that Alexis shared with the McKnights, fried chicken was served. When asked if he like fried chicken, Alexis replied, “I have heard the wonders of this fried chicken, southern style… but I have not yet tried it.” After the meal was finished, Alexis was asked what he thought of the dish. His response: “I am more than not disappointed!”

During that summer of 1907, Alexis experimented with cotton hybridization, but also fell in love with Portia McKnight.

Dr. Portia, Part 1

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The screenplay, Dr. Portia, that  I co-wrote with Alexia Lucas, Dr. Portia’s great-granddaughter, won Best Screenplay at the Northeast Mountain Film Festival in Dillard, Georgia, on June 15. https://northeastmountainfilmfestival.com/

I had a wonderful time and was so proud to be a part of telling Portia’s story.

Portia McKnight Lubchenco, from Blythewood, South Carolina, was the first female graduate of the North Carolina School of Medicine in 1912. She had applied to the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston, but was rejected because she was a woman.

In 1907, she met Russian agronomist, Alexis Lubchenco, at the railway station in Ridgeway, South Carolina. Portia and her father, Peter, were there to collect the mail that had arrived on the four o’clock train from Columbia. Alexis was in the United States to study cotton hybridization on behalf of Czar Nicholas II, and had missed his train connection to Winnsboro, SC.

Portia and her father offered help to this lonley stranger. That evening, he accompanied them to their home and met the entire McKnight family. The story will continue…

Millie West wins Best Screenplay at the Northeast Mountain Film Festival

Millie West wins Best Screenplay at the Northeast Mountain Film Festival