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Noted African Americans

Learn about noted African Americans, many born in South Carolina, with local and national accomplishments.

Content Type
Columbia All-Stars | History Of SC Slide Collection

Photo

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Columbia All-Stars | History Of SC Slide Collection
Episode 6
The Columbia All-Stars were an African-American professional baseball team. Photo by Walter Livingston Blanchard, ca. 1920. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
A Time To Fight, Part 6 - War In The Sand | South Carolinians In WW II - Episode 6 A Time to Fight, Part 7 7

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A Time to Fight, Part 7
Episode 7
The Tuskegee Airmen were African-American pilots during WWII. Before the war, the Army thought African-Americans could only be used as laborers. African-Americans faced all sorts of prejudice and...
Piano Music During The Civil War Era (Full Version)

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Piano Music During The Civil War Era (Full Version)
Episode 8
The American Civil War shaped every aspect of life in the South, including music. Along with songs and military band music published in the South during the war, a considerable repertoire of solo...
Thomas

Audio

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Thomas "Blind Tom" Wiggins | Walter Edgar's Journal
Episode 1
In this first segment on Civil War piano music, Dr. David B. Thompson briefly discusses the life of African American composer Thomas “Blind Tom” Wiggins, and plays one of his works.
Riverbanks Zoo and Garden | South Carolina Public Radio Rainey, Joseph | South Carolina Public Radio

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Rainey, Joseph | South Carolina Public Radio
“R” is for Rainey, Joseph Hayne [1832-1887]. Congressman. Rainey was born a slave, but his father—a barber—was able to purchase his family's freedom. During the Civil War, he was forced to serve as a...
Evans, Matilda Arabella | South Carolina Public Radio

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  • Higher Education
Evans, Matilda Arabella | South Carolina Public Radio
“E” is for Evans, Matilda Arabella [1872-1935]. Physician. A native of Aiken, Evans attended Schofield Normal and Industrial School, Oberlin College’s preparatory school, and the Women’s Medical...
Sea Pines Company | South Carolina Public Radio Sellers, Cleveland Louis, Jr. | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

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  • Higher Education
Sellers, Cleveland Louis, Jr. | South Carolina Public Radio
“S” is for Sellers, Cleveland Louis, Jr. [b. 1944]. Civil rights activist. Educator. Sellers attended Howard University where he met several student activists, including Stokely Carmichael—later...
Friendship Nine Member Talks About Jail, No Bail | Palmetto Scene Former Slave Elias Hill's Untold Story | Palmetto Scene

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Former Slave Elias Hill's Untold Story | Palmetto Scene
Allison Creek Presbyterian Church Pastor, Sam McGregor, explains, “It’s the greatest story of African American liberation that’s never been told…that centered around the life of Elias Hill, who was a...
Reverend Sarah H. Smith | History of SC Slide Collection

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Reverend Sarah H. Smith | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 132
Reverend Sarah H. Smith (1884-1937) was a Baptist preacher who came to Columbia early in the 20th century from Savannah and organized Bethlehem Baptist Church in 1913 by going from house to house. By...
Robert Smalls | History of SC Slide Collection

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Robert Smalls | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 130
A former slave who became a state legislator and U.S. Congressman, Robert Smalls (1839-1915) was born in Beaufort, and moved with his master to Charleston in 1851. During the Civil War, he was pressed...
Modjeska Monteith Simkins | History of SC Slide Collection

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Modjeska Monteith Simkins | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 129
Modjeska Monteith Simkins (1899-1992) is one of the outstanding civil rights leaders in South Carolina. The oldest of eight children of a bricklayer, she sought education not only for herself, but for...
Richard S. Roberts | History of SC Slide Collection

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Richard S. Roberts | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 124
Richard S. Roberts (1880-1936), a talented photographer, left an enduring film record of Columbia's African-American middle class community during the 1920s and 1930s. This self portrait was taken in...
Matthew J. Perry, Jr. | History of SC Slide Collection

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Matthew J. Perry, Jr. | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 109
Matthew J. Perry (1924-2011 ), Jr., a native South Carolinian, became a noted civil rights attorney for the NAACP; his legal victory on behalf of Harvey Gantt's suit to be admitted to Clemson...
Ron McNair | History of SC Slide Collection

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Ron McNair | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 97
The "Challenger" astronaut Ron McNair (1951-1986) and Governor Richard Riley during a joint session of the South Carolina legislature in the House Chambers on April 11, 1984. McNair, an Air Force...
Benjamin E. Mays | History of SC Slide Collection

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Benjamin E. Mays | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 94
Benjamin E. Mays (1894-1984) was born in Greenwood County, the son of former slaves, and educated at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, and the University of Chicago, where he received his M.A. and Ph...
Dr. Ernest E. Just | Scientific SC

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Dr. Ernest E. Just | Scientific SC
Produced by Darren K. Woodland Jr., 2017 Knowitall.org Spring Semester Intern ​Dr. Ernest E. Just was born in Charleston, S.C. in 1883. He was an African American biologist, teacher, and scholar who...