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Victoria Way DeLee, Courtesy of Modern Political Collection, USC Considered a grass roots activist, Victoria Way DeLee's fervent faith in God and her early childhood experiences fueled her involvement...
Noted African Americans
Learn about noted African Americans, many born in South Carolina, with local and national accomplishments.
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In 1947 Judge J. Waties Waring's monumental ruling in the George Elmore suit (Elmore v. Rice) eliminated the all-white Democratic primary system in South Carolina. For the first time since 1876, the...
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Dr. Albert N. Thompson is shown as a young teacher instructing a 4th grade class in Richland County. Photo courtesy of Cecil Williams. In September 1944, Thompson, who was then teaching at Booker T...
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John Wesley Stroman was a student leader at SC State during the student protests. Cleveland Sellers has erroneously been identified as the leader of the students at South Carolina State when it was...
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Born in Sumter, and reared in Columbia, the Honorable Willie T. Smith was at the forefront of the civil rights movement in South Carolina. He served on the NAACP legal team that included Harvey Gantt...
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Henry Smith, a victim of Orangeburg Massacre. Photo courtesy of Cecil Williams.
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Best known for her fierce stance on behalf of civil rights in South Carolina, the successful businesswoman served as NAACP State Secretary during the 1950s. The Columbia native Mrs. Simkins was...
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In 1968, Sellers was then a student at Harvard University. He was visiting Orangeburg as a recruiter for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). On the night of February eighth, he...
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In 1965 Mrs. Irene Williams, a home economics and family living teacher at Manchester High School, sued Sumter County School District 2. Despite a stellar record, the district refused to tell her why...
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A native of Sumter, SC, Donald J. Sampson practiced law in Greenville and his sisters, Irene S. Williams and twin, Dorothy remained in Sumter. Both he and Dorothy were civil rights lawyers and...
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In 1965, Dorothy Sampson became a partner in the law firm Sampson and Sampson. She was the first African American female attorney in Sumter. Her area of interest was civil rights litigation, voter...
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A veteran in the civil rights movement, Bernice Robinson's outstanding voter education work contributed to the election of many African American public officials in the South. The native Charlestonian...
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The Honorable Matthew J. Perry, Jr. helped win a number of monumental cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, and he secured the release of over 7,000 persons who were arrested for participating in civil...
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Levi Pearson, and other parents whose children attended Scotts Branch High School, wanted the county to provide buses for their children. Mr. Pearson was encouraged by Rev. Joseph Armstrong DeLaine...
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Rosa Parks is credited as the mother of the civil rights movement. On December 1, 1955, the tired seamstress refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. She was...
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Constance Baker Motley, an NAACP attorney, rests her body and feet after a day-long legal skirmish in a South Carolina federal courtroom battling with Clemson College officials who sought to prevent...
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Photo courtesy of Cecil Williams. Fred Moore is pictured at the podium in White Hall on the campus of South Carolina State College speaking to his fellow students about civil rights activities in...
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In 1963, seventeen-year old Henri Monteith Treadwell was one of the first three black students - along with Robert Anderson and James Solomon - admitted under federal court action to the University of...
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Delano Middleton, a victim of Orangeburg Massacre
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A civil rights activist McKaine, the NAACP and the all-Black Palmetto Teachers Association attacked the issue of salary inequities for Black educators. The average salary for a White elementary school...
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Joseph McDomick, Jr. was born on May 1, 1938, in St. Francisville, Louisiana. In 1964 Judge McDomick began a thirty-year career with the Penn Center, serving as a field supervisor. Under his...
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John H. McCray, a 1931 graduate of the Avery Institute, grew up in the Lincolnville area of Charleston County. In 1938 he became editor and publisher of The Lighthouse and Informer, which in 1941...
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At age 16, James T. McCain worked to register voters in Sumter in 1921. He continued his civil rights activity while he served as the southeastern region field secretary for Congress of Racial...
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Benjamin Elijah Mays was born in the town of Epworth, southeast of Greenwood, August 1894. A son of former slaves, Mays' childhood played a key role in shaping the man that he would become. His...
Related Series
Road Trip!
Road Trip! Through South Carolina Civil Rights History was designed to help teachers and students to learn about the people and the events, and the importance of the civil rights movement in South Carolina from the...
South Carolina Hall of Fame
The S.C. Hall of Fame was founded in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 1973 to recognize and honor contemporary and past citizens who have made outstanding contributions to South Carolina's heritage, history and...