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"C" is for Charleston Hospital Workers Strike [1969].
Briggs v. Elliott
African American History
Learn about the achievements of African Americans who have shaped South Carolina and American history.
Black History Month is celebrated every February to honor the achievements of African Americans who have shaped American history. Historian Carter G. Woodson hoped to raise awareness of African American's contributions to civilization by establishing Negro History Week. The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that included both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass' birthdays. The week was later expanded to a month in 1976 during the United States bicentennial.
PHOTO: On March 20, 1969, Black hospital workers at the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston went on strike to protest the firing of twelve employees and to call for higher wages and union recognition.
Within this Collection
Friendship Nine
The Friendship Nine consisted of a group of nine African American young men who were sent to jail after staging a sit-in at a segregated McCrory's lunch counter in Rock Hill, South Carolina in 1961.
Audio
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"S" is for Scofield Normal and Industrial School [1871-1953].
Audio
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"P" is for Pickens, William [1881-1954] Educator. Author. Civil Rights Advocate.
Audio
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“A” is for the African Methodist Episcopal Church. The African Methodist Episcopal Church [A.M.E.] is the oldest African American denomination in the country. In 1817, the efforts of white Methodists...
Audio
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"E" is for the Enterprise Railroad [1870-1880s].
Audio
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“B” is for Black Business Districts. Prior to the Civil War, free persons of color in South Carolina owned businesses—generally in the service industry—such as blacksmith and harness shops. These...
Audio
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“B” is for Black Codes [1865-1866]. In 1865, with little direction forthcoming from Washington, the states of the former Confederacy drew up “Black Codes” to clarify the standing of African Americans...
Audio
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“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...
Audio
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“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...
Audio
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Episode
5
Dr. Walter Edgar speaks to Dr. Thavolia Gylmph, Duke University, about the Port Royal Experiment in Beaufort, South Carolina.
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Dr. Walter Edgar speaks to Dr. Thavolia Gylmph, Duke University, about the impact the Emancipation Proclamation on slave owners.
Audio
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This is an excerpt from the University of South Carolina public series, Conversations on the Civil War - 1863. Dr. Walter Edgar speaks to Dr. Thavolia Gylmph, Duke University, about the impact the...
Audio
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Episode
4
Walter Edgar speaks to Dr. Thavolia Gylmph, Duke University, about the 13th Amendment.
Lesson
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The relations between Africans and those who conquered them would was complicated. Forced to come to a strange country, slaves had vastly different experiences than their white masters in the 18th and...
Audio
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“G” is for Grayson, William John [1788-1863]. Politician, planter, poet. Grayson spent much of his youth on Parris Island, the inspiration for his later pastoral verse. He graduated at the top of his...
Audio
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“H” is for Hines, John Elbridge [1910-1997]. Clergyman. Civil Rights advocate. A native of Seneca, Hines graduated from Sewanee and Virginia Theological Seminary. After being ordained an Episcopal...
Audio
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“B” is for the “Black” Seventh District. After the 1880 census, South Carolina was awarded an additional two seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. Redistricting gave the state’s white Democrats...
Audio
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“L” is for Longshoreman’s Protective Union Association. Chartered in 1869, the Longshoreman’s Protective Union Association [LPUA] established the legacy of a strong union presence, comprised almost...
Photo
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Episode
3
This row of cabins provided housing for slaves on the McLeod Plantation in Charleston County. The photograph was taken in the 1930s. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
Photo
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The board and batten siding on this slave cabin on the Arundel Plantation in Georgetown County was promoted as an efficient form of house construction from 1850 onward, and is widely seen in...
Audio
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“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...
Audio
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“H” is for Hinton, James Miles [1891-1970]. Clergyman, businessman, civil rights leader. A native North Carolinian, Hinton began his business career in Augusta with the black-owned Pilgrim Health and...
Audio
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“A” is for African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. The A.M.E. Zion church is on of the seventh largest black denominations. It had its beginnings in New York in the early 19th century and by the...
Photo
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7
"Family Worship in a Plantation in South Carolina," is the title given to this sketch, printed in the "Illustrated London News," December 5, 1863. The article described the scene as having taken place...
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