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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

Collection Briggs v. Elliott
Briggs v. Elliott
Collection Cecil Williams
Cecil Williams
Collection Friendship Nine
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.

Collection NAACP
NAACP
Collection Noted African Americans
Noted African Americans
Collection Orangeburg Massacre
Orangeburg Massacre
Collection Penn Center
Penn Center
Collection Slavery in South Carolina
Slavery in South Carolina
Content Type
Reverend Sarah H. Smith | History of SC Slide Collection

Photo

Grades

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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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Grades

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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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Grades

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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...
Alonzo J. Ransier | History of SC Slide Collection

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Alonzo J. Ransier | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 121
Alonzo J. Ransier (1834-1882), born a free African-American in Charleston, was one of two African-American men in South Carolina to achieve the position of lieutenant governor. He held this office...
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...
Ellen Murray | History of SC Slide Collection

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Ellen Murray | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 105
Ellen Murray (1834-1908), with two young women from the Penn School. In 1862, Ellen Murray and Laura Towne (1825-1901), members of the Port Royal Experiment, established the first school for African...
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...
This is Brookgreen Gardens, Part 5 - Lowcountry Wildlife - Episode 5 This is Brookgreen Gardens, Part 1 1

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This is Brookgreen Gardens, Part 1
Episode 1
Brookgreen's story begins more than 250 years ago when Europeans saw the potential for growing rice here and the backbreaking labor of enslaved Africans carved rice fields out of the swamps...
Dr. Ernest E. Just | Scientific SC

Video

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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...
Dr. Matilda A. Evans | History of SC Slide Collection

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Dr. Matilda A. Evans | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 55
Dr. Matilda A. Evans (1870s-1935) received an M.D. degree from Oberlin College in 1897, the only African-American in her class. She was a native of Aiken, and a student at Schofield Normal School...
Gullah Culture | The Palmetto Special Robert Smalls | Palmetto Special

Video

Grades

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Robert Smalls | Palmetto Special
REENACTMENT: The lesson focuses on a mission in which Robert Smalls was sent to convince President Lincoln to arm Negro troops in the South Carolina Lowcountry to fight for the Union. This is done in...
Septima Poinsett Clark | History of SC Slide Collection

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Grades

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Septima Poinsett Clark | History of SC Slide Collection
Episode 41
Septima Poinsett Clark (1898-1987) was a pioneering African-American teacher in the Lowcountry. A graduate of Avery Institute (see The Avery Institute In Charleston), Mrs. Clark taught at a two...