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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
Modjeska Monteith Simkins House | Road Trip

Video

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Modjeska Monteith Simkins House | Road Trip
Catherine Fleming Bruce, the Curator for the Modjeska Simkins House, gives a brief history of the Visanska-Starks Carriage House in the Waverly Community. The home is connected to Historically Black...
Briggs v. Elliott | Road Trip

Video

Grades

  • 6
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Briggs v. Elliott | Road Trip
The Briggs v. Elliott case began as a simple request to provide bus transportation. In addition to having separate and very inferior facilities, black children had to walk to school, sometimes many...
Jesse Jackson, Jr. on Economic Equality | Road Trip

Video

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Jesse Jackson, Jr. on Economic Equality | Road Trip
Host, Listervelt Middleton, interviews the Rev. Jesse Jackson for the ETV series FOR THE PEOPLE. Jackson talks about the efforts of his organization Operation P.U.S.H. (People United to Save Humanity)...
Atty. Dorothy Sampson | Road Trip

Video

Grades

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Atty. Dorothy Sampson | Road Trip
Dorothy Sampson became the first African American female attorney in Sumter. Her area of interest was civil rights litigation, voter education and registration. She was a plaintiff in a suit against...
Modjeska Simkins on Economic Change | Road Trip

Video

Grades

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Modjeska Simkins on Economic Change | Road Trip
Mrs. Modjeska Simkins tells of how the business boycotts began in Columbia and around the state. Mrs. Simkins was also at the forefront when the Southern Negro Youth Conference was formed. CREDIT...
Dr. Gloria Blackwell | Road Trip

Video

Grades

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Dr. Gloria Blackwell | Road Trip
Dr. Gloria (Rackley) Blackwell was active in the NAACP Youth Council at Claflin College. As an activist throughout her life, Dr. Blackwell was most noted for her lawsuit against the Orangeburg...
Clarendon County | Road Trip

Video

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Clarendon County | Road Trip
Rev. J. A. DeLaine and several others helped build the national case Brown v. Board of Education. DeLaine's family and other Clarendon county residents recall the bravery shown by signers of the...
Billie Fleming on Farming | Road Trip Chief Justice Ernest A. Finney | Road Trip

Video

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Chief Justice Ernest A. Finney | Road Trip
Chief Justice Ernest A. Finney gained respect as an exceptional civil rights advocate defending more than 6,000 people arrested for participating in some type of civil protest. He was appointed to the...
Waymon Stover on Rosenwald Schools | Road Trip

Video

Grades

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Waymon Stover on Rosenwald Schools | Road Trip
Waymon Stover describes the segregated Rosenwald school he attended during his elementary years. "A Rosenwald School was the name informally applied to over five thousand schools, shops, and teachers'...
Ferdinand Pearson | Road Trip

Video

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Ferdinand Pearson | Road Trip
Ferdinand Pearson the son of South Carolina civil rights pioneer, Levi Pearson, talks about the court case that his father brought against the Clarendon County School Board. The court case asked for...
Clarendon Today | Road Trip

Video

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Clarendon Today | Road Trip
Leola Parks, the executive assistant to the Superintendent for Clarendon County, and others talk about what should be done to improve the school system for everyone. I'm Building A Bridge, L. A...
Ferdinand Pearson on School Conditions | Road Trip

Video

Grades

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Ferdinand Pearson on School Conditions | Road Trip
Ferdinand Pearson talks about the school conditions for black children in Clarendon County. Starting at the age of six, he had to walk to a school which was located over four miles away from his home.
William Farrow | S.C. Hall of Fame Mary McLeod Bethune | S.C. Hall of Fame

Video

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Mary McLeod Bethune | S.C. Hall of Fame
This profile will show how Mary Jane McLeod Bethune, born to poor cotton farmers in Mayesville, S.C., would brilliantly start a school of her own with just $1.50, which became an internationally...
William Farrow | S.C. Hall of Fame Maude Callen | S.C. Hall of Fame

Video

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Maude Callen | S.C. Hall of Fame
This episode is about Maude Callen (1898 -- 1990), a Nurse-Midwife, who singlehandedly brought health care to rural Pineville, S.C. and the surrounding area of Berkeley County in the early 1920s...
Benjamin Mays | S.C. Hall of Fame Matthew Perry | S.C. Hall of Fame

Video

Grades

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Matthew Perry | S.C. Hall of Fame
Matthew James Perry, Jr. was born in Columbia, South Carolina, August 3, 1921. He attended law school at South Carolina State College and would play a central role in nearly every noteworthy civil...
Septima Clark | S.C. Hall of Fame

Video

Grades

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Septima Clark | S.C. Hall of Fame
A pioneer in grassroots citizenship education, Septima Clark was called the ‘‘Mother of the Civil Rights Movement’’ by Martin Luther King. Clark was born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1898...
Darius Rucker | S.C. Hall of Fame Philip Simmons | S.C. Hall of Fame

Video

Grades

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Philip Simmons | S.C. Hall of Fame
A Charleston native, Philip Simmons (1912-2009) was famous for his decorative ironwork pieces, which are featured throughout Charleston and in various other parts of the world. When he began his...
James Lide Coker | S.C. Hall of Fame Robert Smalls | S.C. Hall of Fame

Video

Grades

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Robert Smalls | S.C. Hall of Fame
In 1862, Robert Smalls, an enslaved crew-member of the CSS Planter, steals the boat, sails it past the heavily armed defenses of Charleston Harbor in South Carolina and delivers it into the hands of...
Marian Wright Edelman | S.C. Hall of Fame

Video

Grades

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Marian Wright Edelman | S.C. Hall of Fame
Marian Wright Edelman is founder and President of the Children's Defense Fund, the nation’s strongest advocacy group for children and families. Born in 1939 in Bennettsville, South Carolina, she...
March on Washington | Road Trip

Video

Grades

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March on Washington | Road Trip
Joseph McDomick, Jr., former Penn Center project supervisor for over thirty years, tells how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his inner circle worked at Penn to plan events like the March on Washington...
King at Penn Center | Road Trip

Video

Grades

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King at Penn Center | Road Trip
Joseph McDomick, Jr., former Penn Center project supervisor for over thirty years, talks about Dr. King's many visits to Penn Center and how the visits had to be kept quiet because of the threats on...