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

The Black Codes: Landowner | Reconstruction 360

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Like most former Confederates, this landowner resents the authority of U.S. Army officers and the Freedmen’s Bureau. Fearful that their agricultural economy would collapse without the free labor of...
The Black Codes: Freedwoman | Reconstrucion 360

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The wife of the jailed freedman has come to the jail to support her husband in his contract dispute with the white landowner. In 1865 and 1866, following the example of Northern Blacks, freedpeople in...
Julia Mood Peterkin | Carolina Snaps

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Julia Mood Peterkin’ stories of plantation life and realistic African American characters captured the world’s attention. Julia Mood was born in Laurens County on Halloween in 1880. Her mother died...
Mary McLeod Bethune | Carolina Snaps

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Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune is hailed as one of the most influential African American educators and Civil Rights figures, during the first half of the 20th century. Born on a cotton farm in Mayesville, SC...
Maude Callen | Carolina Snaps

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Orphaned at the age of six, Maude Callen, became an “Angel in Twilight” to many as she singlehandedly brought health care to a poverty-stricken community. After becoming orphaned, Maude went to live...
Robert Smalls | Carolina Snaps

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Robert Smalls was a former slave and Civil War hero who made a significant impact on American history. Born into slavery in Beaufort, South Carolina in 1839, Smalls worked on the docks and was trained...