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.
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Runaway slaves were a constant problem in maintaining a workforce of unfree laborers. Slaves ran away because of mistreatment, out of a desire for freedom, or often simply to be reunited with husbands...
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Petition from "Free people of Colour and free Negroes," 1820. In 1756, the General Assembly passed a law which levied a tax on "All free Negroes, Mulattos and Mestizos who do not pay any other part of...
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A coffle of slaves is being marched through town by an overseer. From "Slavery in South Carolina," 1862. Courtesy of the South Caroliniana Library.
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The slave trade continued in South Carolina until the constitutionally set limit of 1808. The "middle passage" for slaves from Africa to the New World was full of hazards. Many slaves did not survive...
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The city of Charleston in 1742 was a bustling port town of 6,800, the fourth largest city in British North America. Half of its population were African-American slaves. They were the labor on which...
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David Drake was an enslaved African American in Edgefield, South Carolina during the first three quarters of the nineteenth century. He’s known today for the magnificent quality of the pots he made...
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Noted South Carolina historian Dr. Walter Edgar discusses the key issues in SC History. Desegregation and other social change in South Carolina is discussed: World War II – Catalyst for Change...
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Strawberry Schoolhouse was a private school for African–American children who lived at Hobcaw Barony, built for them by Bernard Baruch in 1915. This was a one room schoolhouse with one teacher for...
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B.S. Plair of Rock Hill, South Carolina, served for the Montford Point Marines in 1945, until he was honorably discharged in 1946. The Montford Point Marines were based in Camp Lejeune, North Carolina...
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February is African American History Month. Some may ask “Why celebrate African American history...isn’t that American history?” Absolutely, but unfortunately, for hundreds of years, much of the...
