Briggs v. Elliott

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 miles. 

PHOTO: Mr. Harry Briggs and wife Eliza, plaintiffs in the landmark case of Briggs v. Elliott, and Rev. J.A. DeLaine after they had been forced to leave South Carolina due to the repercussions of helping to initiate a petition to acquire school buses for black children in Clarendon County.

Matthew Perry
Episode 102

Video

Upon returning home to Columbia, Matthew Perry established the Jenkins and Perry Law Firm, and became the chief legal counsel for the S.C. NAACP, where he began the battle toward the desegregation of...
Matthew Perry
Episode 103

Video

In 1975, after a nomination from Senator Strom Thurmond, then President Gerald Ford nominated Matthew Perry to a position on the U.S. Court of Military Appeals. Perry discusses what the Court of...
Matthew Perry
Episode 101

Video

Matthew Perry was born in Columbia, South Carolina, on August 3, 1921. Perry grew up in Columbia, and attended South Carolina State University, where he studied business administration. His education...
Briggs v. Elliott | South Carolina Public Radio

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"B" is for Briggs v. Elliott (1954). Briggs v. Elliott was one of five cases, collectively entitled Brown et al. v. Board of Education of Topeka, Shawnee, KS, et al., argued before the U.S. Supreme...
Desegration in SC | Conversations on SC History
Episode 20

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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...
An Overview: The Civil Rights Movement | Road Trip
An Overview: The Civil Rights Movement | Road Trip

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The Civil Rights Movement has been part of an ongoing struggle since enslaved Africans were first brought to America. The modern Civil Rights Movement began in the 1940s and many changes had taken...
Judge J. Waties Waring (1880-1968) | Road Trip
Judge J. Waties Waring (1880-1968) | Road Trip

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In 1947 Judge J. Waties Waring's monumental ruling in the George Elmore suit (Elmore v. Rice) eliminated the all-white Democratic primary system in South Carolina. For the first time since 1876, the...
Levi Pearson (1892 - 1970) | Road Trip
Levi Pearson (1892 - 1970) | Road Trip

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Levi Pearson, and other parents whose children attended Scotts Branch High School, wanted the county to provide buses for their children. Mr. Pearson was encouraged by Rev. Joseph Armstrong DeLaine...