Learn about noted African Americans, many born in South Carolina, with local and national accomplishments.
Audio
"M" is for McKinney, Nina Mae [1912-1967] Actress, dancer.
Audio
“R” is for Rainey, Joseph Hayne [1832-1887]. Congressman. Rainey was born a slave, but his father—a barber—was able to purchase his family's freedom. During the Civil War, he was forced to serve as a...
Audio
“E” is for Evans, Matilda Arabella [1872-1935]. Physician. A native of Aiken, Evans attended Schofield Normal and Industrial School, Oberlin College’s preparatory school, and the Women’s Medical...
Audio
“S” is for Sellers, Cleveland Louis, Jr. [b. 1944]. Civil rights activist. Educator. Sellers attended Howard University where he met several student activists, including Stokely Carmichael—later...
Video
Allison Creek Presbyterian Church Pastor, Sam McGregor, explains, “It’s the greatest story of African American liberation that’s never been told…that centered around the life of Elias Hill, who was a...
Photo
State and County Fair competitions were an important way for farmers to exchange information about their crops and livestock. Until the 1960s, separate segregated fairs were held, both in individual...
Photo
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...
Photo
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...
Photo
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...
Photo
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...
