Movers & Shakers | Road Trip

Learn about the movers and shakers of the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina and nationally in the United States.

Biographies are provided with permission from the exhibit "A More Convenient Season: Civil Rights in South Carolina, 1948-1968." Installed 2005 at the South Carolina State Museum, courtesy of Cecil Williams and the I.P. Stanback Museum.

Arthur J. H. Clement, Jr. (1908-1985) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

A pioneer among African-American business leaders, Arthur J.H. Clement, Jr., is credited with promoting positive race relations, spurring community development and enhancing business incentives in his...

Arthur Magill (1907-1995) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Fearful that continued resistance to integration would tarnish the Greenville's image as well as limit economic opportunities, wealthy businessman Arthur MaGill and the Rev. John Haley of Westminster...

Benjamin Elijah Mays (1894-1984) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

Benjamin Elijah Mays was born in the town of Epworth, southeast of Greenwood, August 1894. A son of former slaves, Mays' childhood played a key role in shaping the man that he would become. His...

Bernice Robinson (1914-1994) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

A veteran in the civil rights movement, Bernice Robinson's outstanding voter education work contributed to the election of many African American public officials in the South. The native Charlestonian...

Cecil J. Williams | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

Cecil J. Williams is the author of Freedom & Justice. He is a noted civil rights photographer. At 14-years old, Williams was hired by JET Magazine to record the images of the civil rights movement in...

Charlayne Hunter-Gault | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Due West native Charlayne Hunter-Gault was one of the first of two African Americans to integrate the University of Georgia. She later wins fame as a co-anchor reporter for the PBS/McNeil Lehrer...

Cleveland Sellers | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

In 1968, Sellers was then a student at Harvard University. He was visiting Orangeburg as a recruiter for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). On the night of February eighth, he...

Constance Baker Motley (1921-2005) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

Constance Baker Motley, an NAACP attorney, rests her body and feet after a day-long legal skirmish in a South Carolina federal courtroom battling with Clemson College officials who sought to prevent...

Coretta Scott King (1927-2006) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

Eleven months after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the eyes of the nation focused on Charleston, South Carolina, where a conflict developed over striking workers. On March 20, 1969 Mrs...

Delano Middleton (1950-1968) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

Delano Middleton, a victim of Orangeburg Massacre

Donald J. Sampson (1919-2001) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

A native of Sumter, SC, Donald J. Sampson practiced law in Greenville and his sisters, Irene S. Williams and twin, Dorothy remained in Sumter. Both he and Dorothy were civil rights lawyers and...

Dorothy Sampson (1919-2013) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

In 1965, Dorothy Sampson became a partner in the law firm Sampson and Sampson. She was the first African American female attorney in Sumter. Her area of interest was civil rights litigation, voter...

Dr. Albert N. Thompson | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

Dr. Albert N. Thompson is shown as a young teacher instructing a 4th grade class in Richland County. Photo courtesy of Cecil Williams. In September 1944, Thompson, who was then teaching at Booker T...

Edwin Augustus Harleston (1882 - 1931) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

Edwin Augustus Harleston. In a life that spanned less than fifty years, he was a businessman and a civil rights leader, but in his heart, he was always an artist, a fine portrait painter. Harleston's...

Ernest A. Finney Jr. | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

A native of Smithfield, Va, Ernest A. Finney Jr. gained respect as an exceptional civil rights advocate, defending more than 6,000 people arrested for participating in some type of civil protest. In...

Fred Moore | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

Photo courtesy of Cecil Williams. Fred Moore is pictured at the podium in White Hall on the campus of South Carolina State College speaking to his fellow students about civil rights activities in...

George A. Elmore (1905-1954) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

In 1946, George Elmore attempted to vote in the all-White Democratic primary but was denied the right to vote. In February 1947, the NAACP filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against John I...

Gloria Blackwell (1927-2010) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Gloria (Rackley) Blackwell and her daughter Luma. Gloria and her daughter walk beside Whittaker Elementary School where Mrs. Blackwell was a teacher before she was dismissed for her participation in...

Governor Donald S. Russell (1906-1998) | Road Trip

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Grades: 3 4 5

Governor Donald Stuart Russell prepares to extend his hand to the Rev. J. Herbert Nelson, an Orangeburg civil rights activist, in the receiving line at the governor's mansion. The Rev. I. DeQuincey...

Governor Robert McNair (1923-2007) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

Governor Robert McNair responded to student demonstrations to desegregate the All-Star Bowling Alley by sending additional law enforcement: National Guardsmen, State Law Enforcement Division (SLED)...

Harold R. Boulware, Sr. (1913-1983) | Road Trip

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Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8

The son of educators Robert and Mabel Hughes Boulware, Harold Boulware attended Johnson C. Smith and Howard University Law School. After graduation he returned to South Carolina and established a...

Harry Briggs (1913-1986) | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

Harry Briggs was a World War II veteran. Briggs, a gas station attendant, and his wife, Eliza allowed Rev. DeLaine to use their home for people to sign the petition that became Briggs v Elliott...

Harvey Gantt | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

Harvey Gantt was born on January 14, 1943. On January 1963, Harvey Gantt of Charleston, South Carolina, became the first black student to enroll at Clemson College (now Clemson University). Gantt, at...

Henri Monteith Treadwell | Road Trip

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Grades: 6 7 8

In 1963, seventeen-year old Henri Monteith Treadwell was one of the first three black students - along with Robert Anderson and James Solomon - admitted under federal court action to the University of...