The Rollin Sisters--Reconstruction Through 1895

During Reconstruction, despite their inability to vote or hold political office, the Rollin Sisters, were among the most influential people in South Carolina politics. Born to an aristocratic free Black family in Charleston, the Sisters were noted for their influence and political savvy in Reconstruction politics. Their Columbia home, dubbed "the Rollin Salon," was the site for social and political gatherings where black and white Republican politicians and their wives mingled freely, advancing social causes and helping to shape the political climate of the times. In February 1871, Charlotte Rollin and her sisters received a charter for SC's first Women's Suffrage organization, the South Carolina Chapter of the American Woman Suffrage Association (SCAWSA), a coalition of blacks and whites working to enact universal suffrage, regardless of race and gender. This program examines the sisters' efforts and those of their cohorts, whose dreams were once centerstage before being crushed by the fall of Reconstruction.