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Born in Sumter, and reared in Columbia, the Honorable Willie T. Smith was at the forefront of the civil rights movement in South Carolina. He served on the NAACP legal team that included Harvey Gantt...
The Civil Rights Movement
1947-1972. Meet South Carolinians who fought for equality during the Civil Rights Movement.
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Henry Smith, a victim of Orangeburg Massacre. Photo courtesy of Cecil Williams.
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Best known for her fierce stance on behalf of civil rights in South Carolina, the successful businesswoman served as NAACP State Secretary during the 1950s. The Columbia native Mrs. Simkins was...
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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...
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In 1965 Mrs. Irene Williams, a home economics and family living teacher at Manchester High School, sued Sumter County School District 2. Despite a stellar record, the district refused to tell her why...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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The Honorable Matthew J. Perry, Jr. helped win a number of monumental cases in the U.S. Supreme Court, and he secured the release of over 7,000 persons who were arrested for participating in civil...