African American History

Learn about the achievements of African Americans who have shaped South Carolina and American history.

Black History Month is celebrated every February to honor the achievements of African Americans who have shaped American history. Historian Carter G. Woodson hoped to raise awareness of African American's contributions to civilization by establishing Negro History Week. The event was first celebrated during a week in February 1926 that included both Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass' birthdays. The week was later expanded to a month in 1976 during the United States bicentennial.

PHOTO: On March 20, 1969, Black hospital workers at the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston went on strike to protest the firing of twelve employees and to call for higher wages and union recognition.

Within this Collection

Forty Acres and a Mule | Reconstruction 360

Video

Historian Kate Masur explains the origins of 40 Acres and a Mule, a famous phrase that many have heard but may not fully understand. It originated in the early days of Reconstruction, when General...
Mann-Simons House Photo Gallery | Let's Go!
Mann-Simons House Photo Gallery | Let's Go!

Photo

Mann-Simons Partial Family Tree Mann-Simons Family Portraits Case of Excavated Artifacts, Including A Rubber "Bouncy" Ball Photograph of John Lucius Simons, Sr.'s Sons: John Lucius Simons, Jr. (Left)...
Mann Simons Site | Let's Go!

Video

The Mann-Simons Site, home to the same entrepreneurial African American family for nearly 130 years, traces the journey of Columbia’s African American community from enslavement through urban renewal...
3D VR - Mann-Simons VR  | Let's Go!
3D VR - Mann-Simons VR | Let's Go!

Interactive

The Mann-Simons Site, home to the same entrepreneurial African American family for nearly 130 years, traces the journey of Columbia’s African American community from enslavement through urban renewal...
Congressman Jim Clyburn, Part 1 | The Big Picture
Episode 1

Video

To say that Congressman Jim Clyburn is a driven man is an understatement. Clyburn had been involved in politics, one way or another, ever since his youth. It was during his time as South Carolina...