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

The Heyward Brothers | Walter Edgar's Journal
Episode 3

Audio

In this segment, Walter Edgar discusses the Heyward Brothers, and their method of digging “rice dikes” for growing rice. The Heyward Brothers are seen as the pioneers of the tidal cultivation in South...
The Domestic Slave Trade | Walter Edgar's Journal
Episode 3

Audio

Dr. Larry Watson discusses the reasons why, between 1787 and 1803, South Carolina forbade the importation of new slaves. This resulted in the rise of the domestic slave trade in the Southern U.S.