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

February Factoids
February Factoids

Document

February 1-28 February is Black History Month Black History Month is celebrated every February to honor the achievements of African Americans who have shaped American history. The idea was started in...
Dori Sanders: Clover | Periscope
Dori Sanders: Clover | Periscope
Episode 12

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The setting for her first book, Clover, is a peach farm like the one Dori Sanders grew up on. Clover was published in 1990 and immediately became a best-seller. In the story, Clover is a 10-year-old...
Dori Sanders, Author | Periscope
Dori Sanders, Author | Periscope
Episode 11

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Dori Sanders' book Clover has been translated into five different languages and made into a Disney film. The story is set in the countryside of South Carolina, and told through the eyes of a 10-year...
Martha Bratton Sends Watt with Message
Martha Bratton Sends Watt with Message
Episode 3

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In the community of Brattonsville, Martha Bratton sent a message to warn her husband, Colonel William Bratton, that Captain Christian Huck was on his way. Bratton was on the other side of the Catawba...
Philip Simmons | Periscope
Philip Simmons | Periscope
Episode 9

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There are hundreds of Philip Simmons's gates and fences around Charleston. One of his gates hangs in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. He has won national awards and was commissioned to...
Philip Simmons | Periscope
Philip Simmons | Periscope
Episode 8

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At the age of 12, Philip became an apprentice to a blacksmith. It was a hard job. Apprentices swept floors, shoed horses and worked simple pieces of iron while laboring around a hot forge. Only after...
Philip Simmons, Master Blacksmith | Periscope
Philip Simmons, Master Blacksmith | Periscope
Episode 7

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When Philip Simmons was a child, he liked to draw the wrought iron gates around Charleston, South Carolina. The spirals and loops he saw in the ironwork inspired his artistic abilities. Philip would...