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.
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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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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...
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Levi Pearson, and other parents whose children attended Scotts Branch High School, wanted the county to provide buses for their children. Mr. Pearson was encouraged by Rev. Joseph Armstrong DeLaine...
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Rosa Parks is credited as the mother of the civil rights movement. On December 1, 1955, the tired seamstress refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama. She was...
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From the 1960s until the early 1980s Palmer was very active in political, civic and religious activities in the state. His generosity was extended to individuals and various organizations like the...
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Born in Darlington County, the Rev. Isaiah DeQuincey Newman was one of South Carolina's most respected leaders. For more than 40 years he was one of the most influential leaders in the civil rights...
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Constance Baker Motley, an NAACP attorney, rests her body and feet after a day-long legal skirmish in a South Carolina federal courtroom battling with Clemson College officials who sought to prevent...
