Learn about significant places in the following mid-state counties: Aiken, Allendale, Bamberg, Barnwell, Calhoun, Chesterfield, Clarendon, Darlington, Fairfield, Kershaw, Lancaster, Lee, Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland and Sumter.
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Martha Schofield was a young Quaker woman from Pennsylvania who wanted to do something to help newly freed African Americans after the Civil War. With her life savings of $468, she went to St. Helena...
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The present Voorhees College campus and buildings date from 1905 to the mid-1930s, and is itself a pioneer in higher education for African Americans in the area. Founder Elizabeth Evelyn Wright, a...
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John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie got his nickname because he liked to make jokes and act up on stage. He was one of the greatest of all jazz musicians, and the most famous native of Cheraw, South Carolina...
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The building that housed Summerton High School from circa 1936 to the mid-1960s is located at 12 South Church Street in Summerton. In the middle of the twentieth century, the all-white high school was...
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Butler School served Hartsville's black community for over sixty years. Many prominent African Americans graduated from Butler, including Marine Corps Brig. Gen. Cornell A. Wilson Jr.; Dr. Gerald A...
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Mather Academy was founded in 1887 by the New England Southern Conference of the Women's Home Missionary Society of the Methodist Church. Mather Academy educated black girls, and later boys, in grades...
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Organized by former slaves and members of the Mt. Carmel AME Zion Church, this campground has always been an interdenominational gathering place that combines religious services with fellowship. An...
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Constructed in 1936, Dennis was the first high school for African Americans in Lee County, including Bishopville and nearby rural areas. In contrast with the much larger Bishopville High School, which...
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ordered all public places and schools to desegregate and serve blacks and whites equally. For four years, from 1964 to 1968, Orangeburg's All Star Bowling Lanes refused to...
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Claflin College, founded in 1869 as Claflin University, is the oldest historically black college in S.C. and was established to "advance the cause of education, and maintain a first-class institution...