Learn about some of the contributions and facets of African American culture.
For more information about the various tribes, visit the African American History collection.
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The African-American nursemaids, in this postcard view of Senate Street around 1910, push their young charges in baby buggies past elegant Victorian mansions of the Columbia well-to-do. The red brick...
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The children from Pollawana Island in this 1910 photograph came to the Penn School by boat. From the Penn School Collection. Permission granted by Penn Center, Inc., St. Helena Island, SC.
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A small fleet of agile boats owned and operated by members of the African-American community in and around Charleston came to be known as the "Mosquito Fleet." They provided a number of essential...
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“B” is for Black Business Districts. Prior to the Civil War, free persons of color in South Carolina owned businesses—generally in the service industry—such as blacksmith and harness shops. These...
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This row of cabins provided housing for slaves on the McLeod Plantation in Charleston County. The photograph was taken in the 1930s. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
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The board and batten siding on this slave cabin on the Arundel Plantation in Georgetown County was promoted as an efficient form of house construction from 1850 onward, and is widely seen in...
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During slavery, although plantation owners attempted to control the lives and activities of their slave labor, a vital community based on African traditions of family and kin networks aided African...
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The Works Progress Administration photographer who recorded this structure in the 1930s called it a "Critter Barn." Its design and execution clearly mark the African building influence upon it, even a...
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African herbal medicine traditions remained an important part of health care practices in the slave communities. Even after the war, when the Freedman's Bureau and northern educators tried to teach...
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One of the beliefs that Sea Island African Americans have adapted to South Carolina living is that connection of certain colors to protecting individuals against the hard feelings of the spirit world...