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Leaders at Clemson University, and some state legislators attempted to resist the result of the case, but all efforts to overturn the decision were denied. Senator Marion Gressette called for peaceful...
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Melvin Purvis’ life tragically ended on February 29, 1960, due to an accidental discharge of a firearm. Some speculate that his death was suicide, while some others say that Purvis may have been...
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In the 1950s and 1960s, Rock Hill, South Carolina, was a thriving mill town, also known as “The Gateway to the Carolinas.” Like most of the segregated South, there were two separate worlds: one black...
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If Rock Hill was a war-zone, the most pivotal battle was February 12, 1960. For months before that date, local churches, students, and members of the NAACP planned a mass sit-in protest at lunch...
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By the summer of 1960, civil rights leaders began to question the effectiveness of these “sit-ins.” Thomas Gaither, a field secretary for CORE (Congress of Racial Equality), along with other civil...
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Rev. Ivory, and James McCain, the South Carolina leader of CORE, arranged for a sharp, young attorney to represent and defend the student protesters: Ernest J. Finney. Finney would later on become the...
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Life in jail for the student prisoners was grueling. News of these “jail-ins” had reached other civil rights groups, and caught the attention of SNCC (Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee). SNCC...
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The student prisoners were finally released, after serving twenty eight days, on March 2, 1961. The prisoners were released early, since prison officials wanted to keep publicity down. The success of...
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Patriots Point brings the history of the Vietnam War to life in this fully immersive 2 ½ acre exhibit called the Vietnam Experience. From viewing dog tags at the beginning of the exhibit, 895 South...
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A helicopter rescue squad from Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter lands in a swamp for a rescue mission in 1956. Courtesy of the Sumter County Museum Archives.