South Carolina civil rights leaders

South Carolina civil rights leaders

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Continuing the celebration Black History Month, we are honoring life + legacy some black Civil rights leaders and activists South Carolina.

Here they are key facts about important black figures of the state of Palmetto whose legacy lives today.

Septima Poinsette Clark | Courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, SC, USA
Mary Mcleod Bethune | Courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, SC, USA
  • Educator who taught at schools in South Carolina + Georgia and established schools in Florida
  • Started a small school to Black girls that became Bethune-Cookman University
  • First black woman to serve as a college president
  • Established Software to end segregated education, improve health care for black children + help women use the electoral vote
  • Eighth national president for National Association of Women of Color
  • Created the National Council of Black Women
  • President Roosevelt elected her as the first black woman to head the Federal Council for Black Affairs, a federal agency also known as “Gabinete Negro”
  • Portrait hanging at State House in Columbia
Bernice Stokes Robinson | Courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, SC, USA
  • Educator involved with voter registration campaigns
  • Selected by Highlander + the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to establish voter registration workshops across the south
  • Established citizenship schools to teach blacks to read the Constitution, so that they could register to vote (required at the time due to discriminatory laws)
  • First teacher for Citizenship Schools on Johns Island
  • Together with Esau Jenkins + Septima Clark, credited for helping two million citizens deprived of their rights earn the right to vote
  • First black woman run to State House of Representatives
Modjeska Monteith Simkins | Courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, SC, USA

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