South Carolina Civil Rights Leaders

In continuation of celebrating Black History Month, we are honoring the life + legacy of some Black Civil Rights leaders and activists from South Carolina.

Here are key facts about important Black figures from the Palmetto State whose legacy lives on today.

Septima Clark | Charleston

• Known as the “Queen Mother of the Civil Rights Movement”
• Leader in the NAACP, the Highlander School + the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
• Successfully petitioned Charleston to overturn its ban on Black teachers
• Helped establish 800+ Citizenship Schools throughout South
• Septima P. Clark Parkway/Expressway + park named in her honor
• She is on a new $1 coin from the U.S. Mint

Mary McLeod Bethune | Mayesville

• Educator who taught at schools in South Carolina + Georgia and established schools in Florida
• Started a small school for Black girls that became Bethune-Cookman University
• First Black woman to serve as a college president
• Established programs to end segregated education, improve healthcare for Black children + help women use the voting ballot
• Eighth national president for National Association of Colored Women
• Created the National Council of Negro Women
• President Roosevelt electer her as the first Black woman to head the Federal Council on Negro Affairs, a federal agency also known as the “Black Cabinet”
• Portrait hangs in the State House in Columbia

Bernice Stokes Robinson | Sumter County

• Educator involved with voter-registration drives
• Selected by Highlander + the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to set up voter-registration workshops across South
• Established Citizenship Schools to teach Black people how to read the Constitution, so they could register to vote (required at of the time due to discriminatory laws)
• First teacher for the Citizenship Schools on Johns Island
• Along with Esau Jenkins + Septima Clark, credited with helping two million disenfranchised citizens earn the right to vote
• First Black woman to run for the state House of Representatives

Modjeska Monteith Simkins | Columbia

• Leader in public health + social reform
• Founding member of the state conference of the NAACP
• Major contributor in the Briggs v. Elliott case, demanding equality among Black + white schools in Clarendon County
• Awarded the South Carolina Order of the Palmetto – the state’s highest civilian honor
• Her former cottage in Columbia is now a historical exhibit

Harvey Gantt | Charleston

• Charleston native + first Black student accepted at Clemson University
• Married Lucinda Brawley, the first Black woman admitted to Clemson
• As a degreed architect, co-founded Gantt Huberman Architects
• Known for blending urban planning + the practice of architecture
• Employed diverse group of professionals to help design structures in Charlotte
• Firm responsible for designing Charlotte Transportation Center, TransAmerica Square, Johnson C. Smith University Science Center + more
• Charlotte’s first African American mayor in 1983