The Tuskegee Airmen – A Closer Look Presented by Ginetta V. Hamilton. This presentation will focus on the 5 Ws (Who? What? When? Where? Why?) of the Tuskegee Airmen as well as their plight to prove their abilities. Click here for the Speakers Bureau Application.
Historic Rural Construction Presented by Ginetta V. Hamilton. Ginetta V. Hamilton will share important facts from her book Black History: Someone Forgot to Teach the Children. She will address the struggle and contributions of African Americans both in South Carolina and in the country. Click here for the Speakers Bureau Application.
Collecting and Telling Your and Others’ Stories Presented by Claudia Smith Brinson. For Stories of Struggle I interviewed at least 150 Black activists while I worked as a journalist at The State and as director of a writing program at Columbia College. I wanted to preserve Black elders’ stories, and, through their stories, to reveal … Read more
Education and the Vote: Then and Now Presented by Claudia Smith Brinson. South Carolina’s 1895 constitution disenfranchised Black citizens. The constitution, which was not submitted to a popular vote, also said, “Separate schools shall be provided for children of the white and colored races, and no child of either race shall ever be permitted to … Read more
400 Black Women and a Union: The 1969 Charleston Hospital Strike Presented by Claudia Smith Brinson. In December 1967, five Black women left work at Medical College Hospital in Charleston when ordered to violate their LPN licensing limits. Despite the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the hospital segregated patients, restrooms, and cafeterias, and did not provide … Read more
“Soul Power“ of South Carolina Sit-Ins Presented by Claudia Smith Brinson. James T. McCain, fired as a school principal for NAACP membership, became the first Black and Southern field secretary for the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE). CORE’s founders had accepted imprisonment rather than fight in World War II and Korea; they emulated Mahatma Gandhi’s … Read more
From a Wheelchair Presented by Claudia Smith Brinson. A fourteen-year-oldfell far from a pecan tree; the family accepted the doctor’s diagnosis: Cecil Augustus Ivory would never again walk. After six months in bed, Ivory employed two cane chairs as crutches and walked again. His drive and determination led to a football scholarship, a divinity degree, … Read more
How Brown v. Board of Education Began in South Carolina Presented by Claudia Smith Brinson. In 1946, Levi and Hammett Pearson asked for a public school bus for Black children who walked nine miles to school in Summerton, SC. The request could have gotten the Pearsons killed and did lead to gunfire into their homes, … Read more
Briggs v. Elliott: ‘Because It Was Right’ Presented by Claudia Smith Brinson. More than 100 parents and children signed Clarendon County petitions that led to Brown v. Board of Education and the end of legal segregation of public schools. The first petition, asking that “separate but equal” actually be equal, led to death threats, a … Read more
PO Box 5287
Columbia SC 29250
2711 Middleburg Drive
Suite 203
Columbia SC 29204
803-771-2477
