South Carolina: The March for Equality

The United States Civil Rights Trail

In this episode, “The March for Equality,” historians and experts help us explore how African Americans in South Carolina, and their allies, began peaceful protests in the late 1950s and into the 1960s, when the state ignored new federal legislation calling for integration and equality. To learn more about the stories and places you hear about, you can see the markers where students held their sit-in at McCrory’s in Rock Hill, where protesters sang “We Will Overcome” at the Charleston Cigar Factory, and where the Hospital Worker’s Strike began at present-day Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. In Orangeburg, you can visit the Cecil Williams South Carolina Museum on Civil Rights or the monument on the campus of South Carolina State University that memorializes students killed in the 1968 massacre.

Click for more information:

• SC Legacy of Courage (https://discoversouthcarolina.com/civil-rights)
• https://greenbookofsc.com/
• https://civilrightstrail.com/

The episode features the voices and perspectives of:

• Robert Green II, Claflin University history professor
• Ramon Jackson, Newberry College history professor
• William Hine, South Carolina State University retired history professor
• Vernon Burton, Clemson University history professor
• Cecil Williams, former Jet magazine photographer
• Bobby Donaldson, director of the Center for Civil Rights History at the University of South Carolina
• Jim Clyburn, U.S. Congressman