Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum

This museum, lovingly curated and designed by Civil Rights-era photographer Cecil Williams, delivers a story about a generation of people who fought for equal rights throughout the Palmetto State. As staff photographer for Jet Magazine and a content provider for Time and Life magazines, Williams was able to capture the movement as it progressed from litigation in the 1950s to protests and marches in the 1960s. Photography at the museum ranges from strategy meetings at churches in Clarendon County to student marches at the SC Statehouse. Artifacts range from bullet casings that were fired from state police during the Orangeburg Massacre to luggage carried by Thurgood Marshall who, at the time, represented Clarendon County families during the Briggs vs. Elliott case. While more than 500 photographs grace the walls and halls of the museum, the team is currently digitizing more than 600,000 images from the Civil Rights movement.