Built in 1932 about 1/2 mi. NE and stocked with donated books, this library was the first of over 110 libraries founded by W.L. Buffington for rural blacks.
Faith Cabin Library Site
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First African Baptist Church
This church, founded in 1862, was originally the church in the town of Mitchelville, a Freedmen’s village established on Hilton Head by the United States Army. Rev. Abraham Murchinson, its first minister, was a former slave and the church had about 120 members when it...
Emanuel AME Church
The congregation of Emanuel AME was organized c. 1865 with Rev. Richard H. Cain as its first pastor. The church was built on the legacy of an African Methodist Church, which had thrived in the early 19th century, but had been banned after the Denmark Vesey conspiracy....
Eliza’s House — Middleton Place
Eliza’s House is a small frame building named for Eliza Leach (1891-1986), who worked at Middleton Place for more than 40 years and was the last person to live in the house, and is one of several structures on the grounds that interprets African American life. The...
Dunton Chapel Methodist Church
The first school for African American students in Gaffney was opened at this church in 1899 under the direction of Rev. R.C. Campbell. By 1920 it remained as one of only 10 schools in the county that served African American students. A night school serving adults was...
Edmund H. Deas
A native of Sumter County, Edmund H. Deas moved to Darlington in the 1870s and became a prominent force in local politics. He remained active in the Republican Party long after the end of Reconstruction, serving twice as the party’s county chairman and four times as...
Dizzy Gillespie Birthplace
John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie (1917-1993), a founder of modern jazz, was born in a house on this site. He lived here until 1935 when his family moved to Philadelphia. An innovative trumpeter and bandleader, he was known for his bent horn, bulging cheeks, humor, and...
Dixie Training School
The first public African American school in Moncks Corner was founded in1880. The three-room school was built 1918-1920 with funds raised locally by the community and from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. The school first included grades 1-11, and became Berkeley...
Cigar Factory / “We Shall Overcome”
Built c.1882, this five-story structure was the commercial site of the Charleston Manufacturing Company and later the Charleston Cotton Mills. In 1903, the American Tobacco Company leased it and purchased it outright in 1912. Known as “the Cigar Factory,” it produced...
Combahee River Raid / Freedom Along the Combahee
On June 1-2, 1863, a Federal force consisting of elements of the 2nd S.C. Volunteer Infantry (an African American unit) and the 3rd Rhode Island Artillery conducted a raid up the Confederate-held Combahee River. Col. James Montgomery led the expedition. Harriet...
Charles S. Duckett House
Charles H. Duckett built this house c. 1892 and lived here until his death in 1942. He was a carpenter, contractor, and lumber dealer in Laurens and owned the only lumberyard there for many years. The house demonstrates Duckett’s skill in carpentry and construction....
Catawba Rosenwald School/ Liberty Hill School
The Catawba Rosenwald School was built in 1924-25 to serve the African American community in southeastern York County. It was known as the Catawba School on official lists of Rosenwald schools, but is generally known as the Liberty Hill School locally because of its...
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...
Bethel AME Church
Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, built c. 1872, is associated with growth of the AME Church during Reconstruction. The church was probably constructed by Samuel Drayton (a carpenter and former slave), who was thought to have built other area churches. Bethel...