The Green Book of SC honored:
Liberty Hill African Methodist Episcopal Church and Summerton High School in Clarendon County — Meetings held in this church in the 1940s and 1950s led to local court cases that helped bring about the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark ruling desegregating public schools. Nineteen members of this congregation were plaintiffs in the case of Briggs v. Elliott, heard in U.S. District Court in Charleston in 1952. Although the three-judge panel refused to abolish racial segregation in South Carolina schools, a dissenting opinion influenced the Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education (1954). Formerly all-white Summerton High School is the only school associated with the Briggs case that is still standing.
https://greenbookofsc.com/press-release-top-10-places-visit-south-carolina-black-history-month/
Including places associated with the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
African American heritage spans more than 300 years in South Carolina, dating even before 1670 when enslaved Africans were among the first settlers at Charles Towne Landing. Not only did South Carolina become a primary entry point for the transatlantic slave trade and a leader in the plantation model of agriculture, it was also fertile ground for Reconstruction and a hotbed for civil rights activism.
While the story is substantial and complex, the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission (SCAAHC) recommends the following Top 10 places that can provide a glimpse into this legacy and enrich a traveler’s Black History Month journey.
For more information on Black History in South Carolina, visit GreenBookofSC.com, an online travel guide produced by SCAAHC of more than 300 heritage and cultural sites in the Palmetto State. You can also follow the Green Book on Twitter and Facebook using @GreenBookofSC and by searching the hashtags #BlackHistoryInSC and #Top10inSC. For photography, interviews and other press material, media can contact SCAAHC vice chairperson Jannie Harriot at scaaheritagefound@gmail.com.
