Four students from North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College sit down at a segregated Woolworth’s lunch counter in Greensboro, North Carolina, inspiring other young people to do the same. Among the four students were two from Columbia, Mark Martin and Talmadge Martin. African American students in Columbia would follow their… Read More
Approximately 50 students from Allen University and Benedict College conduct the first sit-in protests in Columbia at the Woolworth and S.H. Kress department stores. Later sit-ins result in two major United States Supreme Court cases that uphold the rights of demonstrators in Bouie v. City of Columbia and Barr v. Read More
Five hundred students gathered to protest; nearly two hundred of these students marched to the main business center of the city where businesses closed in preparation for their arrival. Read More
The South Carolina Student Movement Association (SCSMA) is formed, leading to several major demonstrations throughout downtown Columbia, SC. Read More
The South Carolina Council on Human Relations (SCCHR) announced the group’s support of the student led sit-in movement. Read More
Governor Ernest F. Hollings warned students at Benedict College and Allen University that they would be arrested if they participated in a planned “pilgrimage” to the State House on March 11. The presidents of Benedict and Allen, John McCray, and other African American leaders publicly declared their opposition… Read More
Two African American college students, Simon Bouie of Allen University and Talmadge Neal of Benedict College, led a protest march to the Eckerd’s luncheonette. The pair, inspired by student sit-ins in Greensboro, North Carolina, were jailed and convicted for refusing to leave their seats after being denied service due to… Read More
In one of the largest demonstrations in the country, over a thousand students from SC State and Claflin University protested segregated stores in downtown Orangeburg. Local police responded to the massive demonstration with tear gas and water hoses and arrested over 350 students who were imprisoned in an outside stockade. Read More
Charles Barr, Johnny Clark, Richard Counts, Milton Greene, and David Carr conducted a sit-in at Taylor’s Drugstore in Columbia. They were arrested for trespassing for sitting at the whites-only lunch counter. The United States Supreme Court overturned their convictions in Barr v. City of Columbia. The case was part of a… Read More
The South Carolina Council on Human Relations Student Council hosts its first student workshop at Allen University. The theme was “The Role of the Student in Achieving Human Rights,” and featured a keynote address from noted civil rights organizer Ella Baker. Read More