United States Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy speaks at the University of South Carolina. In his speech, he explained that “the practical needs of the world today would compel our national government…to do everything possible to eliminate racial discrimination.” African American students welcomed him at the airport with signs reading… Read More
Over 1,000 University of South Carolina students participate in an anti-integration rally on the campus where a cross is burned in protest. After crowds are dispersed on the Horseshoe a group of students march to the State House chanting “We don’t want to integrate.”… Read More
Rev. I. DeQuincey Newman announces that the NAACP will stage massive demonstrations in eight S.C. cities unless negotiations begin to “solve racial differences.”… Read More
In the Brown v. South Carolina Forestry Commission decision, Judge Robert Martin orders all state parks in the state to desegregate within sixty days. Instead, the South Carolina Forestry Commission closes all of the state’s parks. Read More
United States District Court Judge Martin orders the University of South Carolina to admit Henri Monteith for the fall semester. The university’s appeal is denied on July 22nd. Read More
In response to continued protests and legal challenges to segregation, Columbia Mayor Lester Bates formed the interracial “Committee of 50.” The “Committee of 50” in Columbia votes to urge the city council to adopt a non-discriminatory hiring policy. The biracial committee was formed to help negotiate integration in the city. Read More
Leading Columbia merchants announce that they have removed all segregation signs from water fountains, restrooms, and dressing rooms, and agree to adopt non-racial employment policies. Read More
Sumter NAACP chairman James T. McCain serves as a key organizer for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. Columbia residents number among the hundreds of thousands of people who heard Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders speak at the Lincoln memorial. Read More
Columbia experiences its first protest marches in over a year, as twenty-three blacks are arrested during a demonstration along Main Street. The next day, sixty blacks march along the same street but avoid arrest. Read More
Henrie Monteith, James Solomon, and Robert Anderson enrolled as the first African American students at the University of South Carolina since the era of Reconstruction. Read More