SC Hall of Fame African American

Septima Poinsette Clark was known as the “Queen Mother” or “Grandmother” of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Martin Luther King, Jr., commonly referred to Ms. Clark, as “The Mother of the Movement”. Born in Charleston, SC, in 1898, Septima’s life was greatly...

David Drake was an enslaved African American in Edgefield, South Carolina during the first three quarters of the nineteenth century. He’s known today for the magnificent quality of the pots he made, the size of the pots, and he wrote poems on some of his pots—during an era...

Inducted into the South Carolina Hall Of Fame, Ronald McNair was the second African-American to go into space, and was part of the STS-51L crew that died when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off in January 28, 1986.

Benjamin Mays (1894-1984) was a minister, educator, scholar and social activist. He was known as the "Father of the Civil Rights Movement." Mays was born the youngest in his family and his parents were both former slaves. He grew up in Epworth, South Carolina, just a few...

Ernest A. Finney, Jr. (1931-2017) was South Carolina’s first appointed African-American Supreme Court Justice, since Reconstruction. Born 1931 in Smithfield, Virginia, his mother died when he was an infant. He was reared by his father, Dr. Ernest Finney, Sr., an educator...

Inducted into the South Carolina Hall Of Fame, Charles Bolden, Jr. flew on four historic Space Shuttle missions in the 1980's and 90's, and became the first African-American to lead NASA as NASA Administrator.

Marian Wright Edelman, is founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF), considered by many, the nation’s strongest voice for children and families. Born in Bennettsville, SC, in 1939, Marian is a graduate of Historically Black Spelman College, located in...

A Charleston native, Philip Simmons (1912-2009) was famous for his decorative ironwork pieces, which are featured throughout Charleston and in various other parts of the world. When he began his career, blacksmiths in Charleston made everyday household objects, such as...

"From the Be to the Bop: The Musical Legacy of Dizzy Gillespie." An excerpt from South Carolina ETV's Carolina Stories.