In South Carolina, sharing hidden Black Excellence is forbidden.
After discovering a treasure chest of hidden gems of Black American history in the state of South Carolina, it made me wonder, how in the world does some of the most triumphant stories in American history of bravery, courage, perseverance, and determination remain unknown to the world, and so far removed from minds of the people living within the Palmetto State.
In 2021, I wrote a innovative proposal to the South Carolina State Board of Education, introducing an advanced fast track learning history program which allowed the students in South Carolina to participate in a first-of-its-kind accelerated study of individual groundbreaking Black history makers in south Carolina, whose monumental stories of success have been forgotten.
I introduced History-Plus (HP), an unconventional high-level course of study which focuses on the study of single individuals who have exemplified stories of Greatness that aren't currently being studied, identified, honored, or appropriately recognized in the history books of the state of South Carolina.
Surprisingly, not long after submitting my innovative history proposal, unexpectedly, I received quick feedback from the highest level of the South Carolina State Board of Education. I was thrilled to learn that my idea had impressed a group of respected scholars, and that I had also been selected and added to a state oversight committee that was filled with doctors and educators.
The four larger than life recipients that were chosen for study in the inaugural History Plus (HP) curriculum were Harriet Tubman, Charlotta Bass, Septima Poinsette Clark, and Jesse Jackson. Astonishingly, in addition to achieving the unimaginable, all four of these trailblazing pioneers did something that had never been done before in the modern-day history of the United States of America.
Interestingly, Harriet Tubman was the only honoree of the four who was not born in the state of South Carolina. However, her victory in the heart of the Confederacy, at the Combahee River in South Carolina, against the Confederate Army, was truly remarkable. During the Combahee River Raid (June 1-2, 1863), Mrs. Tubman became the only woman in American history to lead a military mission, in which she was also responsible for freeing well over 700 enslaved individuals during this major Union Army military operation. What makes Mrs. Tubman’s story even more incredible, is the fact that her military-led victory at the Combahee came in the middle of the American Civil War. This was at a time whenever lawmen all over the South were already searching for Mrs. Tubman, due to her role in the assistance of the escapement of the enslaved, by way of the Underground Railroad.
There is only one woman in modern-day American History whose true story dwarfs the legend of Harriet Tubman, and she was born in South Carolina.
“In 1956 the state of South Carolina passed a Black Code Law that targeted Black teachers in the state, banning them from being members of Civil Rights groups such as the NAACP. As a result, after 40 years of teaching, Septima Clark was fired. Nevertheless, Mrs. Clark didn’t beg to get back inside the building that had discriminated against her, by letting her go. She became Motivated and Inspired. Over the next few years she worked hard and established upwards of over 1000 Citizenship Schools across the South.”
There is no doubt about it, there’s only one Septima Poinsette Clark, this incredible Black woman is considered the Grandmother of the Civil Rights Movement and “The ICON” of Education and Literacy for Black Americans in the South. After establishing Citizenship Schools in the deep South, Mrs. Clark mastered and taught Voter Empowerment/registration, Voting Literacy, Civil and Political Rights.
If that wasn’t enough, Mrs. Septima Clark also registered nearly 3/4 of a million voters (700,000) across the South.
In addition to all of the forementioned accomplishments, Mrs. Clark also designed educational programs to teach Black communities (adults & children) how to read and write. She also trained Civil Rights leaders to lead workshops that taught Black Americans to have pride in their culture, resist racism, and engage in activism, so that they would better prepared to challenge the discriminatory practices of Jim Crow laws.
As a result of the fear of insurrectionary literature of abolitionists getting into the hands the enslaved, and also to protect the white population from outside antislavery ideologies, in 1829, the state of South Carolina passed a law banning Insurrectionary Pamphlets.
With a deliberate and disturbing attack being made on Black literature, In 1827, Rev. Peter Williams, Jr., John Russwurn, and Samuel Cornish founded and published the first Newspaper owned and operated by a Black American in the United States of America. Although it took nearly 85 years later, a South Carolinian named Charlotta Bass became the first Black woman in the United States of America to publish and own her own newspaper called, The California Eagle. Mrs. Bass also became the first Black Woman to be nominated for United States Vice President.
Enrolled in the University of Illinois on a full football scholarship, a young aspiring Civil Rights leader named Jesse Jackson risked it all coming back to South Carolina and joining with seven other high school students who staged a “read in” to help desegregate the public library system in Greenville, SC. This group became known as the Greenville Eight.
top (left) Freshman Jesse Jackson standing for photo with the Great Eight and a couple Civil Rights organizers.
Greenville, SOUTH CAROLINA born Civil Rights Icon, Jesse Jackson was the final honoree for the History-Plus program. Mr. Jackson was successfully able to capture the Democratic presidential nomination for the office of the President of the United States. He became only the second Black American to run a nationwide campaign for The President of the United States. He was the very first Black American to win any major-party state primary or caucus in 1984. Rev Jackson also led Worldwide diplomatic missions which negotiated the release of U.S. soldiers and civilians around the world, including Syria (1984), Iraq (1990), and Yugoslavia (1999). He was awarded The Presidential Medal Of Freedom in 2000.
To Learn more about the History-Plus (HP) Curriculum click on the link below⬇️
If there was a Honorable Mention for the Top 4 South Carolina History-makers for the HISTORY-PLUS curriculum, the name of one young activist would be written in stone, for her bravery alone.
After fearlessly having the courage to climb a 30-foot pole that hoisted high above a symbol of hate and division, only an activist named Bree Newsome had the heart to personally remove the Confederate Flag from the grounds of the South Carolina Statehouse. During the removal of the flag, Mrs. Newsome shouted out one of the most powerful and overlooked quotes ever heard in modern-day American history, before taking down the flag.⬇️
“You come against me with hatred, oppression, and violence. I come against you in the name of GOD. This flag comes down today.”
Bree Newsome personally removes the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina Statehouse on June 27, 2015.
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