Marker memorializing Reconstruction at the University of South Carolina
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Memorial Object
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Plaque/Marker
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Reconstruction era at the University of South Carolina
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Greener, Richard Theodore
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Hayne, Henry E.
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Marker memorializing Reconstruction at the University of South Carolina
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The University of South Carolina was the only state-supported Southern university to fully integrate during Reconstruction, from 1873 to 1877. African Americans served as trustees and faculty and attended as students. By the 1876-1877 academic year, the majority of the student population was African American. With the end of Reconstruction in 1877, the university closed for three years, reopening as an all-white institution in 1880. This time period was long considered a shameful part of the university's history. A historical marker about the university erected in 1936 dismissed the Reconstruction era as "Radical Control." More recent research on USC's African American history, conducted by faculty and students, led to several commemorative projects, including this marker.
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Aluminum state historical marker placed at the foot of the Horseshoe, near Lieber College.
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Side 1: USC During Reconstruction. People of African descent have been integral to the history of USC. In the early days of the university enslaved people lived and worked on campus. After the Civil War a new state constitution required that public schools, colleges, and universities be free and open to all "without regard to race." In 1869, the SC legislature appointed two African Americans, Benjamin Boseman and Francis Cardozo, to the board of trustees.
Side 2: In 1873, Henry E. Hayne was the first African American student admitted to USC. In the same year the school hired Richard T. Greener as its first African American faculty member. In the years 1873-1877 USC was the only fully integrated public university in the South. After Reconstruction the state legislature closed USC 1877-80. It reopened as an all-white institution. Not until 1963 did USC again admit Black students.
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The Historic Columbia Foundation
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USC Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
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13 January 2023
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The Historic Columbia Foundation
Position: 1936 (2 views)