Locating Slavery's Legacies @ University of Virginia

Memorial Organization

Societies

Enslaver

Calhoun, John C.

Calhoun Literary Society, a literary society named to commemorate John C. Calhoun

The Calhoun Literary Society was organized in September 1854 by members of the Wofford College student body. It was the first student organization and the first literary society to be organized, and was named in honor of South Carolina Senator and Vice President John C. Calhoun. The college’s literary societies served as debating and oratorical clubs, and met weekly to hear speeches and watch members debate topics. The societies organized many of the college's ceremonial events, started the first libraries, and purchased some of the first items in the college's art collection. They started the college yearbook, newspaper, and literary magazine. The Calhoun Society went out of existence in the early 1950s. Many of its papers and artifacts are in the college archives.

Created by students at Wofford College

September 1854

1953

1820-1865: Slavery, Anti-Slavery, and Civil War

1865-1890: Emancipation, Reconstruction and Resistance to Reconstruction

1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism

Wofford College; Spartanburg, South Carolina

John C. Calhoun, the namesake of the Calhoun Literary Society

Altered - Destroyed