African American History in South Carolina
African Americans in South Carolina have a long and vibrant history, beginning in 1540, 130 years before the founding of Charles Town. Several Africans were members of the Hernando DeSoto expedition through the Southeast. According to the chronicles of this expedition, one of these African adventurers fled with the captured Native American “Queen” of Cofitachique and possibly became the first person of African descent to live in the Carolinas.
Although much of African American history is marked by slavery and the fight for equality, it is also varied and deep in its contribution to South Carolina culture. Finding resources for African American genealogical and historical research can be difficult, but determined research can lead to rich rewards for those who can access the right resources. That is where the Richland Library and the Walker Local and Family History Center can be a powerful tool help researchers of African Americans history. Below are some suggested resources to get you started.
Amazon Says: South Carolina's capital city enjoys a strong African-American presence, one that has had considerable influence on the growth and development of Columbia's commerce and cultu...
Amazon
Amazon Says: Winner of the Southern Anthropological Society's prestigious James Mooney Award, Uncommon Ground takes a unique archaeological approach to examining early African American lif...
Amazon
Amazon Says: Trace, document, record, and write your family's history with this easy-to-read, step-by-step authoritative guide. Finally, here is the fun, easy-to-use guide that Afr...
Amazon
Amazon Says: Lower Richland County encompasses approximately 360 square miles in the heart of South Carolina's geographic center. The Wateree River cradles it to the east, and the Congaree...
Amazon
Amazon Says: Orangeburg 1968 documents one of the least remembered chapters of America's Civil Rights history the Orangeburg Massacre. On February 8, 1968, over 150 students gathered on th...
Amazon
Amazon Says: Because of its large free black population, Charleston provided a case study of black social class stratification and social mobility even before the Civil War. Reconstruction...
Amazon
Amazon Says: NATIONAL BESTSELLER "[A] LANDMARK BOOK." --San Francisco Chronicle "POWERFUL." --The New York Times Book Review "GRIPPING." --The Boston Sunday Globe "BRILLIANT." --Th...
Amazon
Amazon Says: The compelling story of a slave, owned by the author's ancestors, who became one of the singular artists of the nineteenth century.He is known today, as he was then, only as...
Amazon
Amazon Says: On May 13, 1862, Robert Smalls (1839-1915) commandeered a Confederate warship, the Planter, from Charleston harbor and piloted the vessel to cheering seamen of the Union block...
Amazon
A groundbreaking study of two cultures in early America.
Black Majority won the Albert J. Beveridge Award of the American Historical Association.Amazon
Amazon Says: The story of slavery in the colonial New World is, in part, one of rebellion. In Jamaica, Hispaniola, Dutch Surinam and elsewhere, massive uprisings threatened European rule. ...
Amazon
Amazon Says: In this midst of heated, often poisonous, arguments about affirmative action, school busing, and race-based political redistricting, A. Leon Higginbotham Jr. provides a welcom...
Amazon