South Carolina – Notable African-Americans – By Period

South Carolina SC African American History, Resources SC Notable African-Americans

Also see: SC Notable African-Americans – By Name

Slavery, Civil War

• Robert Smalls - a Beaufort slave who hijacked a Confederate steamship, disguised himself as a white captain, and sailed to Union safety ... later he became a captain in the US Navy and a representative in the US Congress
  – More info
  

Reconstruction, Restoration

• Dave Drake - also called "Dave the Potter" - Edgefield craftsman who made giant jugs and containers and inscribed them with his own poetry ... today these pots sell for $40,000-$50,000
  

• Dr. Alonzo Clifton McClennan - health care pioneer
  

• Kelly Miller - newspaper columnist and teacher
  – More info
  

• Joseph Hayne Rainey - US Congressman
  

• Quash Stevens - Kiawah Island overseer and Johns Island plantation owner
  

Twentieth Century

• Kimberly Clarice Aiken - Columbia - Miss America 1994 - founder, president of HERO (Homeless Education and Resource Organization)
  

• Marjorie Amos-Frazier - b. 1926, Manning - first woman to be elected to the Charleston County Council - first female SC Public Service Commissioner
  

• Webster Anderson - b. 1933, Winnsboro - Sergeant First Class, US Army - Congressional Medal of Honor for service in Vietnam War
  

• John Artemus - b. 1885, Edgefield - labor organizer
  

• Charles P. Austin, Sr. - Columbia's first African-American Chief of Police
  

• Augusta Baker - 1911-1998 - librarian, storyteller
  

• Anna DeCosta Banks - nursing pioneer
  

• Charlotta Spears Bass - newspaper publisher, Civil Rights leader, and the first African-American woman to run for Vice President of the United States
  

• Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates - one-legged dancer
  

• Luther J. Battiste, III, Esquire - attorney, business leader, public servant
  

• Dr. Thaddeus J. Bell - physician
  

• Paul Benjamin - actor - played in such movies as Do The Right Thing, Stanley's Gig, The Five Heartbeats, Across 110th Street, Gideon's Trumpet, and Rosewood
  

• Bishop Joseph Benjamin Bethea - minister
  

• Mary McLeod Bethune - founded Bethune-Cookman College and the National Council for Negro Women
  – Brief biography
  

• Kitty Black-Perkins - fashion designer
  

• James A. Blake, Sr. - educator
  

• Charles Bolden - astronaut
  

• Ethel Martin Bolden - groundbreaking librarian
  

• James E. Bostic, Jr., Ph.D. - businessman
  

• Harold R. Boulware, Sr. - judge and chief attorney in the Clarendon County school desegregation case Briggs v. Elliot
  

• Reverend William M. Bowman, Sr.
  

• Paul and Wendy C. Brawley - small business owners
  

• Lila Mae Brock - community leader
  

• Israel Brooks, Jr. - law enforcement officer
  

• J. Anthony Brown - entertainer
  

• James Brown - singer, also called "The Godfather of Soul"
  

• James F. Brown, D.D.S.
  

• Joe E. Brown - state lawmaker, school administrator
  

• Maxine Brown - soul singer
  
  
• W. Melvin Brown - businessman
  

• Ruth Ann Butler - founder/director of the Greenville Cultural Exchange Center
  

• Emory Shaw Campbell - community leader
  

• Arthur J. H. Clement, Jr. - business leader
  

• James Roland Clark, M.D. - medical doctor, sickle cell anemia expert
  

• Septima Poinsette Clark - Civil Rights leader
  – More info
  

• James E. Clyburn - SC Congressman
  – More info
  

• Allen Louis Code, Sr. - educator
  

• Honorable Merl F. Code
  

• Edward Sawyer Cooper - former president - American Heart Association
  

• Martin Douglass Cooper - international fashion designer, photographer
  

• Dr. Noble P. Cooper
  

• Margaree Seawright Crosby - educator
  

• Willis H. Crosby - black radio legend
  

• Bernie Lee Cunningham, Jr. - athlete
  

• Jasper Cureton - judge
  

• Beryl Dakers - filmaker, journalist
  

• Reverend Joseph A. Darby, Jr.
  

• Everett L. Dargan, M.D. - thoracic, cardiovascular surgeon
  

• Viola Davis - Tony award winning actress
  – Singleton Plantation - Viola's birthplace
  

• Herbert A. DeCosta, Jr. - restoration consultant, general contractor
  

• Reverend Joseph Armstrong DeLaine - Civil Rights leader from Summerton who helped end segregation in South Carolina schools
  – DeLaine Pardoned After 45 Years - Washington Post
  – DeLaine's papers, letters, manuscripts - University of South Carolina
  – DeLaine's son explains the SC roots of Briggs v. Elliott desegregation lawsuit - Sumter Item article
  – DeLaine's children recall their segregated school - video - requires free registration and QuickTime

• Willie Dereef - master boatbuilder
  

• Ophelia DeVore-Mitchell - writer
  

• Peggy Dillard-Toone - model
  

• Margaret Abner Dixon, Ed.D. - educator, volunteer
  

• Larry Doby - first African-American to play baseball for the American League
  – More info
  

• Hattie Logan Duckett - social worker
  

• Willie Earl - thought to be the last African American person to die by lynching in South Carolina, in 1947
  

• Charity Edna Adams Earley - Lieutenant Colonel, US Army
  – More info
  

• Marian Wright Edelman

• Colonel Claude J. Eichelberger
  

• Alex English - basketball player, actor
  – More info
  

• Bobby Engram - professional football player
  

• Etu Evans - shoe designer
  

• Matilda Arabelle Evans - first African-American woman licensed as a physician in South Carolina
  

• Thomas (Tom) Feelings
  

• Major General Arnold Fields - director of Marine Corps Staff
  

• Ernest A. Finney, Jr.
  

• A. Tony Fisher - director of public safety, Spartanburg, SC
  

• Lillian Brock Flemming - mayor pro tempore, Greenville, SC
  

• Ruby Middleton Forsythe - educator
  

• Rosa Franklin - Washington state's first black female senator
  

• Joe Frazier - professional heavyweight boxer - also called "Smokin' Joe"
  

• Pearl Fryar - topiary artist
  

• Linda Dingle Gadson - social worker
  

• Honorable Harvey B. Gantt - architect, politician
  

• Dr. Naomi Garrett - educator
  

• Althea Gibson - athlete
  – More info
  

• John Birks Gillespie - also called "Dizzy" - trumpeter
  – Memorial - Cheraw
  

• C. (Curtis) Tyrone Gilmore, Sr. - superintendent of Spartanburg 7 school district
  

• Vivian Glover - tv news producer, writer
  

• Dr. Charles G. Gomillion - professor
  

• Janie Glymph Goree - educator, mayor
  

• Jonathan Green - artist
  – More info
  

• Reuben M. Greenberg - police chief
  

• Louis George Gregory - Baha'i faith leader
  – The Louis Gregory Project - scroll down for more links
  

• Gilroye A. Griffin, Jr. - businessman
  

• Alberta Tucker Grimes - organized first SC Head Start program
  

• Archibald Grimke - abolitionist
  

• Lugenia Key Hammond - community leader
  

• Lee Haney - Mr. Olympia, 1984-1992
  

• Edwin A. Harleston - artist
  – More info
  

• John Roy Harper II - attorney
  

• Ernest Henderson, Sr. - flight instructor, educator
  

• Dr. William Hodge - first Negro Republican to run as a candidate in the state of Ohio for US Representative in the 1950s
  

• Vonnie Holliday - professional football player
  

• Maranda Phillips Holmes
  

• Jean Sanders Hopkins - nurse
  

• Janice Huff
  

• Jane Edna Hunter - activist
  

• Charlayne Hunter-Gault
  

• Alice Wyche Hurley - renaissance woman
  

• Curtis Inabinett - councilman
  

• Jesse Jackson - minister, political leader
  

• Mary Jackson - sweetgrass basketmaker
  

• Ozie Jackson, Sr. - business owner
  

• Dr. Sara Dunlap Jackson - federal archivist
  

• Bishop Frederick Calhoun James - bishop
  

• Gloria Schumpert James - entrepreneur, businesswoman
  

• Jarvis Brothers - Jubilee Gospel singers - Reginald, Ulysses, Rogers, Anthony, Donald
  

• Willie Jeffries - football coach
  

• Esau Jenkins - businessman and civil rights leader
  

• Honorable Robert N. Jenkins, Sr.
  

• Johnnie Ruth Jenkins
  

• Isaac Samuel Leevy Johnson
  

• Mamie "Peanut" Johnson - only woman to pitch for the Negro Major League
  

• Ralph Johnson - Private First Class - US Marines
  

• William H. Johnson - artist
  – More info
  

• Willie L. Johnson - police chief
  

• Etta Jones - jazz singer
  

• J. Arthur Jones - mathematician
  

• Ernest Everett Just - scientist
  – More info
  

• Jonas Thomas Kennedy - farmer, philanthropist
  

• Richard Kerns - athletics coach
  

• Eartha Kitt - singer, actress
  – More info
  

• Larry Francis Lebby - artist
  

• Raphael C. Lee - surgeon
  

• Isaac Samuel Leevy - entrepreneur, 1876-1968
  

• Dr. Lawrence W. Long - physician, surgeon
  

• Isom Bartrone Lowman, Jr. - entrepreneur
  

• Anna May Manigault-Hurley
  

• Linda Martell - country-western singer
  

• Maxine Smith Martin - president/ceo, Trident Urban League, Inc.
  

• Joshua W. Martin III - jurist, corporate executive
  

• Cassandra Maxwell
  

• Benjamin Elijah Mays - teacher and Civil Rights leader ... president of Morehouse College, dean of Howard University's School of Religion, and the first black president of Atlanta's school board
  – Mays House Museum

• James T. McCain - educator
  

• Catherine McKee McCottry, M.D. - medical doctor
  

• Carrie Allen McCray - writer
  

• John Henry McCray - civil rights activist, journalist, editor and publisher of The Lighthouse and Informer
  – Article - John Henry McCray recalls the fight for teacher salary equalization in South Carolina
  

• Johnnie McFadden, Ph.D. - first african-american full professor at USC
  

• Eddie McGirt - athlete/coach
  

• Nina Mae McKinney - actress
  

• James T. "J.T." McLawhorn, Jr.
  

• Ronald Ervin McNair - astronaut, physicist
  – Additional info
  

• Earl Matthew Middleton - business entrepreneur
  

• Listervelt Middleton - journalist
  

• Dr. Kelly Miller - newspaper columnist and teacher
  – More info
  

• Janie L. Mines - military, business leader, youth leader
  

• Frieda Mitchell - director, United Communities for Child Development
  

• Mark and Sandra Myers - promoters of african-american cowboy culture
  

• Dr. Maceo Nance - former President of South Carolina State University
  

• Annie Greene Nelson - writer
  

• Reverend I. DeQuincey Newman - state senator and Civil Rights activist
  – More info
  

• General Lloyd "Fig" Newton - Commander of Air Education and Training Command, US Air Force
  

• Horace Ott - musician
  

• J.T. Pace - literacy advocate
  

• E. (Edmund) Perry Palmer - businessman/philanthropist
  

• Senator Kay Patterson - senator
  

• Patty Jaye Garrett Patterson
  

• Thales Thomas "Skipp" Pearson - jazz legend
  

• Matthew Perry - judge
  

• William "Refrigerator" Perry - Chicago Bears defensive lineman, star of Superbowl XX
  – Monster Of The Midway - 1985 Sports Illustrated interview
  

• Bill Pinkney - singer for "The Drifters"
  

• Brenda Pressley - entertainer
  

• Hemphill P. Pride, D.D.S. - dentist
  

• Joseph Hayne Rainey - US Congressman - first black to be elected to the House of Representatives and take his seat
  

• Willie Larry Randolph, Jr. - baseball player
  – Manager of New York Mets
  

• Bishop Sanco King Rembert
  

• Sarah Reese - opera singer
  

• Bishop Sanco King Rembert
  

• Jacqueline Rhinehart - VP of marketing, black music, universal records
  

• Velma L. Richardson - Brigadier General - US Army
  

• Richard Samuel Roberts - photographer
  

• Bernice Robinson
  

• Bernice Stokes Robinson
  

• Eugene Robinson - Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper columnist
  

• Arthur Rose, Sr. - artist
  

• Paul L. Ross - Army Lt. Colonel
  

• Edwin Roberts Russell - scientist
  

• James Saint Clair - artist - PDF
  

• Dori Sanders - peach farmer, writer
  

• Johnny Michael Sanders
  

• Reverend Julius L. Scipio
  

• Art Shell - NFL coach
  

• Donnie Shell - NFL player
  

• Fouche'na Everlyne "Che" Sheppard - storyteller
  

• Modjeska Monteith Simkins - Civil Rights leader
  

• Philip Simmons - ironworker
  – The Philip Simmons Gardens - Philip Simmons Foundation
  – Brief biography
  – More info
  

• Merton Simpson - artist
  

• Drink Small
  

• Marlena Smalls - actress, Gospel singer
  

• Marva Smalls - network executive
  

• Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor - writer, broadcaster
  

• Myrtle Hall Smith - religious singer
  

• Honorable Willie T. Smith, Jr. - attorney/judge
  

• Walker Emanuel Solomon, Sr. - educator
  

• Harold A. Stevens - Justice of the New York Supreme Court
  

• Dr. John Stevenson - educator
  

• Diane E. Sumpter - entrepreneur, businesswoman
  

• Dr. Charles W. Swan - Presidential Policy Advisor to Presidents Reagan and Bush
  

• James E. "Patch" Talley - mayor of Spartanburg
  

• William "Bill" Terrell
  

• Beatrice Rice Thompson
  

• Dorothy Perry Thompson - writer
  

• William "T" Thompson - pilot, attorney
  

• Henrie Monteith Tredwell
  

• Irene Trowell-Harris - first female African-American general, National Guard
  

• Abraham J. Turner - Brigadier General
  

• Leo F. Twiggs - artist
  

• Shirley Tyus - pilot
  

• Wilfred Junius Walker - educator, radio personality
  

• Frank Washington - school administrator, former Columbia NAACP president
  

• Jesse Washington, Jr. - community leader
  

• Spann Watson
  

• Taft M. Watson - basketball coach
  

• Colonel Walter L. Watson, Jr. - decorated air force ace
  

• Dr. Clemmie E. Webber
  

• Honorable Lucille Simmons Whipper - activist
  

• Armstrong Williams - entrepreneur, journalist
  

• Cecil J. Williams - photographer
  

• Isaac W. Williams - civil rights soldier
  

• Juanita Willmon-Goggins - first African-American woman elected to the SC general assembly
  

• Preston Wilson - baseball player
  –Nephew and stepson of baseball player Mookie Wilson
  

• William Hayward "Mookie" Wilson - baseball player
  –Uncle and stepfather of baseball player Preston Wilson
  

• Isaac Woodward - World War II veteran blinded by police in 1946
  

• Dwight E. Woods - musician, theatrical director
  

• Sylvia Woods - entrepreneur
  

• Dr. Stephen J. Wright - educator
  

• Justice Jonathan Jasper Wright
  

• Matthew A. Zimmerman, Jr. - Chief of Chaplains - US Army