The digitized portion of the James E. Campbell papers consists of 107 posters that were collected by Campbell throughout his life. Campbell (1925-2021) was a native of Charleston, South Carolina and went on to become a revolutionary organizer, activist and educator. He worked alongside notable figures such as Amiri Baraka, Jack O’Dell, and Malcolm X, […]
Ethelyn Murray was a native of Charleston SC and attended Simonton School and the Avery Normal Institute, graduating in 1914. She taught in several counties in South Carolina before enrolling at Voorhees Institute in 1918, studying religious and elementary education. In 1920, she relocated to Mobile, AL, teaching for five years. She received a Rosenwald […]
The Phillis Wheatley Literary and Social Club was formed in 1916 under the direction of Jeannette Cox, wife of Avery Normal Institute principal Benjamin Cox. The club consisted of nineteen women members meeting to discuss literary works by such authors as W.E.B DuBois, Carter G. Woodson and others. The club women also helped fulfill their […]
Mamie Elizabeth Garvin (1888-1987) was born to Rebecca Mary Logan Bellinger and George Washington Garvin, in Charleston, South Carolina. Garvin became one of the first African American teachers hired to teach in the county’s public schools. In addition to teaching children, Fields was a pioneer in concept of children’s daycare facilities, adult education, organizing classes […]
Helen Evangeline Banks Harrison was born in Hampton, Virginia in 1898 and is the daughter of Issiah and Anna DeCosta Banks, came to Charleston, South Carolina as a child and spent most of her life there. She attended city schools, Avery Normal Institute, and Howard University. In 1935, she began working as a clerk in […]
William (“Bill”) Saunders, a community and Civil Rights activist in Charleston, South Carolina, was an organizer and lead negotiator of the Charleston Hospital Strike of 1969. In 1970, Saunders established the Committee on Better Racial Assurance (COBRA) to address race-related community problems and provide assistance to community members in need. He also operated the AM […]
Millicent Ellison Brown (b. 1948) is an educator and civil rights activist. Born in Charleston to MaeDe and J. Arthur Brown, local and state president of NAACP (1955-1965), Brown, in 1963, replaced her older sister Minerva as the primary plaintiff in a NAACP-sponsored lawsuit (Millicent Brown vs. Charleston County School District #20). The collection consists […]
Anna D. Kelly (1913-2007) is known for her efforts to connect Lowcountry African Americans with the Highlander Folk School, most notably recruiting Septima Clark. A graduate of the Avery Normal Institute in Charleston, South Carolina, Kelly was a charter member of the Avery Institute of African American History and Culture. She then played a crucial […]
The Book Lover’s Club of Charleston was founded in 1927 by AfricanAmerican Women as a literary club with a purpose of establishing a high literary culture among its members as well as social improvement for Charleston African Americans. Legal documents, minutes, financial documents, and correspondence (1927-1969) document the activities of the Book Lovers’ Club (Charleston, […]
The Young Women’s Christian Association of Greater Charleston, which originated in 1907, has served communities in Charleston and the Lowcountry area of South Carolina for over a century. Currently, the YWCA of Greater Charleston, Inc., strives to provide programs and services for all people and holds a mission to eliminate racism and to empower women. […]