A traveling exhibition that tells the story of South Carolina’s essential role in the American Civil Rights Movement will be on display from April through June at the University of South Carolina Upstate’s Library, 150 Gramling Drive, Spartanburg, SC 29303.
Organized by the University of South Carolina’s Center for Civil Rights History and Research, the “Justice for All” exhibition uses oral history recordings, news film footage, photographs, postcards, newspapers, and letters to highlight overlooked chapters in the history of the movement.
“South Carolina’s Upstate region was active in the Civil Rights Movement,” said Dr. Bobby Donaldson, professor of history and Executive Director of the Center for Civil Rights History and Research. “Among the many people, the great civil rights attorney Matthew Perry started practicing law in Spartanburg and from his office there provided vital legal support for NAACP demonstrations in the Upstate, the state capital and across the state for a decade. A young Leola (Clement) Robinson-Simpson helped revitalize the Greenville NAACP youth chapter, marched with hundreds around the State House to protest segregation and later served in the General Assembly.”
The exhibition is open to campus students during all library hours. For the public, through May 1, it is open Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., Sunday, 2 p.m.-10 p.m., Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m.-10 p.m.; and starting May 2, Monday-Friday, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. The library will be closed April 8-9.
Visitors will see interpretive panels that tell the story of the Civil Rights Movement, beginning in Reconstruction following the Civil War and continuing through the 1960s. Also on display will be photographs, letters and other materials from the movement in South Carolina’s Upstate, items from collections housed in USC’s University Libraries, Moving Image Research Collections, South Carolina Political Collections, Irvin Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, and the South Caroliniana Library.
“Students and visitors to the exhibition will learn about individuals and institutions who struggled for and demanded racial justice in South Carolina and across the country,” said Donaldson. “The materials cover a broad time span, from Reconstruction through the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s, and will allow visitors to see firsthand the struggles of those who pushed for equal rights and the efforts of those who worked to curtail them.”
“We are thrilled USC Upstate will be a destination for this highly engaging exhibition that illuminates the African American experience in the Palmetto State and beyond,” said USC Upstate Chancellor Bennie L. Harris, Ph.D. “The Center for Civil Rights and Research at the University of South Carolina has compiled a wealth of stories, and this will be a tremendous learning opportunity for our university community and residents of the Upstate region.”
The USC Upstate Library will host several public events. Please check the library website for details.
The “Justice for All” traveling exhibition was designed with groups and students in mind. Traveling trunks with materials and lesson plans for students are available by request. For information about traveling trunks or our other initiatives such as oral history interviews, please email the Center, [email protected].
“Justice for All” has visited Columbia, Sumter, Orangeburg, and is at the Hartsville Museum through March. After Spartanburg, the traveling exhibition will visit other sites throughout South Carolina through December 2023.
The traveling exhibition is based on the 2019 archival exhibition “Justice for All” that the Center created collaboratively with South Carolina Humanities, University of South Carolina Libraries and the College of Arts and Sciences. The traveling version is supported with funding from the Williams Companies as part of a $1.5 million gift, and by South Carolina Humanities and Central Carolina Community Foundation.