1961 civil rights rally in Columbia remembered with marker, memorial and ceremony | Information
COLOMBIA – Sixty years ago, around 200 mostly black demonstrators gathered at the SC Statehouse to protest against segregation. Another 200 to 300 people were observed from the periphery.
The young people approached on March 2, 1961 from the streets of Sumter, Main and Gervais and gathered in front of the facade of the building, where they wanted to make a silent protest. David Carter, a theology student at Benedict College, told them to follow their consciences.
The students were warned by the police to disperse within 15 minutes or be arrested for violating the peace.
They did not disperse. They were not silent. They sang “We Shall Not Be Moved”, “The Star-Spangled Banner” and other songs. They clapped their hands. They stamped their feet.
Then they were arrested.
The stone monument commemorating the 1961 March at the South Carolina Statehouse is located near the corner of Gervais and Main Streets in Columbia. It contains the names of the 187 plaintiffs in the Edwards v South Carolina case. Bobby Donaldson / Assuming
Exactly on the day of the event’s 60th anniversary, the Columbia rally was celebrated with a gathering just across from the SC Statehouse where a historic marker and stone monument were unveiled. The marker describes the historical event; The stone shows the names of the plaintiffs.
The commemoration, sponsored by Columbia SC 63, the Center for Civil Rights History and Research for the University of South Carolina, the City of Columbia, and Historic Columbia, included remarks from Rep. Leola Robinson-Simpson (who was among the young protesters in 1961) . Mayor Steve Benjamin, Retired SC Chief Justice Jean Toal, Rev. James Edwards (lead plaintiff in the case) and lead organizer Bobby Donaldson.
“We wanted to recognize this milestone for these people in the late 70s and early 80s,” Donaldson said of the generation that protested against segregation and injustice all those years ago. “We wanted something near the statehouse … (at) the intersection where students were arrested.”
Civil rights activists and student participants in the 1961 Edwards March against South Carolina, photographed in 1963. Cyril O. Spann helped rescue students arrested during protests in Colombia. Front row includes Spann, Matthew J. Perry, Lincoln C. Jenkins Jr., and NAACP Leader I. DeQuincey Newman. File / Cecil Williams / Provided
The protest sparked a legal challenge that reached the Supreme Court, which ruled in an 8: 1 decision in favor of the demonstrators. The legal foundations were laid by attorneys Matthew J. Perry, Lincoln C. Jenkins Jr., and Donald James Sampson.
The Supreme Court found that South Carolina had violated the protesters’ fundamental rights to freedom of expression and assembly and their freedom to seek redress of complaints. According to the 14th Amendment, the state could not interfere in the expression of these rights.
The case set a precedent to be set elsewhere during the civil rights movement – in 1963 in Birmingham, Ala., Where fire hoses and dogs were used against protesters, and in 1965 in Montgomery, Ala., Where protesters from Selma gathered at the Statehouse to request access to the surveys.
Robinson-Simpson read a resolution presented to the General Assembly to honor the 1961 demonstrators and to commemorate the Edwards case. In Washington, DC, Rep. Jim Clyburn presented a resolution to the US House of Representatives recalling the event and its aftermath. Clyburn was a 20-year-old student at SC State College when he joined the Statehouse protest.
A historical marker describes the 1961 march on the statehouse that led to the milestone of the Edwards fall against South Carolina. Center for Civil Rights History and Research / provided
Toal noted that the Edwards case was the first civil challenge to use a first amendment argument and “landmark event that protected so many future demonstrations”.
General Assembly approval is required to place a memorial on Statehouse’s property. This generally means that heritage attorneys have to go through a complicated bureaucratic process and be patient. The statehouse has 31 monuments on its site; only one honors the achievements of African Americans.
Columbia SC 63 is a project started in 2012 to record and share the many stories of the civil rights struggle in South Carolina. The state has played an important role in promoting equality and justice since the 1940s. Several major legal cases including Duvall v JF Seignous et al. (1944), Briggs v Elliott (1952), Harvey Gantt’s integration lawsuit against Clemson College (1963), and Edwards v South Carolina (1963) were discussed in South Carolina.
The state also provided the stage for several historic civil rights protests, including the 1969 Charleston Hospital strike and efforts to desegregate the all-star bowling alleys in Orangeburg, resulting in a deadly confrontation between students and law enforcement on the SC State College campus performed in 1968.
Donaldson, senior researcher for Columbia SC 63 and director of the Center for Civil Rights History and Research at the University of South Carolina, is committed to recording oral lore, honoring aging activists, and showing links between the past and the present.
Benjamin noted that South Carolina’s role in the civil rights movement is often neglected. However, the courage of young people in the 1960s should not be forgotten.
“Today we have the opportunity to give some people their flowers,” he said.
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