Historical Markers

This brick-veneered house was the home of Dr. Booker Taliaferro Williams, dentist and civil rights activist. Born 1900 in Elloree, SC, he obtained his Doctor of Dental Surgery from Meharry Medical College in 1929. Within a few years, he came to Sumter and opened his own dental practice, working until his death. This house was built by his brothers c. 1939. Williams lived here with his wife Catherine Frederick Williams, who was a teacher at Lincoln High School, and their daughter.

Williams became active in a number of causes in support of African Americans. He was a co-founder of the Sumter NAACP in 1939. He was later treasurer and first vice president of the NAACP State Conference and helped raise funds for its teacher pay equalization campaign and the Briggs v. Elliott school desegregation case. He was also co-plaintiff in a lawsuit that desegregated the Sumter public library in 1963. Dr. B.T. Williams died 1971 and is buried at Hillside Memorial Park.

Sponsored by SC African American Heritage Commission, Center for Civil Rights History and Research, and Omicron Kappa Lambda Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Inc., Sumter SC, 2024

This congregation was founded around 1870, mainly by Black former slaves of members of nearby Fairfield Baptist Church. They acquired this site in 1873 as their first formal place of worship. This was previously the site of the old Fairfield church where early Blackjack members worshipped while enslaved. Some 1800s maps identify the Fairfield church as the Black Jack Meeting House.

The name “Blackjack” was likely inspired by the abundance of blackjack oak trees in the nearby area. Upon organizing, the Blackjack Baptist Church was part of Gethsemane Baptist Association, Upper Division. Graves in the church cemetery date as early as 1871. The current church building dates to 1935. It was brick-veneered in 1953, and an education wing was added several years later.

Sponsored by Blackjack Baptist Church and SC African American Heritage Commission, 2025

This was the adult home of pioneering S.C. civil rights attorney Harold R. Boulware (1913-1982). Born and raised in Irmo, Boulware attended Harbison Institute where his parents were both teachers. In 1938 he obtained his law degree from Howard Univ. He began practicing in Columbia around 1940. He became chief counsel for the S.C. NAACP in 1941. He moved to this site in the early 1950s to care for his parents. The extant home dates to 1956.

Boulware worked cases that equalized Black teacher pay (1944-46) and yielded such landmark rulings as Elmore v. Rice (1947), which ended S.C.’s white primary system, and Briggs v. Elliott, one of five cases that in 1954 led the U.S. Supreme Court to find school segregation unconstitutional in Brown v. Board of Education. Later a Richland County judge, Boulware lived in this house from 1956 until his death in 1983.

Sponsored by African American Historical Society of Irmo and SC African American Heritage Commission, 2024

Jefferson High School was built at this site c. 1924. It was funded with support from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation and served African American students from York and nearby areas. The brick-veneered, wood frame building followed a six-teacher plan and was also known as York County Training School. It enrolled elementary and high school students and replaced a graded school est. 1903 on West Jefferson Street.

By the late 1940s Jefferson High School included three buildings and served around 300 students in grades 1-12. Elementary students moved to a separate school built across the street in 1955. That campus as well as 1956 additions and renovations to the high school were funded by the state equalization program. Jefferson High School’s mascot was a Blue Devil. It closed in 1970 when the two campuses became an integrated middle school.

Sponsored by Culture & Heritage Museums of York County, Jefferson Remembered, and SC African American Heritage Commission, 2024

This is teh site of one of four Lexington Co. school built with support from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. The five-teacher wood frame building was funded 1928-29 and was part of Lexington Co. School District No. 1. It served Black elementary-age students from the town of Lexington and later expanded to grades 1-12. Known as Lexington Rosenwald High School, its mascot was the Blue Hornet and its colores were blue and gold.

Renovations and additions in the 1950s were funded by the state equalization program. Enrollment grew to around 500 following the 1953 consolidation of small country schools in areas like Gilbert and Pelion. Rosenwald High School closed 1969 when this campus became Lexington Intermediate School during integration. The original Rosenwald building was later demolished but the equalization wings remain.

Sponsored by Lexington Rosenwald Alumni Foundations and S.C. African American Heritage Commission, 2025.

Near this intersection is the site of Louie Tenement, a housing complex that served residents of North Charleston’s Liberty Hill community. Liberty Hill was established in 1871 as a settlement for formerly enslaved African Americans. The tenement near this site was developed c. 1928 by Louis “Louie” Joseph (1876-1950), a Syrian immigrant who came to the U.S. from Damascus in 1901. He worked in Charleston as a peddler before moving to Liberty Hill by 1920.

Louie Tenement included around a dozen wood frame shotgun houses situated on roughly one acre of land. It became a well-known Liberty Hill enclave and a valuable source of housing for local Black residents during segregation. Louis Joseph also operated a local grocery story. His 1950 death certificate listed his father’s surname as “Masphy.” The complex stood into the early 1970s, when houses began being gradually demolished. None remained by the end of the 1980s.

Sponsored by Liberty Hill Historical and Genealogical Society and SC African American Heritage Commission, 2024

Mt. Moriah Baptist Church was established in 1866 and is one of the oldest Black Baptist congregations in Kershaw County. It formed when more than 100 African American members of Camden Baptist Church requested dismissal to organize their own congregation. They began worshipping at this site soon after and had the current church constructed in 1891. At that time, the congregation included around 200 members.

Mt. Moriah’s first minister was Rev. Monroe Boykin. In 1867, the congregation was a founding member of the Gethesmane Association, the first Black Baptist association in the state. Early baptisms sometimes took place at a pond on the east side of Camden. By the 1930s, the church had grown to around 400 members. The church building was brick-veneered in 1947 and the interior was rebuilt following a 1956 fire.

Sponsored by Mt. Moriah Baptist Church and S.C. African American Heritage Commission, 2024

This is the former site of Oak Grove Colored School, est. 1900 as a public school for African Americans. It was built on a lot previously owned by John Sewell (1831-1915), a Black farmer who lived nearby. He conveyed the land to school trustees in 1899 and later sold them materials for the school’s construction. Upon opening, it was part of Lexington Co. School District No.2 (Oak Grove).

Oak Grove was also called Sweet Gum Colored School and was housed in a wooden one-room building. Twenty-six students attended in 1900-01 with one teacher. In the mid-1930s around thirty-five students in grades 1-7 attended each day for a four-month term. The school closed in 1952 as part of the consolidation of Lexington Co.’s country schools. It burned down a few years later.

Sponsored by John Sewell Foundation, Lexington County Museum, and S.C. African American Heritage Commission, 2024

Old Zion Church formally organized by 1873. It was originally located 2mi. E on Goings Rd. where it shared a cemetery with St. Paul Baptist Church. Around 1890, Old Zion moved to this site on land conveyed by Martha Wise to church trustees John Franklin, Captain Jaggers, Ezekiel Simpson, Nealy Walker, and Abraham Wright. Members built a wood-frame church with a front tower. \

Old Zion was part of a wave of African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Zion congregations founded in South Carolina after the 1867 establishment of the Church’s state conference. Old Zion disbanded sometime around 1970. The church building fell into ruins. In 2010, trustee descendants organized the Old Zion-St. Paul Halsellville Cemetery Association to maintain and preserve the site.

Sponsored by Old Zion-St. Paul Halsellville Cemetery Association and SC African American Heritage Commission, 2024

Palmer Funeral Home opened at this site in 1933. It was founded by Edmund Perry Palmer Sr., who in 1925 graduated from N.Y.’s Renouard Training School for Embalmers and became one of the first formally trained Black funeral directors in Sumter. He and wife Ellie Dibble Palmer were both children of Reconstruction-era state legislators and ran the business together. They also resided on-site with their four sons.

Four generation of the Palmer family have managed the funeral home, later renamed Palmer Memorial Chapel. The Palmer family, under leadership of Robert John Palmer, actively supported numerous mid-20th century social causes, including civil rights and voter education. Freedom Riders briefly sheltered at the funeral home in 1961 when passing through Sumter. Though altered, the original funeral home still stands.

Sponsored by Naudin Dibble Heritage Foundation and SC African American Heritage Commission, 2025

This African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) congregation organized in 1868. Tradition holds that members first met under a brush arbor. Church trustees acquired one acre of land at this site in 1875. Their first house of worship was a wood-frame building. The current church was built in 1910, partially of wood salvaged from the original. It was later brick-veneered and expanded.

Pine Grove A.M.E. Church served African American residents of Peak and other nearby communities. The congregation had 150 members in 1938. For a number of years, the church was also the site of the wood-frame Pine Grove Colored School, a public school for local Black children. Pine Grove was part of the A.M.E. Church’s Newberry District until 1995 when it joined the Columbia District.

Sponsored by Pine Grove AME Church and SC African American Heritage Commission, 2024

Snow Hill Baptist Church organized in the 1880s. Tradition holds the church initially worshipped under a brush arbor on land owned by farmer London Nettles. In 1888 church trustees acquired this one-acre site from Johanna Hoffmeyer and built their first house of worship. Upon organizing, the Snow Hill congregation joined the Pee Dee Baptist Association. In its first few years it had as many as one hundred members.

Snow Hill Baptist Church served Black residents of Ebenezer Township and other nearby sections of Florence County. In 1908 church leaders organized a Colored Cemetery Association and acquired land one-mile south for a graveyard. Adjacent to the church’s east is the hall building for Snow Hill Masonic Lodge 387. The current church building was constructed around 1950, replacing the original. It was later expanded.

Sponsoted by Snow Hill Baptist Church and SC African American Heritage Commission, 2024

This was the site of St. John School, a public school for African American children of the Moore’s Crossroads area. It was in operation by 1920 and its name was taken from nearby St. John Methodist Church. At that time, it was part of Williamsburg County’s Pergamos School District (No. 29). St. John was founded by members of the Wilson family and other local residents.

Pergamos School District was later consolidated with Florence County’s Lake City School District. In the mid-1930s, St. Jon School operated 4-5 months out of the year. Around 30 students in grades 1-7 usually attended at that time. The school closed in 1953 amid efforts to consolidate country schools. It was housed in a wood-frame school building that no longer stands.

Sponsored by Williamsburg County and SC African American Heritage Commission, 2024

St. Mary Catholic Church formed in 1945. It was organized by Fr. Edward Wahl, a white Oratorian who sought to minister to local African Americans. The first church was constructed at this site and dedicated in 1946. Also built at that time was a recreation center that hosted social events, athletic leagues, and other programs for local Black residents. At the time of its founding, St. Mary had five members.

St. Mary grew to more than sixty members by the mid-1950s. In 1951, the church established Crawford Federal Credit Union to provide financial assistance to local African Americans. The Sisters of Christian Doctrine founded a preschool and kindergarten in 1956. An education center across Crawford Road was dedicated in 1969. A larger church was built next to the original in 2008 to accommodate St. Mary’s roughly 450 members.

Sponsored by Knights of Columbia Council #15611 and SC African American Heritage Commission, 2024

This is the site of Union School, a public school that served African American children mostly from the Salters and Lane communities. The school was founded by nearby Union Baptist Church, which organized c. 1890. Around 70-90 elementary-age students attended each day in the mid-1930s. The school had one teacher at that time and operated for a term of 4-5 months.

For much of its history Union School was part of Williamsburg County School District No. 2 (Heineman). In 1950 it enrolled around 80 pupils and had two teachers. It closed a few years later during the consolidation of the county’s small country schools. Students subsequently went to schools in Greeleyville and Lane. Though altered, a frame building that housed the school still stands.

Sponsored by Union Missionary Baptist Church and SC African American Heritage Commission, 2024

Later named for adjacent Washington Street, this park was established in 1942 by a group of local African American leaders known as the Beaufort County Negro Recreational Association. They acquired roughly one acre of land at this site for a “Recreational Center for Negro Citizens.” Playground equipment was first added in 1945-46 with support from the City of Beaufort and other local civic groups.

Upon opening, it was Beaufort’s only public playground open to African Americans. Over the years the park became an important local gathering venue. It hosted athletic contests, performances, religious services, and other community events. In 1959 Youth Center Inc. began a long-term lease of the property. That group and the Association merged in 1993 to form the Beaufort County Community Center.

Sponsored by Northwest Quadrant Neighborhood Association and SC African American Heritage Commission, 2025