The African American History Monument tells an uplifting story of black South Carolinians from 1619 to the present day. The legislative commission formed to undertake its conception and fundraising sought public input on the design and raised all of the $1.2 million price tag

The African American History Monument tells an uplifting story of black South Carolinians from 1619 to the present day. The legislative commission formed to undertake its conception and fundraising sought public input on the design and raised all of the $1.2 million price tag through private donations. The plaza’s semi-circular shape (meant to recall a drum), obelisk (a form understood to have originated in Africa), a series of stones, and the representation of the slave ship Brookes (which began to appear in abolitionist literature in the 1780s) in terrazzo recognize the experience of enslaved people kidnapped in Africa and transported to North America. Arranged chronologically, 12 panels of relief sculptures depict scenes of Africans’ and African Americans’ enslavement, emancipation (represented in the middle by the obelisk), struggle for civil rights, and contemporary achievements.