About

Before the Civil War, nearly all African Americans in Clarendon County were enslaved, prohibited by law from learning to read and write. The Civil War, and the passage of the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments, brought freedom and citizenship to thousands of African Americans in the county, many of whom sought education. Northern missionaries, the United States Freedmen’s Bureau, and eventually the state of South Carolina established schools for African Americans. The state’s 1868 constitution mandated free public education for both Black and white students.