Charleston's Historically Black Photography Studios: Background Information

The powerful life story and photography of an esteemed Black photojournalist from Orangeburg, South Carolina. Cecil Williams is one of the few Southern Black photojournalists of the civil rights movement. Born and raised in Orangeburg, South Carolina, Williams worked at the center of emerging twentieth-century civil rights activism in the state, and his assignments often exposed him to White violence perpetrated by law officials and ordinary citizens.

The 1949 Briggs vs. Elliot case that originated in Clarendon County and the Orangeburg selective buying campaign were both crucial events in the creation of the civil rights movement that changed the course of United States history. Out-of-the-Box in Dixie is the story of these heroic people whose quest for equality, sacrifices and contributions should not be forgotten.

The Tuskegee Institute records the lynching of 3,436 Black Americans between 1882 and 1950. Many times, a photographer was present to capture these events. Without Sanctuary preserves these harrowing, death-marked depictions, saving them so that we may recognize the terrorism unleashed on America's African American community.

As slaves, African Americans were virtually invisible to history. Even after the Civil War there were not many African American photographers and very few people had the time, money or freedom to sit for a portrait. Consequently only a few hundred such pictures have survived from that time to bear witness to African Americans and the lives they led.

Significant pictures of Civil rights movement in the South from 1958 to 1965 photographed by Charles Moore.

A rich narrative and detailed documentation of the 54th regiment give insight into Augustus Saint-Gaudens' famous Civil War Memorial

This striking photography collection from Vennie Deas Moore is a journey into the lives of individuals and families who call the South Carolina Coast home