Cecil Williams Civil Rights Museum

09/09/2026

Brent Leggs, President and CEO of National Trust for Historic Preservation tours home of Langston Hughes.

Take a video tour of Langston Hughes' home in Harlem with current steward Dr. Beverly Prince and AACHAF Executive Director Brent Leggs.

08/28/2026

SC CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM RECEIVES $75,000 GRANT FROM
SC ARTS COMMISSION TO EXPAND ARTS/HISTORY EDUCATION

The South Carolina Civil Rights Museum announced that it has received a $75,000 grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission to expand a series of statewide educational initiatives. The funding will support immersive programming that merges the arts with social studies, ensuring the powerful stories and emotions of the Civil Rights Movement continue to reach and inspire students across South Carolina.

The grant will fund three primary educational initiatives:

• The Poster Project: Visualizing History --
The museum will roll out a statewide distribution of "The South Carolina History that Changed America Arts in Education" posters. Featuring historic images captured by renowned photographer and museum founder Cecil Williams. These posters will be distributed alongside dedicated presentations at schools and community events across the state.

• Music of the Civil Rights Era: The Sound of Resilience --
Music was the heartbeat of the Civil Rights Movement. Songs like "We Shall Overcome" supported the resiliency and unity of the Black community in the fight for equal rights:

• Rural School Residencies: Multi-week residencies will take place in three schools, each located in a different rural county. An experienced historical musician will visit these schools to teach students the songs of the movement through voice and instrumentation. By connecting art to history, the program is designed to evoke the deep emotions, struggles, and spirit of the Civil Rights era.

Professional Development: Specialized training sessions for arts and social studies teachers, equipping them with the tools to seamlessly integrate civil rights history and the arts in their classrooms to tell the complete story of that period.

Open-Access Resources: The museum will continue to house and expand free lesson plans on its website for educators everywhere.
Theatre of the Civil Rights Era Pilot

Building on the success of its music programming, the museum will pilot a new "Theatre of the Civil Rights Era" initiative. This project will develop specialized lesson plans focused on the theatrical arts during the movement, designed to accompany and complement the existing music curriculum.

"This funding empowers us to take the profound history of the Civil Rights Movement directly into classrooms across the state, particularly in our rural communities," said Jannie Harriot, Program Director for the South Carolina Civil Rights Museum. "Whether it is through the photography of Cecil Williams or an experienced musician teaching the very songs that sustained our people, we are using the arts to bridge the gap between history and emotion. We want students to not just read about the fight for equality, but to truly feel the resilience that drove it."

This project is funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

08/27/2026

https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1775192157053045&set=a.740488933856711

SC CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM RECEIVES $75,000 GRANT FROM
SC ARTS COMMISSION TO EXPAND ARTS/HISTORY EDUCATION

The South Carolina Civil Rights Museum announced that it has received a $75,000 grant from the South Carolina Arts Commission to expand a series of statewide educational initiatives. The funding will support immersive programming that merges the arts with social studies, ensuring the powerful stories and emotions of the Civil Rights Movement continue to reach and inspire students across South Carolina.

The grant will fund three primary educational initiatives:

• The Poster Project: Visualizing History --
The museum will roll out a statewide distribution of "The South Carolina History that Changed America Arts in Education" posters. Featuring historic images captured by renowned photographer and museum founder Cecil Williams. These posters will be distributed alongside dedicated presentations at schools and community events across the state.

• Music of the Civil Rights Era: The Sound of Resilience --
Music was the heartbeat of the Civil Rights Movement. Songs like "We Shall Overcome" supported the resiliency and unity of the Black community in the fight for equal rights:

• Rural School Residencies: Multi-week residencies will take place in three schools, each located in a different rural county. An experienced historical musician will visit these schools to teach students the songs of the movement through voice and instrumentation. By connecting art to history, the program is designed to evoke the deep emotions, struggles, and spirit of the Civil Rights era.

Professional Development: Specialized training sessions for arts and social studies teachers, equipping them with the tools to seamlessly integrate civil rights history and the arts in their classrooms to tell the complete story of that period.

Open-Access Resources: The museum will continue to house and expand free lesson plans on its website for educators everywhere.
Theatre of the Civil Rights Era Pilot

Building on the success of its music programming, the museum will pilot a new "Theatre of the Civil Rights Era" initiative. This project will develop specialized lesson plans focused on the theatrical arts during the movement, designed to accompany and complement the existing music curriculum.

"This funding empowers us to take the profound history of the Civil Rights Movement directly into classrooms across the state, particularly in our rural communities," said Jannie Harriot, Program Director for the South Carolina Civil Rights Museum. "Whether it is through the photography of Cecil Williams or an experienced musician teaching the very songs that sustained our people, we are using the arts to bridge the gap between history and emotion. We want students to not just read about the fight for equality, but to truly feel the resilience that drove it."

This project is funded in part by the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

08/25/2026

Benedict College has received a $100,000 grant from The Boulé Foundation to support the newly established The B.E.S.T. Leadership Institute, a transformational program designed to strengthen academic achievement, leadership development, career readiness, and graduation outcomes for Black male students.

The investment comes at a significant moment in the College's history. Benedict College now enrolls more male than female undergraduate students, making it one of the few historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to reach this demographic milestone. The initiative reflects the College's commitment to ensuring those students not only enroll but thrive, graduate, and become leaders in their professions and communities.

The B.E.S.T. Leadership Institute is a comprehensive student-success cohort model that provides coordinated mentoring, academic advising, financial barrier intervention, leadership development, financial literacy, and career preparation. Grounded in Belonging, Educational Excellence, Service and Civic Responsibility, and Thoughtfulness Toward Others and the Campus, the B.E.S.T. Leadership Institute intentionally connects students with faculty, staff, alumni, business leaders, and professional mentors who will guide them throughout their collegiate journey.

Featured Photo: The Boulé Foundation was a major supporter of Dr. Artis and Benedict College in this important initiative. The B.E.S.T. Leadership Institute reflects the very principles upon which Sigma Pi Phi and The Boule Foundation were founded: leadership, scholarship, achievement, and service. (L-R) Archon Khan Nedd, Board Chair, W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Archon Tyrone Adam Burroughs - Board Vice Chair, Benedict College; Archousa Roslyn Clark Artis – President and CEO, Benedict College; Grand Sire Archon Jesse L. Tyson - Trustee, Benedict College and Lane College; Ms. La June Montgomery Tabron, President and CEO of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation; Archon Ronald Johnson - former President, Clark Atlanta University; Archon Jim Stuckey, Trustee, Benedict College; and Archon I.S. Leevy Johnson - General Counsel, Benedict College.

Visit http://benedict.edu to read the press release: https://benedict.edu/benedict-college-launches-black-male-success-initiative-with-a-100000-grant-from-the-boule-foundation/

08/23/2026

08/23/2026

South Carolina Civil Rights Museum represented at Association of African American Museums' conference in Philadelphia. Looking forward to next year in Chicago.

08/04/2026

American Journalism Historian Association annually bestows its Outstanding Local Journalist Award for Substantial Contribution to the Public Interest to a journalist local to the convention city whose work has had a positive impact on the community. The recipient serves as a featured speaker at the Thursday evening reception. Reception attendees enjoy hot and cold hors d'oeuvres and a cash bar at this event.

This year, AJHA will honor Cecil Williams, 88, a pioneering South Carolina photojournalist, who began his career publishing pictures of the Civil Rights Movement in Jet magazine when he was a teenager, will receive the American Journalism Historians Association’s annual Outstanding Local Journalist Award for Substantial Contribution to the Public Interest during this year’s the convention.

“He captured the Civil Rights Movement in South Carolina in photos — up close, personal, and accurately — for the nation to see," said Kenneth Campbell, part of the local host committee and an associate professor at the University of South Carolina School of Journalism and Mass Communications. "Many likely without his name being attached with wire service dispatches published across the nation.”

Williams, who lived in Orangeburg, S. C., began freelancing for the pocket-sized Jet magazine at the age of 14. Jet, which was founded in 1951, would become one of the most popular Black magazines during the Civil Rights Movement. His picture of Coretta Scott King speaking during the hospital workers’ strike in Charleston in 1969 appeared on the cover of Jet.

Williams’ pictures documented the Briggs v. Elliott case, which began in nearby Clarendon, S.C., and was folded into the Brown v. Board of Education, the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court case that declared the racial policy of “separate but equal” unconstitutional in public schools. Williams, himself, was a victim of racially segregated schools when he was denied admission to Clemson University in South Carolina where he wanted to study architecture.

His pictures also helped tell the story of the Orangeburg Massacre, in which South Carolina Highway Patrolmen fatally shot three students on the campus of all-black South Carolina State University in February 1968 during a protest. Read more about Williams in the AJHA press release.