Being a blessing to someone is philanthropy. Born enslaved, Harriett Tubman gave freedom. Robbed of education, Catherine Ferguson started a school. After shattering ceilings, Madam C.J. Walker opened doors. With every blessing received, we pay it forward by investing in people and communities with our wealth, our work, and our wisdom.
— Valaida Fullwood
Founder/CEO: Cecil Williams
In 2019, with his wife Barbara, his sister Brenda, Cecil created South Carolina's first and only civil rights museum. Before 12 years of age, Cecil Williams’ camera had captured the petitioners in Clarendon County as they lit the torch of freedom. In 10th grade, he photographed Thurgood Marshall coming to Charleston for the Briggs case, and again one year later, speaking at Claflin. In 1955, he became the youngest-ever JET Magazine photographer. In 1960, upon being thrown out of a New York press conference, he became JFK’s favorite lensman.
Cecil is Director of Historic Preservation at Claflin University. In this task, he also oversees one of the largest digital film transformation projects in the southeast.
In May 2023, Cecil received Doctor of Humane Letters Honorary Degree from Paul Quinn College in Dallas Texas.
Dr. Bobby Donaldson
In South Carolina, Dr. Bobby Donaldson is "Mr. South Carolina Civil Rights" for the fantastic body of work he has undertaken bringing back the untold stories. Donaldson is an Associate Professor of History, and the Director of the Center for Civil Rights History and Research, at the University of South Carolina-Columbia. He received his undergraduate degree in History and African American Studies from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. in American History from Emory University. Previously, he held fellowships at Dartmouth College and the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University.
In addition to teaching and publishing articles and essays on African American education, religion, and civil rights, Donaldson has served as a curator and consultant for numerous museum exhibitions, historic preservation projects, oral histories, documentary films and archival collections.
Dr. Donaldson and his students received the Helen Kohn Hennig Prize awarded by the Historic Columbia Foundation for their documentary project on the Ward One community in downtown Columbia. In 2010, he received a Michael J. Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award. Presently, Dr. Donaldson is a member of Wesleyan University’s Board of Trustees and the NAACP.
Dr. Vernon Burton
Dr. Vernon Burton is a professor of history at Clemson University, the Director of its Clemson CyberInstitute, and an author. He formerly served as Director of the Institute for Computing in Humanities, Arts, and Social Science (CHASS) and professor of History and Sociology at th University of Illinois.He is also a Senior Research Scientist at theNational Center for Supercomputing Applications. where he is Associate Director for Humanities and Social Sciences. Burton has authored more than a hundred articles and wrote or edited fourteen books. His books include In My Father's House Are Many Mansions: Family and Community in Edgefield, South Carolina that was the subject of sessions at the Southern Historical Association and the Social Science History Association’s annual meetings. It was also submitted for a Pulitzer. He also wrote The Age of Lincoln, winner of the 2007Ch imago Tribune Heartland Prize.
Dr. Darlene Hine
Darlene Clark Hine is a pioneering scholar in the field of African American women’s history. She has written three award-winning books on African American women’s history, and edited a two-volume encyclopedia, Black Women in America, the first major encyclopedia on the subject. Hine is considered to be a leading expert on the subject of race, class, and gender in American society.
Retired today, she and her husband, Dr. William Hine, a noted historian now retired from SC State College, generously support the activities of the museum.
As the John A. Hannah Professor of History at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Hine helped to establish a new doctoral field in comparative African American history, one of the first of its kind. She has co-edited a 16-volume series on African American history in the United States, Milestones in African American History, as well as numerous anthologies. In her academic work, Hine seeks not only to explore African American history, but also to redefine the discipline of history itself. “To me, the historical profession is still too caught up with the wealthy and the influential in political, social, and cultural arenas, who actually number only a very small minority of the human population,” Hine told Roger Adelson of the Historian. “…Because so few of the new social historians have included black women, who remained at the very bottom of the ladder in the United States, we continue to lose much understanding and wisdom.”
Board of Directors
James Felder,
Board Chairman
Major Gifts Consultant
James L. Felder, is a native South Carolinian. Following the completion of his undergraduate studies at Clark College in Atlanta, GA, he spent two years in the United States Army serving with the Honor Guard Ceremonial Unit in the Nation's capital. After his tour of duty with the Army, he matriculated at Howard University School of Law completing his studies in June 1967, and returned to South Carolina. His selection to serve with the Honor Guard represented only the tenth black American to serve with this elite unit. The first nine preceded him by several months. Felder is a former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives (1970-72) and one of three blacks who served in the General Assembly since Reconstruction. Felder is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity. He has been a member for 60 years and has served in various leadership roles. Felder has written three books: (1) "I Buried John F. Kennedy," (2) "Civil Rights in South Carolina," (3) "The Making of an AME Bishop" and the latest book "The Life and Times of Luns C. Richardson."
Katherine Briggs
Katherine Briggs Springs is the daughter of Harry and Eliza Briggs, namesake of the historic Briggs v. Elliot petitioners in Clarendon County, SC. Katherine remembers as a child being interviewed by famed psychologist Kenneth B. Clark and his doll study which was crucial the desegregation of public schools.
She and her brother, Harry Briggs, Jr. were featured in LIFE MAGAZINE during the period when Briggs v. Elliot was becoming the first case in history to attack segregation in public education.
During 2021, Katherine and her brother Nathaniel were responsible for curating the Briggs family bible to the Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum.
Now retired, Katherine lives in New York.
Nathaniel Briggs
Nathaniel Briggs currently lives in New Jersey but frequently returns to his native Clarendon County, South Carolina home where his parents, Harry Briggs Sr. launched the Briggs v. Elliott lawsuit.
During 2021, Nathaniel and his sister Katherine were responsible for curating the Briggs family bible to the Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum.
Nathaniel and museum founder Cecil Williams have created Briggs Before & Beyond Brown, (BBBB), a non-profit organization to further the causes.
Nathaniel spends much time creating media that depicts his family's role in the Briggs petition, the famed Briggs v. Elliott case.
In 2023, Nathaniel and Cecil Williams created Briggs Before and Beyond Brown, a non-profit focusing on the Briggs v. Elliot petition.
J.A. DeLaine
J.A. Delaine is the son of Rev. J.A. Delaine, Sr, as a Methodist minister and civil rights leader from Clarendon County, South Carolina. DeLaine worked with Modjeska Simkins and the South Carolina NAACP on the case Briggs v. Elliott, which challenged segregation in Summerton, South Carolina. DeLaine decided to leave South Carolina, and never returned, after a warrant was issued for his arrest for returning gunfire when his parsonage later came under hostile gunfire.
He fled first to New York City and then to Buffalo, New York, where he founded another Methodist church. As a result of efforts begun in 1955, DeLaine was pardoned in 2000 by the South Carolina State Parole Board. DeLaine also memorably taught school in South Carolina, and in 2006 was inducted into South Carolina's Educational Hall of Honor at the University of South Carolina. Rev. DeLaine and three other plaintiffs in the Briggs v. Elliott case were posthumously awarded Congressional gold medals in 2004 for their courage and persistence despite repeated acts of domestic violence against them.
Jerry Fryer
Jerry Fryer, a graduate of SC State University, is a retired photographer and business entrepreneur living in Spartanburg. While a student at SC State, he worked with Cecil Williams.
Fryer was a student during the 1968 Orangeburg Massacre era. He captured behind the scenes images that appear in Out of the Box in Dixie and other publications.
In 2023, Jerry donated to the museum original films and photographic equipment that he used during the years of the civil rights movement.
Rev. Geoffery Henderson
Rev. Geoffery Henderson is a Native of Orangeburg, SC. and is in his 32nd year as a professional photographer/videographer. At a very young age he developed a flair for photography. After receiving a camera as a childhood Christmas gift, he found himself taking pictures of all his surroundings, to include pets, trees, buildings, friends, etc. After receiving his early education in the public school system of Orangeburg County, and attending South Carolina State University, Geoff began his professional career in 1987 after being gifted with his first professional photo kit by his cousin, Stanley D. Hampton, Sr. For the next 16 years he served as office manager and lead photographer for Mitchell’s Photography of Orangeburg. For the last 10 years he's been serving as corporate video-photo technician for Cecil Williams Photography, LLC. Geoff is also a licensed and ordained minister of the gospel with Christian Antioch Church of South Carolina. He is married to the former Ms. Elaine Brunson of Columbia, SC.
Dr. Larry Watson
Dr. Watson earned the Ph.D. in History from the University of South Carolina (Columbia). His areas of specialty are African American, Colonial American, Civil War, Reconstruction and Twentieth Century American history. He is Professor and Immediate Past President of the Faculty at South Carolina State University. He is Adjunct Professor in the African American Studies Program, University of South Carolina. He is a founding member and President of the South Carolina Council for African American Studies (SCCAAS). He is Chair of the WeGOJA Foundation, member of the Mary McLeod Bethune Learning Center and Art Gallery (BLCAG), board member of Project Reconstruction, and advisor to the South Carolina American Revolutionary Sestercentennial Commission. He has published and presented several peers reviewed scholarly works.
Dr. Toni Williams Sanchez
With over four decades abroad Toni Williams-Sanchez, PhD, holds life memberships in the NAACP; PDK, (Phi Delta Kappa); AFCEA, (Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association); SAMAAP (Sociedad de Amigos del Museo Afro-Antillano de Panama/Society of Friends of the Afro Antillean Museum in Panama); and the Daughters of the King.
Toni earned a B. S. (magna cum laude) with a major in chemistry from Claflin University, 72’/’73. Her subsequent degrees include a M.A. in science education from Teachers College, Columbia University, New York; and the M.A. in human and organizational development and the Doctor of Philosophy in human and organizational systems from Fielding Graduate University, Santa Barbara, California.
Since 1989, Toni and her husband continue to support DESTINY FOR HIGHER EDUCATION which was established in the Republic of Panama by fifteen ZETA PHI BETA sorority and PHI BETA SIGMA fraternity members and their spouses. Students and families have been mentored through the transition from secondary school to universities (mostly in the United States). As of 2021, we continue supporting this process with six students from the Republic of Panama, attending Doane University, in Crete, Nebraska.
ENRIQUE SANCHEZ
Enrique Sanchez is a civil engineer with a Master of Science degree from
the School of Engineering and Applied Science of Columbia University in
the City of New York.mIn May of 2007, the President of Panama designated him to be a member
of the National Black Council, tasked with designing and implementing a
plan for the elimination of racial exclusion affecting black Panamanians.
He traces his roots to the Caribbean as all four of his grandparents
migrated from Jamaica at the beginning of the XX century for the
construction of the Panama Canal and his family has been linked to that
organization since.
He has served on the Board of several non profit organizations including
the Society of Friends of The Afro- Caribbean Museum of Panama (known
as SAMAAP by its Spanish acronym), a non profit organization dedicated
to supporting the Museum and assuring that the contributions of Caribbean
immigrants and their descendants to the development of Panama is
recognized and valued. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Board
of Trustees of Doane University in Crete Nebraska, his undergraduate
alma mater.
ENRIQUE SANCHEZ
Enrique Sanchez is a civil engineer with a Master of Science degree from
the School of Engineering and Applied Science of Columbia University in
the City of New York.mIn May of 2007, the President of Panama designated him to be a member
of the National Black Council, tasked with designing and implementing a
plan for the elimination of racial exclusion affecting black Panamanians.
He traces his roots to the Caribbean as all four of his grandparents
migrated from Jamaica at the beginning of the XX century for the
construction of the Panama Canal and his family has been linked to that
organization since.
He has served on the Board of several non profit organizations including
the Society of Friends of The Afro- Caribbean Museum of Panama (known
as SAMAAP by its Spanish acronym), a non profit organization dedicated
to supporting the Museum and assuring that the contributions of Caribbean
immigrants and their descendants to the development of Panama is
recognized and valued. Since 2005, he has been a member of the Board
of Trustees of Doane University in Crete Nebraska, his undergraduate
alma mater.
Dr. James Sulton
Dr. James Sulton, son of civil rights pioneer James Sulton, was born into a wonderful family focused on hard work, small business and meaningful education, Jim Sulton has always strived to fulfill the ideals of his forbears. South Carolina State University is a public higher education learning enterprise and Claflin is a nationally renowned private university. This distinctive academic environment afforded invaluable learning opportunities for Jim when he was growing up and role models for a lifetime. Sulton's hybrid undergraduate career began at Michigan State University and concluded with graduation from Howard University. He earned graduate degrees (M.A. and Ph.D.) from The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. He participated in the Center for Arabic Study Abroad program at the American University in Cairo and later became a fellow at the Institute for African and Asian Studies at the University of Khartoum. Jim's academic career began with faculty service at Howard University. He held senior level executive posts at the University of Wisconsin System, the Colorado Commission on Higher Education, the New Jersey Commission on Higher Education and the Washington Higher Education Coordinating Board. He served as Executive Vice President at Brookdale Community College in New Jersey. His experience as an activist included work as a legislative liaison for TransAfrica.
Jim now leads The Sulton Center where he combines scholarship, activism and lifelong involvement in the movement for civil rights.
Bernie L. Wright
Bernie L. Wright, current Interim Director of the Penn Center is an experienced political leader known throughout South Carolina and the Southeast. Now, semi-retired, he enjoys all the benefits of "doing whatever he wants to do."
Barbara Johnson-Williams
C0-Founder, Barbara Johnson Williams, received her B.S. in elementary education, M.Ed in special education and Ed.S in Educational Administration from South Carolina State University. She worked for South Carolina State as an adjunct professor and for Orangeburg Consolidated School District Five as a teacher; department chair, and program specialist before her retirement in 2011. Johnson-Williams also served as the Special Education Program Specialist and Department Chairperson for Special Education at Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School. She was a member of the Council for Exceptional Children Local Chapter and president of the South Carolina Council for Exceptional Children. Her professional, personal and civic affiliations include president of the Northwood Estates Neighborhood Association, Advisory Board for Low County Healthy Start, the Nurturing Committee for Edisto Habitat for Humanity, Orangeburg Community Task Force, Orangeburg Branch of the NAACP, member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., The Orangeburg Links Inc., Phi Delta Kappa Fraternity, SCSU Alumni, Association of Supervision and Curriculum Development, the Edisto Fork Community Development Center Inc., the National Education Association, the American Business Women’s Association and the South Carolina Association for Black Educators. Sheis a member of Mount Pisgah Baptist Church, where she serves as president of the Usher Ministry, correspondent secretary of the Senior Missionary Ministry and member of the Stewardship Ministry and Women’s Guild. She and her husband, Cecil, live in Orangeburg.
DR. ROY JONES
Dr. Roy I. Jones is a lifelong educator who has served in South Carolina institutions for nearly 40 years. Jones is the Executive Director of the Call Me MiSTER program and Provost Distinguished Professor in Clemson University’s College of Education. MiSTER works to increase the number of teachers from diverse backgrounds, particularly among the nation’s lowest performing schools.
The program is the most recognized collaborative in the nation for recruiting, retaining and developing fully certified, career-minded African American male elementary and middle school teachers. It currently represents 24 colleges and universities in South Carolina and 10 institutions in nine other states.
MiSTER has more than doubled the number of African American males teaching in public elementary school classrooms. There is a 90 percent retention rate of program graduates who are still teaching with eight percent leading schools in administrative roles. Through numerous journal articles, citations and awards, for both Jones and the program, MiSTER has demonstrated success in diverse academic environments.
Jones is a fierce advocate for historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) as early pioneers in producing black educators. Under Jones’ leadership, the Call Me MiSTER program has generated millions of dollars in revenue, much of which supports students attending HBCUs.
Jones previously served as a department chair at Claflin University and was instrumental in it becoming the first historically black, private institution in the state to be accredited by the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education. Jones has also served as director of employment for the Charleston County School District.
Jones is a father and Massachusetts native, but has spent most of his professional life in the South. He earned a bachelor’s degree in education from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, a master’s degree in educational psychology from Atlanta University, and an Ed.D. in higher education from the University of Georgia.
Andre Rice
As President of M2, André sets the investment strategy and oversees the growth and operations of M2. He founded the firm in 1999.
Prior to M2, André led the Rice Group Ltd. (RGL), a firm he launched in 1986 to identify and organize special investment opportunities for wealthy individuals. RGL created several successful investment partnerships and provided select investment banking services to the world’s largest commodities firm.
André began his career in 1978 as an Auditor at Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co. (now KPMG). He worked in securities sales for the Private Client Group at Goldman Sachs & Co. Immediately prior to founding RGL, André was a Senior Project Manager in the Mergers and Acquisitions Department at Kraft, Inc.
André is a member of NASP (National Association of Securities Professionals). Appointed by Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, he serves on the Chicago Cook Workforce Investment Board. André was previously appointed by Former Mayor Daley to serve on the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) Board (June 2010 – September 2012), the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (May 2006 – April 2010), and the interim board of the Metropolitan Pier & Exposition Authority (April 2010 – June 2010).
André received a BS in Accounting, with honors, from South Carolina State University and MBA from the University of Chicago.
Dr. Akiva Ford
Dr. Akiva Ford is founder and CEO of Legacy Family Based Consulting Firm, LLC. Dr. Ford recognizes the emerging need to bring together the passions and missions of those attempting to enhance the lives of people of color. Dr. Ford is the great-granddaughter of the late civil rights pioneer, Mr. Levi Pearson Sr. The Pearson family Legacy is a significant part of American History. Mr. Pearson’s commitment to equal opportunity led to the issuance of a series of court decisions and the enactment of federal laws that changed America forever.
While embracing the same ideas as her great grandfather, Dr. Ford is committed to launching the mission and visions of those that demonstrate the understanding, that it takes a village to build positive legacies for the future.
Serving as an ambassador to children’s rights for over 21 years, Dr. Ford has dedicated her career to serving children and families through tough times of separation, loss, and trauma caused by the many faces of abuse. Dr. Ford has worked with in every facet of the child welfare system and is acknowledged as a national speaker on the recruitment and retention of out of home caregivers.
Dr. Ford is married to her college sweetheart and soul mate and together they have 8 wonderful children. In taking with her great grandfather’s favorite song, “When the Lord Gets Ready, You Got to Move”, Dr. Ford is driven by her faith and knows it’s time to move in an ecumenical, economical, and ecological way to ensure progressive growth through generations.
Herbert L. Mitchell
Herbert (Larry) Mitchell is a long-standing resident and business owner in Orangeburg, SC. He earned his master’s degree in business administration (MBA) from Claflin University as well. Larry, along with his brothers, co-founded Mitchell’s Studio, a photography, formal wear and custom Frame business headquartered in Orangeburg, South Carolina in 1981, and Larry continued operation of the business successfully for over 30 years.
While a student at SCSC, Larry was given the opportunity to work with Cecil J. Williams, a pre-eminent local photographer of Orangeburg’s culture and history. In 1978, Larry was appointed to service as Assistant to the Lt. Governor of South Carolina. In 1984, he was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives District #95 where he served one term.
After retiring from Mitchell’s Photography, Larry accompanied his wife of 44 years Lynda, to Grand Cayman Island where he has worked for the Cayman Islands Government in various capacities for over 10 years. Larry published his first book titled “Sunsets – Cayman Style."
Dr. Nancy Wilson-Young
Dr. Nancy Wilson-Young is a native of Orangeburg, South Carolina where during the 1960s, she participated in the civil rights movement. Now retired, Young is the former distinguished Professor of Reading at Miami-Dade. A graduate of Claflin University, she has traveled almost every Continent world-wide. Formerly she served on the Board of Trustees at Claflin University. She is a life member of the NAACP and the Claflin University International Alumni Association.
Rev. Dr. Nelson B. Rivers
For over 38 years Rev. Rivers worked at every level of the NAACP, including President, North Charleston, SC Branch; Executive Director, South Carolina State Conference; Director, Southeast Region; Chief Operating Officer, twice as Chief of Field Operations, and Vice President of Stakeholder Relations from 2008 until May 2014. Rev. Rivers led the NAACP’s successful efforts to significantly increase the Association’s support from various key stakeholders including the Black church, faith groups, civic groups, fraternities, sororities and civil rights and progressive organizations.
His work led to the election of more than 300 new black elected officials in South Carolina between 1986 and 1994. He was a leading organizer of the largest civil rights demonstration in the history of South Carolina when over 50,000 marched on the state capitol in January 2000 to demand the removal of the Confederate Battle Flag.
Rev. Rivers is co-president of the Charleston Area Justice Ministry (CAJM) and was founding member of the organization in 2011. CAJM is an inter-faith, inter-religious group of 25 congregations in the Charleston, SC area committed to congregational work for justice to address the root causes of poverty and injustice, through the empowerment of marginalized people.
He is on the Board of Trustees of Wilberforce University. From 1994 to 1998, he served as president of the university’s Alumni Association. During his tenure, membership tripled and the alumni contributed over $2 million to the university. Rev. Rivers has appeared on NPR, CNN, and 60 Minutes. He had a speaking role in the movie Separate but Equal starring Sidney Poitier.
STATE ADVISORY BOARD
DR. BOBBY DONALDSON
Dr. Bobby Donaldson is an Associate Professor of History, and the Director of the Center for Civil Rights History and Research, at the University of South Carolina-Columbia. He received his undergraduate degree in History and African American Studies from Wesleyan University and his Ph.D. in American History from Emory University. Previously, he held fellowships at Dartmouth College and the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University.
In addition to teaching and publishing articles and essays on African American education, religion, and civil rights, Donaldson has served as a curator and consultant for numerous museum exhibitions, historic preservation projects, oral histories, documentary films and archival collections.
Dr. Donaldson and his students received the Helen Kohn Hennig Prize awarded by the Historic Columbia Foundation for their documentary project on the Ward One community in downtown Columbia. In 2010, he received a Michael J. Mungo Undergraduate Teaching Award. Presently, Dr. Donaldson is a member of Wesleyan University’s Board of Trustees and the NAACP.
DR. MARVIN DULANEY
Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney
Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney is President of the Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASALH), the nation’s oldest African American historical association and the founders of Black History Month. For the past two years, he has also served as Deputy Director and Chief Operations Officer for the Dallas African American Museum. He is also an Associate Professor of History Emeritus, former Interim Director of the Center for African American Studies, and the former Chair of the Department of History at the University of Texas, Arlington. He is a graduate of Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in History, magna cum laude. He earned his Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in American and African-American history at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio.
Before retiring in 2016, he taught history for forty-two years. In addition to teaching at four universities—Ohio State, St. Olaf College, the College of Charleston, and the University of Texas, Arlington—Dr. Dulaney has taught courses in the Charleston and Dallas-Fort Worth communities in an effort literally “to take the history to the people.” He has also trained teachers, presented workshops on pedagogy and content, and written curricula for courses in American and African American history for the Charleston, Dallas, and Fort Worth school districts.
Believing that “to whom much is given much is required,” Dr. Dulaney has served on numerous boards and community organizations. Locally, in Dallas he has served on the boards of Mothers Against Teen Violence, Mothers Against Police Brutality and the Dallas Civil Rights Museum. While he was in Charleston he served on the Humanities Council of South Carolina, the South Carolina Historical Association, the South Carolina African American Heritage Commission, and he was a founding member of 100 Black Men of Charleston. In Texas, he has served on the board of the Texas State Historical Association and the editorial board of Legacies: A Journal of Dallas and North Texas History.
He has published and edited four books, including: Essays on the American Civil Rights Movement (1993); Black Police in America (1996); Born to Serve: A History of the WBEMC of South Carolina (2008); and Charleston’s Avery Center: From Education and Civil Rights to Preserving the African American Experience (2006). His most recent publications are: “Juanita Craft: Another Unsung Heroine of the Civil Rights Movement,” Legacies 29 (Fall 2017):38-45; and “Norman Washington Harllee,” a biographical entry for the Handbook of African American Texas (2020). He is completing a history of African Americans in Dallas for Texas A & M University Press.
MUSEUM STAFF
CECIL WILLIAMS
Before 12 years of age, Cecil Williams’ camera had captured the petitioners in Clarendon County as they lit the torch of freedom. In 10th grade, he photographed Thurgood Marshall coming to Charleston for the Briggs case, and again one year later, speaking at Claflin. In 1955, he became the youngest-ever JET Magazine photographer. In 1960, upon being thrown out of a New York press conference, he became JFK’s favorite lensman.
Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum is a non-profit 501 (c) 3 operating with strict guidelines adhering to the mission of non-profits.
Cecil is Director of Historic Preservation at Claflin University. In this task, he also oversees one of the largest digital film transformation projects in the southeast.
JANNIE HARRIOT
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF PROGRAMS & DEVELOPMENT
Jannie Harriot, lends her guiding spirit towards the overall development stage of the Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum. She graduated from Butler High School in Hartsville and attended Talladega College in Alabama. She went on to receive a B.S. from Fayetteville State University in N.C. Harriot then continued her studies at the University of South Carolina and Montclair State College in New Jersey.
Before returning to Hartsville in 1990, Harriot taught in various N.C. and S.C. public schools as well as community colleges in N.J. Since then, she has served several community-based organizations in a multitude of roles. As the founding Chairperson for the Butler Heritage Foundation, Harriot was instrumental in getting the Darlington County Board of Education to deed her high school alma mater to the Foundation for restoration and preservation. In 1993, she was appointed by Governor Carroll Campbell as a charter member of the SC African American Heritage Foundation (SCAAHC) where she served as chairperson for nine years, vice-chairperson for six years and secretary for three years.
During her tenure as SCAAHC chair, she published the “African American Historic Places in South Carolina,” the “Teachers’ Guide to African American Historic Places in South Carolina” and its “Arts Integration Supplement.” In addition, Harriot also published a project identifying African American schools in S.C. titled, “How Did We Get to Now?”.
She is a 2009 Purpose Prize Fellow, and in 2010, was selected as one of S.C.’s Top 100 Black Women of Influence. In 2014, the SCAAHC awarded her the Herbert A. DeCosta Jr. Trailblazer Award for her dedication to the preservation of African American history and culture in S.C. In 2018, the S.C. Conference of NAACP awarded her the Presidential Citation in Education and Advocacy and was awarded the state's high civilian honor "The Order of the Palmetto" by Governor Henry McMaster.