What you don’t know about Columbia’s Reconstruction history. Tour shines a new light
The Civil War dominates a lot of people’s conceptions of South Carolina history. But a new tour in Columbia highlights what happened after: the Reconstruction era and the unprecedented advances it brought to Black South Carolinians.
The Reconstructed historic tourism trail was put together by Historic Columbia and Experience Columbia SC to highlight eight capital city locations and 10 Columbia residents who had a major impact on the state that emerged from the war.
Reconstruction is the period from 1865 to 1877 when the United States struggled to integrate a newly emancipated population of African Americans, who voted and held elected office for the first time in the Palmetto State — even as proponents of the old Confederacy sought to turn back the clock.
“Many people don’t know how important the Reconstruction Era was to our nation, let alone that many of the most iconic buildings are still standing today in South Carolina’s capital,” said Charlene Slaughter, communications director for Experience Columbia SC.
“The period of Reconstruction was pivotal in our city and the nation’s history, yet myths surrounding this time remain prevalent today,” said Robin Waites, executive director for Historic Columbia. “Through this tour, visitors will explore the history of the places and people significant to Reconstruction, while also becoming familiar with the advancements made by Black citizens prior to their rights being revoked under Jim Crow.”
Some of the recommended stops might seem obvious, like the State House — where the sometimes controversial monuments and their history are already the subject of a dedicated Historic Columbia podcast — or the University of South Carolina, which erected a statue in 2018 to its first African-American professor. Richard Greener, the first Black Harvard graduate, taught at the newly-integrated university in the 1870s, until Gov. Wade Hampton shut it down.
But the new tour also highlights several local churches that first emerged in the Black community during Reconstruction. Bethel AME Church was founded in 1866, while First Calvary, Zion Baptist and Ladson Presbyterian emerged from existing, white-led congregations at Columbia’s First Baptist and First Presbyterian.
The capital city’s Benedict College was also founded during Reconstruction as Columbia’s first dedicated college for African Americans, even as USC’s student body grew to become 90% Black by the 1870s.
The other side of Reconstruction is also represented. The building at 1625 Main St. once housed the offices of the Daily Phoenix, a partisan newspaper that gave voice to newly disempowered Democrats whose telling of the Civil War and Reconstruction were the first draft of the “Lost Cause” mythology around the Confederacy and antebellum period.
The Hampton-Preston Mansion on Blanding Street may be associated with the pre-war planter class, but during Reconstruction it was also briefly the official residence of Republican Gov. Franklin Moses. Moses’ purchase of the house, and the frequent parties he hosted there that breached traditional racial and class boundaries, became part of the litany of Republican “corruption” that Hampton would use to win back power for the Democrats in 1876, bringing Reconstruction in South Carolina to an end.
Columbia’s historic community has already put a spotlight on Reconstruction history. Last year the museum home of President Woodrow Wilson on Hampton Street changed its name to put more emphasis on the Reconstruction era it chronicles. Richland County also has what one researcher estimates are the most public memorials to Black women in the country, including sites like the Harriet Barber House and the Mann-Simons Cottage that date to the 1800s.
Visitors can find out more at reconstructedcolumbiasc.com, or pick up a copy of the Reconstructed trail guide at the Columbia SC Visitor’s Center, 1120 Lincoln St., or at Historic Columbia’s Gift Shop at the Robert Mills House, 1616 Blanding St.
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