USC to erect statues commemorating Black students who desegregated university

The University of South Carolina announced Friday it will erect three statues to the Black students who integrated the school in the 1960s.

USC’s board of trustees unanimously approved Friday the creation of statues depicting Robert Anderson, Henrie Monteith Treadwell and James Solomon Jr., who integrated USC in 1963.

Treadwell was the first Black student to graduate from USC since Reconstruction, according to USC’s website. She and a granddaughter of Solomon, Ashlyn Solomon, were present at the Friday board meeting where the statues were approved.

“This statue is significant because its the first time the (board of trustees) has said ‘we see you,’” Treadwell said. In prior visits to campus, Treadwell said she felt, despite her historic accomplishment, “like a ghost.”

“Now there is something tangible,” Treadwell said.

USC is yet to decide where the statue will be placed and who will craft it, though documents presented at the board meeting noted it was an opportunity to hire a Black artist. The board will launch a national search for an artist, USC architect Derek Gruner said. The project likely won’t be complete for another 18 months and will cost between $600,000 and $700,000, Gruner said.

The idea for erecting the statue came from the board of trustees, Gruner said.

The statue is part of an effort for USC to acknowledge its past without “glossing over” the painful parts of it, said USC board of trustees chair Dorn Smith.

“Every day we see those statues I hope we feel thankful for Treadwell, Anderson and Solomon,” Smith said.

Interim President Harris Pastides said that while the university should celebrate the development, it’s also a time for reflection.

“Celebrating will always go hand-in-hand with a more somber time,” Pastides said.

The move to honor the three students follows several years of a heightened push to rename buildings on campus that were named for segregationists, racists slave owners, etc. Since the state’s Heritage Act, which requires legislative approval to change the names of state-owned buildings named for historic figures, practically prevents new names for controversial campus buildings, USC has been taking a different approach.

That approach focuses more on honoring historic Black leaders with strong USC ties rather than changing the names of controversial buildings. Last month, USC renamed a campus dorm after Celia Dial Saxon, a Black educator and Civil Rights advocate who taught in Columbia for 57 years.

This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 2:47 PM.