Visit Project
Project Details
This project consists of two story maps that remember and acknowledge the history of segregation in South Carolina State Parks. From its founding in the 1930s until its full integration in 1966, the South Carolina State Park system operated with strictly segregated facilities. From 1955-1965, African American students, activists and civil rights organizations, including the NAACP, challenged park segregation. Their struggles, undertaken at significant personal, social and economic risk, eventually resulted in full integration of the state parks. Today the parks are open to all people.
Subjects or Themes
African American; Segregation--1930-1970; Parks--South Carolina--History.
Project Language(s)
English
Time Period
Geographic Location
Project Categories
Content Type
Mapping, oral history, images, artifacts, text
Target Audience(s)
Creators
Dr. Emily Martin Cochran, "Virtual Tour of Civil Rights Memory Sites in the South Carolina State Parks"
Al Hester, "Remembering and Acknowledging the History of Segregation in South Carolina State Parks"
Al Hester, "Remembering and Acknowledging the History of Segregation in South Carolina State Parks"
Year(s)
2017-2018
Host Institution / Affiliation / Project Location
South Carolina State Park Service
Software Employed
Labor and Support
Al Hester researched and designed "Remembering and Acknowledging the History of Segregation in South Carolina State Parks." He worked on the project from 2017-2018 as part of his regular job duties as Historic Sites Coordinator with the SC State Park Service. Dr. Emily Martin Cochran researched and designed "Virtual Tour of Civil Rights Memory Sites in the South Carolina State Parks" while a graduate student at the University of South Carolina. Work began as a class project for the Capital City Field School taught by Dr. Robert Weyeneth in 2017, and continued through a Practicum in History course and a paid position in 2018. Each story map took approximately 200 hours (a very rough estimate) to complete. Both projects were built upon research on this topic done by multiple graduate students over three decades from the University of South Carolina's Public History Program (see acknowledgements section of each story map for a full list).
Project Cost
Partnerships, funding sources, or grant-funding acknowledgement
The University of South Carolina Public History Graduate Program (student research assistance and review of drafts).
Alice Bernstein, Director, Alliance of Ethics & Art (permission to use oral history research and recording).
Clemson University's Open Parks Network (https://openparksnetwork.org/) assisted with image digitization.
Please see acknowledgements at the end of each story map for a full list of partners.