In this episode, “The March for Equality,” historians and experts help us explore how African Americans in South Carolina, and their allies, began peaceful protests in the late 1950s and into the 1960s, when the state ignored new federal legislation calling for integration and equality. To learn more about the stories and places you hear about, you can see the markers where students held their sit-in at McCrory’s in Rock Hill, where protesters sang “We Will Overcome” at the Charleston Cigar Factory, and where the Hospital Worker’s Strike began at present-day Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston. In Orangeburg, you can visit the Cecil Williams South Carolina Museum on Civil Rights or the monument on the campus of South Carolina State University that memorializes students killed in the 1968 massacre.

In this episode, “Separate is Not Equal,” historians and experts help us explore how some of the pivotal legislation — rooted in South Carolina — made a significant difference in the entire Civil Rights movement. To learn more about the stories and places you hear about, you can visit Columbia where the protest took place at the state capitol and where Sarah Mae Flemming boarded the bus. You can also visit a statue of Judge Julius Waties Waring in Charleston and historic markers at the homes and churches around Summerton where planning meetings were held for Briggs vs. Elliot.

In this episode, “Precursor to the Movement,” historians and experts help us explore critical 19th Century events that plunged the nation into a civil rights crisis. To learn more about the stories and places you hear about, you can visit Beaufort County, Hilton Head, Mitchelville and Union County. You can also visit the Reconstruction Era National Historic Park and The Penn Center. At the Tabernacle Baptist Church in Beaufort, you’ll see a bust of Robert Smalls, and nearby you’ll find the Gullah Museum of Hilton Head.

The South Carolina Legacy of Courage podcast tells the stories of people who stood strong against oppression. Across three episodes, historians and experts help us explore critical 19th Century events that plunged the nation into a civil rights crisis and then illuminates court cases, protests and those who affected positive change in the state and nationally. You’ll also hear the real stories of people who were there and who made a difference…and why what took place in South Carolina then is still so relevant today.