The Department of History welcomes Professor Christian Anderson, University of South Carolina

“The Reclamation of Memory: Richard T. Greener and the Reconstruction-era University of South Carolina”

Wednesday, November 13, 2019
1:00–2:00 p.m.
McKenzie Hall, room 375

In the fall of 1873 the University of South Carolina admitted its first black student, Henry E. Hayne, and hired its first black professor, Richard T. Greener. Soon thereafter, the majority of students in the Reconstruction-era campus were black, but by 1877 this experiment in desegregation was over, the campus closed as Reconstruction came to an end. It reopened for whites only 1880.

This history was largely unknown or ignored until recently, in no small part due to certain efforts to diminish or erase it. Christian Anderson will discuss the Reconstruction-era University, the only in the south to desegregate after the Civil War, the impact and successes of alumni from this period, and how its history is being reclaimed.

Christian Anderson is associate professor of higher education with the University of South Carolina’s Department of Educational Leadership and Policies. Learn more about his work at christiankanderson.weebly.com