South Carolina: University of South Carolina

The University of South Carolina was founded in 1801 as South Carolina College. Located in Columbia, a block from the state's capitol, it was an institution of higher learning primarily for the Palmetto State's sons of the aristocracy and the province of white men from wealthy families from its inception. The university was briefly integrated during Reconstruction, when African American men could attend from 1873 to 1877 before the university closed and subsequently reopened as an all-white agricultural college. After decades of court battles, the University admitted African American men and women in 1963. Parallel to integration battles, the university benefited from urban renewal projects to acquire historically black neighborhoods which surrounded the campus for campus expansion plans, including Booker T. Washington High School and Florence C. Benson Elementary School, segregated schools for African American students in Columbia. Over the course of the 20th century, the university was a focus of local civil rights efforts and its campus stands as an example of the long civil rights movement in South Carolina.