Civil Rights Memory Sites in South Carolina State Parks

Lake Greenwood State Park: First Access & "Equalization"

Under the Jim Crow system, all state parks in South Carolina were racially segregated and designated for white use only until 1938. That year, after Dewey R. Jones and Miller F. Whittaker pressed the National Park Service (NPS) and State Park officials for facilities for African Americans, the NPS recommended that South Carolina build recreational facilities for Black South Carolinians. The  Civilian Conservation Corps  began work on Greenwood State Park (as it was then known), a portion of which would be open to African Americans. 

However, Greenwood was still segregated spatially, and the facilities in the Black area were substandard compared to the white area. There was also no lake access for African American visitors due to white fears about water contamination, so park officials planned to add swimming pool, but the funds fell through. The Greenwood State Park "Negro Area" (across from the current park entrance) opened to the public in 1940. 

Because the African American area was most certainly separate but not equal, state park officials hoped to stave off forced integration in the 1950s by improving the facilities in the park for black visitors. This was known as "equalization." Greenwood added another area for African Americans that had lake access and more facilities. This area ( now known as Area 4 ) opened in 1955, but was still lacking compared to the rest of the park. 

Poinsett State Park: Segregation Impacts Black Employees

 Poinsett State Park , located in Sumter County, was another park built specifically for whites, but its labor history highlights another facet of Jim Crow. Poinsett was segregated during its construction, which began in 1934, as an all-Black company of the  Civilian Conservation Corps  worked on the park for a short time in 1935. White Sumter residents objected to these workers because they wanted to continue to use the swimming facilities exclusively, which were not technically open to the public yet. After public outcry, the Forestry Commission "temporally segregated" the facilities, meaning the Black CCC company could only use them outside of the designated white recreational time periods. The African American men in this company also experienced hostile discrimination from the local white residents. This company transferred to Chester County, SC, after only three months of work because of local hostility.

 Even though Poinsett was designed and built exclusively for whites, the park could not function without African American employees, and consequently facilities for their use were included in the design. These included living accommodations for the Black employees of the tea room/kitchen at the bathhouse and possibly for the cabins’ housekeeping staff. Originally, the park’s bathhouse included a “help’s” or “servant’s” restroom separate from the building’s public facilities. Although kitchen employees may not have always been African American, the designers seem to have anticipated that future employees might be a different race from visitors and would need separate toilet facilities.  

 In 1941, the park converted the second story of the caretaker’s barn into a “servants quarters,” also referred to as quarters for the “Colored Park Help.” This structure is intact and is listed on the  National Register of Historic Places  primarily because of its association with the architecture of racial segregation. 

Mill Creek: A Segregated Camp for Groups

African American recreational facilities were a low priority for South Carolina, which is reflected in the design and facilities at the African American-only parks and areas.  Mill Creek Park  is a prime example. This park was originally formed as Mill Creek Group Camp in 1941, which primarily served church and school groups. The map to the right shows three surviving buildings from the era of segregation.

The original design only included twelve structures and a small lake, and lacked the larger rental cabins, campground, picnic shelters, trails and tea room of nearby Poinsett. 

Despite the unequal facilities, Mill Creek proved popular with the African American community as the camp reached full capacity for eight weeks in the summer of 1946. Its popularity remained for decades, as over 26,000 visited during 1961-1962.  

Hunting Island: Segregation at the Beach

 Hunting Island State Park  became the first state park that had coastal beach access for African Americans in South Carolina. The north end of the island was the designated "Negro area," and included facilities such as picnic areas, beach and swimming areas, and vacation cabins. The northernmost blue dot on the map represents the former African American area of the park.

Though development of the Black recreational area of the park was approved in the 1930s, it was not fully developed until the 1950s. The Park Service completed a bath house there in 1952, and two cottages (rental cabins) in 1955. The two cabins were moved to the lighthouse area in 1980 (marked by two blue dots on the map to the right).

Segregation at Hunting Island would last for over twenty years. 1963 was the last year of having segregated facilities before the state legislature closed the entire park system rather than integrate after Judge Robert Martin ordered it in his decision on the Brown v. South Carolina Forestry Commission case.

Pleasant Ridge: Separate but Unequal

Pleasant Ridge State Park ( now a county park ) was the only entirely African American park in the South Carolina State Park system when it opened. However, development of Pleasant Ridge took eight years due to white resistance. By 1947, there was increased Black demand to use the white-only Paris Mountain State Park, so the South Carolina Forestry Commission began considering sites for an African American area or park. One of the strongest possibilities was part of Paris Mountain State Park, but the virulent white backlash stopped that project. Many of local white complaints centered around race. Finally, the Forestry Commission chose a site that was more remote and owned by the Enoree Colored Baptist Association.

However, after purchasing the property in 1949, the Commission moved development along very slowly due to a lack of state funding, drawing some ire from local Black residents. Funding did not come until tragedy struck in July 1954 when  three African American boys visiting with their youth group drowned at the Pleasant Ridge lake  due to incomplete facilities. This illuminated the separate but unequal conditions at the park and prompted the South Carolina legislature to grant more funding to finish the park. Pleasant Ridge then opened to the public in 1955, however, it was not as popular as other parks due to its remote location.

Campbell's Pond: From Shared Access to Segregation

Another segregated park that illustrates the  "strange career of Jim Crow"  is Campbell's Pond State Park for Negroes. It originally began as a project of the US Department of Agriculture in the late 1930s. The land became part of the Sand Hills State Forest in the 1940s, and the South Carolina Forestry Commission later transferred management to the superintendent at  Cheraw State Park  in 1947. The blue dot on the map represents the area of Campbell's Pond State Park.

Before 1947, both white and Black citizens informally used the park and fished in Campbell's Pond. State Park officials decided in 1946 to designate the park for African American use only out of concern for the white patrons. These officials along with local leadership felt there would be no push back from the white fishermen as long as Eureka Lake in Cheraw State Park would also be segregated. Jim Crow signs went up at Campbell's Pond to designate it as "negro only." 

Through the 1950s and 1960s, the Forestry Commission made several improvements to the park by adding facilities like picnic shelters and a bath house. By 1962, visitation averaged over 15,000.

Edisto Beach: Demanding Equal Access

Prior to the mainstream civil rights era, there were few challenges to segregation practices in South Carolina state parks, including the attempt at Poinsett State Park in 1940. But by the 1950s, with successful lawsuits brought the NAACP, African Americans in the state began utilizing the legal system and direct-action protests to gain access to the all-white parks and facilities. 

The Civilian Conservation Corps developed  Edisto Beach State Park  as a segregated "whites only" recreation park in the 1930s. In the 1950s, African Americans in South Carolina began to demand right of access to all the state parks.  J. Arthur Brown , head of the Charleston chapter of the NAACP, requested to use Edisto Beach but was refused entry. State Park officials responded that they " were not empowered with the authority to grant you permission to visit Edisto Beach State Park ." They went on to say that "this park was established in 1935 for the exclusive use of white persons, and based on custom and precedence we will have to deny your request." 

Brown,  Etta Clark  and other members of the Charleston NAACP organized the first lawsuit challenging segregation in South Carolina State Parks in 1956, Mrs. Etta Clark, et al, v. C. H. Flory, State Forester, et al. Rather than go to trial and lose, state officials decided to close the park to everyone, regardless of race. Brown continued to fight against segregation in public parks, and would be the lead plaintiff in the case that integrated the entire park system.

Brown, as the president of the South Carolina NAACP, was particularly vocal in his demands for integration of state facilities. On May 30, 1961, he addressed a Charleston NAACP rally: 

Tell the Citadel, Clemson, South Carolina Medical School, the University of South Carolina, Winthrop and any other state supported institutions from South Carolina that the walls of segregation are crumbling... we are sick and tired of Jim Crow living. Until I can move in society like other people, you are enslaving my soul and before I'll be a slave, I'll be dead." (J. Arthur Brown, The State, May 31, 1961)

As pressure increased to integrate other parks, including Myrtle Beach and Sesquicentennial State Park, the state closed down the entire state park system in 1963. 

In the summer of 1965, a group of 13 African American and white students had just worked three weeks straight doing difficult  civil rights work in Charleston . By July 4th, they needed a break, and just wanted to find a beach (marked with blue dot #2) where they could relax. Despite a court ruling requiring integration, Edisto Beach State Park was still segregated. 

The students decided to visit anyway, challenging the park’s closure. They were immediately arrested and were tried in magistrate's court a few days later. However, Edisto Island had no courthouse, so the trial took place at the home of the magistrate, W.E. Seabrook ( area  marked by blue dot #4 on the map to the right). From the transcript of the trial, it was a kangaroo court, as the magistrate repeatedly refused to recuse himself after making derogatory remarks about the defendants and their counsel,  Matthew J. Perry .  

Of the 13, five were students at the University of California at Berkeley, two were from New York, and the others were from Charleston. Most were working for the  Summer Community Organization and Political Education (SCOPE) Project of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) . Two others were law students working for Russell Brown, president of the Charleston NAACP. Despite their involvement in the Civil Rights movement, apparently their Edisto Beach State Park protest was spontaneous and not an official action. Their diverse geographic origins are a reminder that civil rights was a social justice struggle that inspired white and Black students throughout the country to come south in the late 1950s and early 1960s. 

Myrtle Beach State Park: Dangerous Confrontations

By 1960, activism in civil rights by South Carolina African Americans grew more frequent and bold. The South Carolina NAACP, led then by Rev. H.P. Sharper, organized several efforts to integrate state parks by attempting to enter parks.

On August 30, 1960, field secretary for the SC NAACP,  Rev. Isaiah DeQuincey Newman , led a group of African Americans along with a white couple from Brooklyn, NY, to attempt a "wade-in" at Myrtle Beach State Park. Park officials denied the group entry at the gate (view  here ) and closed the park, and South Carolina State Law Enforcement Division (SLED) officers ordered the area cleared. Rev. Newman and the white man, Gerald Friedberg (a civil rights activist and political science professor), were later arrested in Conway for driving too fast. Rev. Newman later recalled that after being arrested near Conway, the police escorted them to the Horry County line, and then a white mob chased the group in pursuit:  

"I drove 120 miles an hour across Marion County to Florence County. I outdistanced them, finally, but I didn't slow up until I got to Lake City. I was so frightened that I couldn't talk for two days. I was literally struck dumb." (Rev. I DeQuincey Newman, The State, October 22, 1985)

The blue and red lines on the map to the right represents the civil rights activists' flight from Horry County.

This risk later paid off when this incident served as  evidence  with the challenge at Sesquicentennial State Park in the case Brown v. South Carolina Forestry Commission, where a federal judge ruled that all state parks must be desegregated. 

Sesquicentennial: Student Activism

In Richland County, the African American community was also devoted to addressing civil rights and had developed a robust movement among students and other residents through the work of the NAACP.

On June 16, 1961, a group of students from  Allen University  and  Benedict College  attempted to integrate Sesquicentennial State Park in Richland County. Some of the demonstrators present included Murry Canty,  David   Carter , Edith Davis, Sam Leverette, H. Lloyd Norris, and Gladys Porter. J. Arthur Brown of the Charleston NAACP who challenged segregation at Edisto Beach was also present. This group was led by Rev. I. DeQuincey Newman, field secretary for the SC NAACP.

They were barred from entry (view the entrance of the park  here ; designated on the map by blue dot #3) as policemen armed with clubs met them at the front gates off of Two Notch Road. Participant H. Lloyd Norris recounted years later the moment the students attempted to integrate the park:

"The captain of the squad of highway patrolmen gave orders to his men to raise their billy clubs and be prepared for an assault. But Mr. Newman would give us orders and one was to retreat rather than get hit. We did retreat. Then he had us do it again so he could ask the captain of the guard 'Why can't we be admitted as citizens of South Carolina and taxpayers.' The captain of course quoted the existing law which permitted only white citizens to use Sesquicentennial and other parks. Later we learned that Mr. Newman wore something that looked like a watch, but it was a recorder. He got the words of the captain . . . and he said 'This is what I need. Let's go.' So we left the park." (interview by Alice Bernstein)

After the students left, the park shut down to all visitors for the rest of that day. This challenge and the recording obtained by Newman led to a lawsuit to desegregate the all state parks, Brown v. South Carolina Forestry Commission, and it was an integral part to the NAACP’s overall strategy for attacking Jim Crow in South Carolina.