Founded in 1870, Benedict College embodies a significant achievement in the Reconstruction Era - equitable access to education for people of color. The campus, established on former plantation land, ensured newly freed people, and their descendants, could benefit from educational opportunities. Benedict College's Historic District - listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1987 - includes Morgan Hall, the school's oldest remaining building, constructed in 1895.

Completed in 1818, the Hampton-Preston Mansion is one of Columbia's oldest remaining structures and is most commonly associated with the politically-powerful families that owned it from 1823 until 1873. Today, tours of the furnished house's exhibits explore the lives of enslaved workers and their planter-class owners. Through enslaved labor prior to the Civil War, the four-acre grounds were transformed into regionally-acclaimed gardens that contained a remarkable collection of native varieties and plants from around the world.

Ladson Presbyterian Church was established in 1874 after severing its ties with First Presbyterian. The church selected its first Black pastor, Mack Johnson, in 1876. Though the structures from the Reconstruction Era are no longer standing, the present church was built in 1896 and the congregation was led by Pastor Mack Johnson until his death in 1921.



Notable Figure: Born into slavery, Mack Johnson became the first Black pastor at Ladson Presbyterian Church in 1874.

Completed in 1866, the home of the influential and hyper-partisan newspaper, The Daily Phoenix, still stands today. The newspaper's owner, Julian Selby, amplified voices of disempowered Democrats seeking to restore the past, despite many stories being biased or misleading. The information published shaped the general public's view of the Civil War and Reconstruction for generations.



Notable Figure: In the 1880s, Clarissa Minnie Thompson Allen published a series of stories about "Capitola," a fictionalized version of Columbia, in The Boston Advocate.

Reverend Benjamin F. Randolph played a significant role in the 1868 South Carolina State Constitutional Convention. He briefly served as a Republican state senator before his assassination in October 1868. In 1871, 19 local Black legislators and businessmen purchased land and established this cemetery as a more dignified final resting place for African Americans in Columbia, naming it in Randolph's honor.



Notable Figure: William Beverly Nash represented Richland County in the 1868 South Carolina State Constitutional Convention and served in the state senate as a Republican from 1868 until 1877.

I love to brush up on my history when I’m here! Notice the home of democracy at the State House, located in the heart of Columbia and at the end of Main Street. It sure is a historic building with a storied past of war, struggle and accomplishments. The State House grounds are home to more than two dozen monuments. Can you find all 6 bronze stars located on the building?

The Museum of the Reconstruction Era at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home is the nation's first museum dedicated to interpreting the post-Civil War Reconstruction period and is housed in South Carolina's only remaining presidential site. Visitors have the opportunity to explore the years following the Civil War brought to life by influential figures and landmark events, such as the Ku Klux Klan trials of 1870 and 1871.



Notable Figures: Frances, Charlotte, Katherine, Louise and Florence Rollin moved to Columbia after the Civil War and were among the first and most significant women suffragists in South Carolina.

Originally known as South Carolina College, the institution closed between 1861 and 1865 as the Civil War disrupted life in the South. With the onset of Reconstruction and new leadership at the state level, South Carolina College reopened as the University of South Carolina in 1866. In 1869, the Black-majority state legislature began integrating the university, first with the appointment of two African American board members. In 1873, the university hired Black faculty member Richard T. Greener and admitted Black students. A statue dedicated to Greener stands outside Thomas Cooper Library.



Notable Figure: By registering as a medical student at the University of South Carolina in 1873, Henry E. Hayne led the first radical desegregation of the University of South Carolina.