A powerful hurricane tore through the South Carolina Lowcountry in August 1893, leaving those who survived with a devastated landscape. In the aftermath of the Great Sea Island Storm, as it came to be known, a partnership formed between Clara Barton’s American Red Cross and African American residents of the Lowcountry. The two groups worked together to organize and restore the homes, fields, and lives of those who survived. This exhibit tells their recovery story. Through the newly formed American Red Cross, relief efforts after a natural disaster became organized and effective. And yet in the post-Reconstruction Lowcountry, they also brought racial tensions to the surface. This exhibit also explores how Black citizens and the Red Cross, as they conducted emergency relief work, dealt with the backlash from local white landowners and politicians. Through an interactive map, this exhibit also provides visual documentation of the incredible scope of labor that...

The small southern city of Charleston, South Carolina may not be the place that comes to mind when thinking of American cities with a notable Jewish history. However, Jews have chosen Charleston as a place to make their home since the 1690s. Charleston is home to one of the oldest Jewish congregations in the United States and, into the early 1800’s, was home to the largest Jewish community in the United States. This exhibit captures the history of Judaism from early American through World War I, a particularly vibrant and tumultuous era of Charleston’s history. By exploring the experiences of Jewish communities in their synagogues, their homes, and the public square, it offers a more complete view of the historical religious landscape in Charleston. Published November 2022.

In 1951, South Carolina politicians knew that their racially segregated public school system did not meet the constitutional standard of “separate but equal.” Facing a lawsuit, South Carolina passed its first sales tax to fund new school buildings for Black children, which became known as "equalization schools." The state's goal was to preserve racial segregation in schools. However, like one-room schoolhouses and Rosenwald schools of the early twentieth century, equalization schools were notable spaces of Black culture and community, making the buildings contradictory symbols that represent both racism in the United States and the strength of Black communities. The story of equalization schools is a critical, though lesser-known, part of South Carolina history. This exhibit explores South Carolina's equalization school history and includes an interactive map that documents the state's equalization school buildings. Published April 2022.

Since emancipation, Black residents of the Lowcountry have fought to obtain full access to educational opportunities. This exhibit shares the history of local Black organizers' and national organizations' legal battle to successfully gain access to the College of Charleston in the mid-twentieth century, both as students and faculty. It also illuminates African Americans' presence on the College of Charleston's campus from its founding to the present. Published July 2023

This exhibit explores the history of Black women in the American South from the Antebellum era to the Reconstruction era. Focusing on the experiences of enslaved women in the South Carolina and Georgia Lowcountry in both rural and urban contexts, the exhibit examines African American women’s labor, interconnected relationships, and cultural practices. It reveals the types of violence they were subjected to as well as the joys and triumphs they created for themselves. By exploring the history of slavery through the lens of gender, Hidden Voices illuminates African American women’s specific experiences and contributions. Published December 2020.

The Stono Preserve's Changing Landscape exhibition explores the archaeology and history of a single geographic space in the South Carolina Lowcountry—a nearly 1,000-acre plot of land twenty miles west of the Charleston peninsula. The site's archaeology uncovers the region's prehistoric, colonial, antebellum, and twentieth-century histories. To illuminate the experiences of the people who shaped the landscape, this exhibit traverses the topics of prehistory, religion, slavery, agriculture, and wealth. Placed together, they reflect the defining narratives of South Carolina Lowcountry history. Published January 2020.