U.S.C. During Reconstruction

Front inscription

People of African descent have been integral to the history of U.S.C. In the early days of the university enslaved people lived and worked on campus. After the Civil War a new state constitution required that public schools, colleges, and universities be free and open to all “without regard to race.” In 1869, the S.C. legislature appointed two African Americans, Benjamin Boseman and Francis Cardozo, to the board of trustees.

Reverse inscription

In 1873, Henry E. Hayne was the first African American student admitted to U.S.C. In the same year the school hired Richard T. Greener as its first African American faculty member. In the years 1873-77 U.S.C. was the only fully integrated public university in the South. After Reconstruction the state legislature closed U.S.C. 1877-80. It reopened as an all-white institution. Not until 1963 did U.S.C. again admit Black students.