Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum

The Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum is a museum in Orangeburg, South Carolina commemorating the civil rights movement. The curator of the museum is photographer Cecil J. Williams.^[1]

Cecil Williams South Carolina Civil Rights Museum

Location	1865 Lake Drive in Orangeburg, S.C.
Type	History
Website	www.cecilwilliams.com

Collection and background

The museum holds thirty-five historical exhibits consisting of 500 photographs and over 200 artifacts^[2] concerning the civil rights movement in South Carolina during the 1950s and 1960s.^[3] The exhibits focus of major events, such as the Briggs v. Elliott Supreme Court case, the Orangeburg Freedom Movement, Harvey Gantt admission to Clemson University, the Orangeburg Massacre, and the 1969 Charleston hospital strike.^[4]

The museum also offers other attractions, including a civil rights movement timeline, an 800-name recognition wall, a digitization laboratory, a sign-in wall, media and presentation center, community meeting room, library, and gift shop.^[5]

The 3,500-square-foot museum opened in 2019. It is located in a building Williams designed in 1986.^[6]

Initially, Williams funded the museum himself until it generated interests from visitors and attracted regional and national grants. In 2020, the museum was featured on national television, and National Geographic.^[7] He received a $100,000 donation for the museum a few months after its opening.^[8]

References

1. Williams, Emily (4 August 2019). "This 81-year-old SC photographer's self-made civil rights museum is now open". Post and Courier. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
2. . Charleston Chronicle. July 26, 2019. Archived from the original on November 13, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
3. "Interpretive Exhibit Themes". Cecil Williams Civil Rights Museum. Cecil Williams Museum. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
4. "Cecil Williams Civil Rights Museum". Cecil Williams Civil Rights Museum. Cecil Williams Museum. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
5. . Charleston Chronicle. July 26, 2019. Archived from the original on November 13, 2019. Retrieved December 17, 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
6. Harris, Bradley (18 August 2019). "A place of the future to house the past': Cecil Williams' Civil Rights Museum is now a reality". The Times and Democrat. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
7. Harris, Bradley (18 August 2019). "A place of the future to house the past': Cecil Williams' Civil Rights Museum is now a reality". The Times and Democrat. Retrieved 17 December 2019.
8. . The Charleston Chronicle. 12 November 2019. Archived from the original on November 13, 2019. Retrieved 17 December 2019.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)