SC People

Eliza and Harry Briggs

Eliza and Harry Briggs were the petitioners in the important school desegregation case, Briggs v. Elliott.

(1819-1857) Born in Roseland, SC (Edgefield County), Preston Brooks was a Democratic congressman from South Carolina who brutally beat Charles Sumner, a Senator from Massachusetts, in the US Senate chamber.

James Brown

(1933-2006) Born in Barnwell, SC, James Brown was an influential bandleader, singer and composer known as the Godfather of Soul.

Edgar A. Brown

(1868-1975) Born in Aiken County, Edgar Allan Brown was a longtime Democratic legislator of South Carolina from Barnwell County who served South Carolina from 1922-1972.

Franklin G. Burroughs

(1834-1897) Franklin G. Burroughs was a successful business leader in Horry County who dreamed of the Myrtle Beach area as a coastal resort.

Pierce Butler

(1744–1822) Pierce Butler was a Founding Father of the United States who represented South Carolina at the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and as a U.S. Senator.

Betsy Byars

(1928- ) Betsy Byars is an author of children’s books who lives in Seneca, South Carolina. She won a Newbery Medal for her novel, Summer of the Swans.

James F. Byrnes

(1879-1972) Born in Charleston, SC, James F. Byrnes was a U.S. Secretary of State, Associate Justice U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Senator, and Governor of South Carolina from 1951-1955.

Tommy Caldwell

(1949-1980) From Spartanburg, SC, Tommy Caldwell was the original bassist and leader of The Marshall Tucker Band.

John C. Calhoun

(1782-1850) Born in McCormick County, John Calhoun was a U.S. Senator, Secretary of State, Secretary of War, and the 7th Vice-President of the United States.

Carroll A. Campbell, Jr.

(1940-2005) Born in Greenville, SC, Carroll A. Campbell, Jr. was a U.S. Congressman and Governor of South Carolina from 1987-1995.

Francis Cardozo

(1836–1903) Born in Charleston, SC, Francis Cardozo was a leading political figure in the Radical Reconstruction political environment and first African American to hold a statewide office in the United States.

Daniel Henry Chamberlain

(1835-1907) Daniel Henry Chamberlain was the governor of South Carolina from 1874-1876.

Chubby Checker

(1941- ) Born in Spring Gulley (Andrews, SC) with the name Ernest Evans, Chubby Checker is a singer best known for “The Twist.”

Mary Boykin Chesnut

(1823-1886) Born near Statesburg, SC, Mary Boykin Chesnut was married to an aide to Confederate President Jefferson Davis and she kept a famous diary vividly describing events during the Civil War.

Alice Childress

(1920-1994) Born in Charleston, SC, Alice Childress was a playwright who wrote about the struggles of poverty and racism.

Septima Poinsette Clark

(1898–1987) Septima Poinsette Clark was an African American educator and activist for equal rights who worked with the NAACP and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Thomas Green Clemson

(1807–1888) Thomas Green Clemson was a statesman, ambassador, US Superintendent of Agriculture, and founder of Clemson University.

Dave Cockrum

(1943-2006) Dave Cockrum was a comic book artist who overhauled the look of the X-Men series and helped popularize the Marvel Comics title. He lived in Belton, SC.

David Robert Coker

(1870-1938) David Robert Coker was a Hartsville businessman and philanthropist who founded the “Coker’s Pedigreed Seed Catalogue” in 1914.