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North Charleston first new mayor in nearly 30 years says the struggles and sacrifices of his past will help him shape the city's future as its first African American mayor.
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Rachel Gordin Barnett and Lyssa Kligman Harvey share stories and recipes of the foods that make the South Carolina Jewish table in a new cookbook, "Kugels and Collards: Stories of Food, Family, and Tradition in Jewish South Carolina."
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The University of South Carolina will unveil a 12-foot bronze monument in 2024 that will honor the first three Black students to enroll at the university on Sept. 11, 1963.
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An historic school built for African Americans in 1925 is restored and reopened in St. George, S.C. as a community center and museum. It will share the stories of those who created it and were educated there.
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The city of Charleston wants to hear from Gullah Geechee communities to document and preserve their history. A $75,000 grant from the National Park Service has launched a 2-year project called the Gullah Geechee Heritage Preservation Project.
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The new International African American Museum in Charleston shares the untold stories of enslaved Africans in America at the site where nearly half first set foot in this country.
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The wide empty spaces in pews between parishioners at a Sunday service at Zion Baptist Church in South Carolina's capital highlight a post-pandemic reality common among many Black Protestant churches across the nation. According to a new Pew Research Center survey, attendance fell 15 percentage points at Black Protestant churches after the COVID outbreak. Researchers say no other major religious group has registered a decline of this magnitude. Despite the drop, pastors and parishioners say Black churches remain fundamental to Black communities, providing refuge and hope, especially during times of challenge.
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A modest room in the Capitol has been named after the first Black member of the House. He was Rep. Joseph H. Rainey, who was born into slavery in 1832 and served as a Reconstruction-era member of Congress. No. 3 House Democratic leader James Clyburn, Rainey's great-granddaughter Lorna Rainey and others used the event to talk about continuing efforts for social justice and voting rights. Clyburn, like Rainey, is from South Carolina. Clyburn lamented that there was 95 years between Reconstruction and when he was elected as South Carolina's next Black congressman.
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About 130 Black morticians have died of COVID-19 across the United States. The deaths are particularly notable because of the prominent role that funeral directors have long played in many Black communities. Often admired for their success in business, a number have been elected to political office, served as local power brokers, and helped fund civil rights efforts. Their deaths have left some successors struggling to fill their roles. At the same time, the services they arrange can serve as communal touchstones that draw mourners together. When the pandemic hit, the very closeness that distinguishes Black funerals put morticians at risk.