"S" is for State Normal School

"S" is for State Normal School. In 1873 the General Assembly, recognizing a need for trained teachers to educate African American citizens following the Civil War, passed an act to establish and support a State Normal School. The school’s regents leased a building on the University of South Carolina campus and hired faculty. The demand for teachers prompted most students to begin teaching before graduating. By 1877, with the end of Reconstruction and the return of the old order, signaled the end of public education for future black teachers and the General Assembly refused to provide any funding for the institution. Although underfunded and short lived, the State Normal School managed to offer a significant example of public teacher training for African Americans and to educate dozens of students who later influenced several generations of schoolchildren.