WEJ at 21: The Life and Times of Judge Matthew J. Perry

By Walter Edgar

Published August 23, 2021 at 10:33 AM EDT

FILE - Harvey Gantt, outside the Registrar's office at Clemson university. — On January 16, 1963, the U.S. Court of Appeals ordered Clemson to admit Gantt who became its first African American student. The ruling was the result of a lawsuit filed on Gantt's behalf by then-attorney Matthew J. Perry

This week on Walter Edgar's Journal, we offer another in our series of encore broadcasts celebrating The Journal at 21, with a 2004 conversation with the late U. S. District Judge Matthew Perry. Perry takes us on a journey from his humble beginnings in a segregated South Carolina to his part in helping to break down the color barrier. In between he spins some delightful stories about the people who helped shape South Carolina throughout the turbulent 60’s and 70’s.

- Originally broadcast 03/19/04-

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Walter Edgar

Dr. Walter Edgar has two programs on South Carolina Public Radio: Walter Edgar's Journal, and South Carolina from A to Z. Dr. Edgar received his B.A. degree from Davidson College in 1965 and his Ph.D. from the University of South Carolina in 1969. After two years in the army (including a tour of duty in Vietnam), he returned to USC as a post-doctoral fellow of the National Archives, assigned to the Papers of Henry Laurens.

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