Museum Musings
Isaiah DeQuincey Newman, a Darlington County native, was an esteemed clergyman and important civil rights leader. Educated in Williamsburg County public schools and Claflin College, he was ordained in the United Methodist Church (UMC) in 1931. In 1943, he helped organize the Orangeburg branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). […]
During the Great Depression, Butler was in charge of the distribution of relief supplies to the African-American community, and as a Mason and an Odd Fellow, he was respected by religious and business leaders both black and white. According to "Rev. Henry Hannibal Butler," a remembrance written by Horace Fraser Rudisill, Butler, among his many other worthy and laudable accomplishments, was "remembered as always being immaculately dressed in coat, tie and vest with a gold watch chain prominently displayed."
Quick, without Googling it, name the third track on Bruce Springsteen's 1984 blockbuster album entitled Born in the U.S.A.
Darlington Raceway, the first super speedway in NASCAR history, was constructed in 1950 by Harold Brasington, a local race promoter who saw asphalt-paved tracks as an advance over the dirt tracks. Brasington wanted a 500-mile stock car race that rivaled the Indianapolis 500. On September 4, 1950, the Darlington Raceway hosted the first Southern 500, […]
I sometimes think of our files as children, and I bemoan the fact that some are fat and happy and receiving lots of attention, while others are skinny and sad and starved for affection. Ironically, our vast collection of files is housed in the old Darlington County Jail...
At the age of 21 or 22, Lawrence Reese came to Darlington, S.C., where he married Lula Aiken. According to an article in The Community Times dated May 3, 2001, Dr. McGirt, Lula's father, asked young Lawrence how he would support his new bride, and Lawrence replied that he was a carpenter. Dr. McGirt, needing proof, marked off some area on his land and instructed Lawrence to build a house. . .and, a day or two later, that's just what Lawrence did.