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The Robert Mills House will be closed to the public on Wednesday, March 22, through Sunday, March 26, 2023. Regular tours will resume on Wednesday, March 29, 2023. We apologize for any inconvenience.

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2216 Washington Street

Site of Matthew J. Perry Boyhood Home

Federal District Judge, World War II veteran and civil rights activist Matthew J. Perry spent his childhood in Waverly, where his mother, Jennie Lyles Perry, moved the family following his father’s death. A Booker T. Washington High School and S.C. State College graduate, Perry earned the nickname “Chief Counsel” while arguing civil rights cases, including the 1962 Gantt v. Clemson College, which desegregated the state-supported school. President Gerald Ford nominated Perry to the U.S. Court of Military Appeals in 1975, and President Jimmy Carter appointed him U.S. district judge for South Carolina in 1979, making Perry the first black federal district judge in the state.

  • matthew j. perry

    Matthew J. Perry, undated. Image courtesy John H. McCray Papers, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Carolina, Columbia

  • Site of Matthew J. Perry Boyhood Home

    Site of Matthew J. Perry Boyhood Home, 2018. Historic Columbia collection

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Historic Columbia

© 2023 Historic Columbia

Administrative Offices
1601 Richland Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Tours
All historic house and garden tours start at the Gift Shop at Robert Mills.
1616 Blanding Street
Columbia, SC 29201

Questions? Call (803) 252-7742.

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