African American History
African American
History Tours
Learn the names, places, and stories of those whose legacies have shaped our community. Historic house tours offered daily Wednesday – Sunday; online tours available at any time.
Jump to: Group and School Tours | Online Walking Tours
Explore African American History
Since its establishment in 1786, Columbia has included a population of free Blacks, enslaved Africans, and African Americans whose labor, skills, and vision have been integral in the city’s physical, spiritual, and social evolution.
Over four centuries, the city’s Black community transformed itself from that of a predominantly enslaved population to a society whose members overcame the restrictions of Jim Crow and charted the course of the Civil Rights era. The story of this journey is now captured and shared at The Museum of the Reconstruction Era Tour, Hampton-Preston Mansion Tour, and on the combined Journey to Freedom Tour, which includes the Mann-Simons Site and Modjeska Monteith Simkins House.#more
The Museum of the Reconstruction Era
at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home
The nation's only museum dedicated to interpreting the post-Civil War Reconstruction period and South Carolina's only remaining presidential site, this distinctive circa-1871 Italian villa-style residence was home to a 14-year-old boy named "Tommy" Woodrow Wilson. The site is owned by Richland County and managed by Historic Columbia.
Tours
Wednesday – Sunday: 1:30 p.m.
Hampton-Preston Mansion
One of Columbia's oldest remaining structures, the Hampton-Preston Mansion explores the lives of enslaved workers and their planter-class owners. The site is owned by Richland County and managed by Historic Columbia.
Tours
Wednesday – Saturday: 10:30 a.m., 3:00 p.m. | Sunday: 1:30 p.m., 3 p.m.
Mann-Simons Site
While only one house stands today, the Mann-Simons Site historically was a collection of commercial and domestic spaces owned and operated by the same African American family from at least 1843 until 1970. The site is owned by the City of Columbia and managed by Historic Columbia.
Tours
Tours of the Mann-Simons Site are available for group tours, school tours, and through special programming like the Free Sunday program. For more information about scheduling a private tour, contact reservations@historiccolumbia.org or (803) 252-1770 ext. 23.
Modjeska Monteith Simkins House
Built between 1890 and 1895, this one-story cottage was home to Modjeska Monteith Simkins, one of South Carolina's greatest human rights advocates, from 1932 until her death on April 5, 1992. The site is owned by the City of Columbia and managed by Historic Columbia.
Tours
Tours of the Modjeska Monteith Simkins House are available for group tours, school tours, and through special programming like the Free Sunday program. For more information about scheduling a private tour, contact reservations@historiccolumbia.org or (803) 252-1770 ext. 23.
Group and School Tours
Historic Columbia offers field trips and group tours of our historic house museums. Prefer to explore Columbia from the comfort of your seat? Let our step-on guide take you on an African American Heritage Sites tour from the comfort of your chartered bus. Contact us today to plan your visit!
House Tours are Supported by
#onlineOnline Walking Tours
Explore our online tours of neighborhoods and districts central to Columbia’s African American history. Tours can be done on your computer or turn it into a walking tour using your mobile device. Select any of the neighborhoods below and begin your tour.
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African American Heritage Sites
Over the course of four centuries, Columbia’s black community transformed itself from that of a predominately enslaved population to a society whose members overcame the restrictions of Jim Crow and charted the course of the Civil Rights era. The story of this journey remains today within the home places, workplaces, and resting places of Columbia’s African American community.
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Barhamville-Kendalltown
Established in the 1890s as the small African American suburb “Kendalltown,” this neighborhood was developed on land previously associated with Barhamville Academy, a female school in operation during the mid-eighteenth century.
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Lower Richland
Established as an agricultural area more than three centuries ago, Lower Richland features important sites documenting African American and American Indian experiences, including Congaree National Park.
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Lower Waverly
Lower Waverly boasts diverse architectural styles and is protected as an architectural conservation district by the City of Columbia. This neighborhood was home to many professional and working-class African Americans who emerged as activists, educators and community leaders in the Civil Rights Movement.
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Waverly
Waverly is listed as a Historic District on the National Register of Historic Places and is protected as an architectural conservation district by the City of Columbia. By the early twentieth century, this neighborhood became known as a self-contained, self-sustaining black community featuring many middle- and upper- class African American residents, among whom were leaders within spiritual, business, academic and professional circles.