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African American History

African American History Tours

Since its creation in 1786, Columbia has featured a large African American population whose labor, skills, and vision have been integral in the city’s physical, spiritual, and social evolution. During 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. Join us on a tour to learn their names, their stories, and their legacies.

Historic House Museums

We offer house tours Wednesday - Saturday between 10:30 a.m. - 3 p.m. and on Sunday between 1:30 - 3 p.m. All tours are guided and begin at the Gift Shop at Robert Mills, located at 1616 Blanding Street.

Mann-Simons Site

Home to the same entrepreneurial African American family for nearly 130 years, tours of this house museum trace the journey of Columbia’s African American community from enslavement through urban renewal.

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The Museum of Reconstruction

at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home

The Museum of Reconstruction at the Woodrow Wilson Family Home is the nation's only museum dedicated to interpreting the post-Civil War Reconstruction period and is housed in South Carolina's only remaining presidential site. Through a multifaceted interpretation, the Museum of Reconstruction preserves and interprets Columbia’s 19th century history to dispel the myths of Reconstruction that are so prevalent in society today.

Learn More

Hampton-Preston Mansion

One of Columbia's oldest remaining structures, the Hampton-Preston Mansion explores the lives of the enslaved workers who ensured the antebellum estate’s daily operation and their planter-class owners, offering holistic insights into the site and the institution of slavery that framed the South’s racial, social and economic character.

Learn More

Online 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.

  • 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.

    Explore Columbia’s African American Heritage Sites

  • 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.

    Explore Barhamville-Kendalltown

  • 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.

    Explore Lower Richland

  • 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.

    Explore Lower Waverly

  • 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.

    Explore Waverly

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Historic Columbia

© 2022 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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