Famous Citizens:

Mary McLeod Bethune
Born in 1875, one of 17 children of former slaves, Mary McLeod Bethune founded the Daytona Normal and Industrial Institute for Negro Girls (now Bethune-Cookman College) in 1904, and served as president from 1904-1942 and from 1946-47. She was a leader in the black women's club movement and served as president of the National Association of Colored Women. She was the Director of Negro Affairs in the National Youth Administration from 1936 to 1944, and served as consultant to the U.S. Secretary of War for selection of the first female officer candidates. She was appointed consultant on interracial affairs and understanding at the charter conference of the United Nations and was founder of the National Council of Negro Women and Vice-president of the NAACP.

 

 

Dizzy Gillespie
John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie, born on October 21, 1917 in Cheraw, South Carolina, the youngest of nine children, emerged as a trumpet player whose role as a founding father of jazz made him a major figure in 20th-century American music. His signature moon cheeks and bent trumpet made him one of the world's most instantly recognizable figures.

In a nearly 60-year career as a composer, bandleader and innovative player, Gillespie cut a huge swath through the jazz world. In the early 1940's, along with the alto saxophonist Charlie (Yardbird) Parker, he initiated be-bop, the sleek, intense, high speed revolution that has become jazz's most enduring style. In subsequent years, he incorporated Afro-Cuban music into jazz, creating a new genre from the combination. Dizzy Gillespie died in 1993.

 

 

Andrew Jackson
Born in a backwoods settlement in the Carolinas in 1767, Andrew Jackson received sporadic education. But in his late teens he read law for about two years, and he became an outstanding young lawyer in Tennessee. Fiercely jealous of his honor, he engaged in brawls, and in a duel killed a man who cast an unjustified slur on his wife Rachel. He became a major general in the War of 1812, and Jackson became a national hero when he defeated the British at New Orleans.

Jackson’s political views won approval from the American electorate and in 1832 he polled more than 56 percent of the popular vote and almost five times as many electoral votes as his opponent to become President of the United States. After serving as President, "Old Hickory" retired to his home called the Hermitage, where he died in June 1845.

 

 

Jesse Jackson
Jesse Louis Jackson was born October 8, 1941, in Greenville, South Carolina. In 1959 Jackson left South Carolina to attend the University of Illinois. Dissatisfied with his treatment on campus, he decided to transfer to North Carolina Agricultural and Technical College. After receiving his B.A. in sociology, Jackson attended the Chicago Theological Seminary. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1968.

Jackson joined the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in 1965. In 1966 Jackson became involved with the SCLC's Operation Breadbasket, and from 1967 to 1971, he served as the program's executive director. Jackson resigned from the SCLC in 1971 to found his own organization, Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity). Through PUSH Jackson continued to pursue the economic objectives of Operation Breadbasket and expanded into areas of social and political development. Jackson soon became the most visible and sought-after civil rights leader in the country.

 

 

Francis "Swamp Fox" Marion
An American Revolutionary soldier, known as the "Swamp Fox," Francis Marion was born at Goatfield Plantation in St. John Berkeley Parish in 1732. He was a planter and Native American fighter before joining William Moultrie's regiment at the start of the American Revolution. In 1779 he fought under Benjamin Lincoln at Savannah and escaped capture at Charleston by being on sick leave. Marion organized a troop which, after the American defeat at Camden in the Carolina campaign, constituted the chief colonial force in South Carolina. Engaging in guerrilla warfare, he disrupted the British lines of communication, captured scouting and foraging parties, and intimidated Loyalists. His habit of disappearing into the swamps to elude the British earned him his nickname. When Nathaniel Greene had succeeded in ousting the British from North Carolina, his lieutenant, Light-Horse Harry Lee, brought reinforcements to Marion, and they took part together in several battles, notably that at Eutaw Springs (Sept. 8, 1781). After the war, Marion served in the South Carolina senate, where he advocated a lenient policy toward the Loyalists.

 

 

Strom Thurmond
Born in 1902 in Edgeville, S.C. Strom Thurmond read law while teaching in South Carolina schools and was admitted to the bar in 1930. Thurmond was elected a state senator in 1933 and became a circuit-court judge. After serving in World War II, he was elected governor of South Carolina. In 1948, Thurmond was nominated for president by the States' Rights Democrats, southerners (“Dixiecrats” ) who left the Democratic party in opposition to President Truman 's civil-rights program; he won 39 electoral votes. In 1954 he was a successful write-in candidate as U.S. Senator. In 1957 he staged the longest filibuster in Senate history, speaking for over 24 hours against a civil-rights bill. Thurmond switched from the Democratic to the Republican party in 1964. In 1996 he became the oldest sitting, and in 1997 the longest serving, U.S. senator in history. He died in 2003.