A concurrent RESOLUTION

 

TO RECOGNIZE AND HONOR ROBERT G. ANDERSON, JAMES L. SOLOMON, JR., AND HENRIE MONTEITH TREADWELL, WHOSE COURAGE AND RESOLVE ON SEPTEMBER 11, 1963, OPENED WIDE THE DOORS OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL STUDENTS OF COLOR AT THE STATE'S FLAGSHIP UNIVERSITY, AN HISTORIC EVENT NOW MEMORIALIZED BY THE INSTALLATION ON THE UNIVERSITY'S HISTORIC HORSESHOE OF A MONUMENT DEPICTING THE THREE STUDENTS.

 

Whereas, the University of South Carolina (USC), chartered in 1801 as South Carolina College, admitted only white male students until the Reconstruction Era, when it temporarily desegregated from 1873 to 1877, the only public university in the American South to do so; and

 

Whereas, the university resumed its admission policy of racial segregation from 1880 to 1963, denying the admission of generations of qualified African American students; and

 

Whereas, Henrie Monteith Treadwell of Columbia, South Carolina, filed suit against the University in 1962 to gain admission to the institution and was joined in that endeavor by Robert G. Anderson of Greenville, South Carolina, and James L. Solomon, Jr., of McDonough, Georgia; and

 

Whereas, the three African American students registered for classes at USC on September 11, 1963, under the spotlight of national media attention, but without the backdrop of violence and rioting that marred the desegregation of many other Southern universities; and

 

Whereas, the three students became trailblazers in desegregating the Palmetto State's flagship university, paving the way to access and educational achievement for the many thousands of Black students from South Carolina and beyond who have enrolled at USC in the decades since; and

 

Whereas, the University of South Carolina recognized the courage of these three students with the establishment of its Desegregation Commemorative Garden in 2014, and in 2022 commissioned internationally acclaimed sculptor Basil Watson to sculpt statues depicting the three students on the day of their enrollment at USC; and

 

Whereas, the twelve-foot monument of black granite and bronze will be unveiled in front of McKissick Museum on the university's historic Horseshoe on April 19, 2024, to memorialize the occasion of the university's second desegregation. Now, therefore,

 

Be it resolved by the Senate, the House of Representatives concurring:

 

That the members of the South Carolina General Assembly, by this resolution, recognize and honor Robert G. Anderson, James L. Solomon, Jr., and Henrie Monteith Treadwell, whose courage and resolve on September 11, 1963, opened wide the doors of educational opportunity for all students of color at the state's flagship university, an historic event now memorialized by the installation on the university's historic Horseshoe of a monument depicting the three students.

 

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be forwarded to the University of South Carolina and to the families of Robert G. Anderson, James L. Solomon, Jr., and Henrie Monteith Treadwell.

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