USC observes 60th anniversary of desegregation

Officials broke ground for monument that will honor the three Black students who enrolled in 1963

The University of South Carolina commemorated the 60^th anniversary of desegregation with an observance at the site where a monument will be placed in early 2024 to honor the three Black students who enrolled six decades ago.

Henrie Monteith Treadwell, one of the Black students who registered at USC on Sept. 11, 1963, and the families of the other students – Robert G. Anderson and James L. Solomon Jr. – joined President Michael Amiridis, Board of Trustees Chair Thad Westbrook and university and civic leaders in a ceremonial ground turning at 9 a.m. Monday. A sign where the monument will stand was unveiled at the prominent site near university’s Welcome Center in McKissick Museum and steps away from the Osborne Administration Building where the trio took their first steps as students.

“People must understand that my walking across that threshold was not the end of the story. My walking across that threshold was the beginning of a story,” said Treadwell. “For me, the entire effort centers around the role that a woman, a female, can play in advocating for social change and educational opportunity.”

Following the ground turning, a plaque honoring Solomon was unveiled at LeConte College where the university’s math department is located. When Solomon entered USC, he enrolled in the graduate program in mathematics, becoming the department’s first African American student since Reconstruction.

The university’s Board of Trustees voted in 2022 to erect a monument to celebrate the historic walk of Anderson, Solomon and Treadwell from the Osborne Administration building to the Naval Armory, now Hamilton College, where they first registered for classes at USC.

The monument’s 12-foot bronze statue, created by internationally acclaimed sculptor Basil Watson, was inspired by a now-iconic photograph of the three students coming down the steps at Osborne on that historic day. Its installation will be near the spot where the photograph was taken when they became the first Black university students since the Reconstruction era.

“Today, we honor the three brave students who 60 years ago took their first steps in ending segregation at the University of South Carolina,” said Westbrook. “By celebrating their legacy with this monument, we are reminded not only of how far we’ve come as an institution in the decades since, but also of the important work that continues to ensure that the university reflects the people of South Carolina.

The monument complements a desegregation garden on campus, adjacent to the administration building. Anderson died in 2009, but Treadwell and Solomon attended the garden dedication in 2013 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their enrollment.

The enrollment of Anderson, Treadwell and Solomon came nine years after the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic Brown v. Board of Education ruling and followed violent unrest at other Southern campuses that had already desegrated. The university planned for months to ensure the three students’ enrollment at South Carolina would be peaceful. Their registration process was captured by national media and lasted only about 20 minutes, but the significance of the 1963 event reverberates to this day.

Installation of the monument will stand as an inspiration to others as it honors the courage of Anderson, Treadwell and Solomon and their pivotal roles in the desegregation of higher education in the state. Because of these three students’ heroic steps 60 years ago, the university now boasts a diverse campus with students from all nationalities, races and ethnicities.

“We observe this anniversary not only to remember, but to look forward,” President Michael Amiridis said. “Sixty years later, the momentous events of September 11, 1963, still inspire our USC community to uphold our commitment to higher education access and opportunity for all,” said President Amiridis.

 

University of South Carolina 60^th Anniversary of Desegregation

Bios of Henrie Monteith Treadwell, Robert Anderson and James L. Solomon Jr.

Henrie Monteith Treadwell

• All three students entered the university on the same day – Sept. 11, 1963 – but it was a lawsuit filed by Treadwell that made the moment possible.
• The Columbia native began the application process when she was just 16 years old, and it took nearly two years and a protracted court battle led by civil rights attorney Matthew J. Perry before she was finally allowed to enroll.
• Treadwell would go on to become the university’s first Black graduate since Reconstruction, earning a bachelor’s in biochemistry in 1965.
• She continued her education at Atlanta University, earning a master’s and doctorate in biochemistry. She completed post-doctoral studies in public health at Harvard University.
• Treadwell, a native of Columbia, SC, served for 27 years as the program director of health at the Kellogg Foundation. After retiring from the Kellogg Foundation she became the director of Community Voices at Morehouse School of Medicine where she studied health care for underserved populations and researched the health concerns of teenage African American males, including prison health, health policy and health services.

 

Robert G. Anderson

• Robert G. Anderson, a native of Greenville, began his college career at Clark College in Atlanta. In 1963, he became part of the desegregation struggle at the University of South Carolina as a transfer student.
• Anderson’s life and career became a testament to public service.
• He served a combat tour in Vietnam and later served as a social worker in New York City for many years.
• He earned a professional social work degree from Hunter College. He helped Cuban refugees, worked with mothers and children in the Bureau of Child Welfare and ran an alcohol counseling program.
• After retirement from social work Anderson worked in the Veterans Administration for 12 years. He died in 2009.

 

James L. Solomon Jr.

• Prior to enrolling in graduate school at the University of South Carolina 1963, James L. Solomon Jr., a native of McDonough, Ga., served in the U.S. Air Force for six years; attended Morris College, where he received a bachelor’s degree in chemistry; attended Atlanta University, where he received a master’s degree in mathematics; and served as an administrator at Morris College for three years.
• Solomon served in various state government positions including division director at the Commission on Higher Education and the commissioner of the Department of Social Services.
• In Columbia, he served on various boards and councils, including Brothers and Sisters, Columbia Urban League, Richland 1 School District, where he was the first African American to serve as chairman, Richland County Council, South Carolina Commission on the Future and the United Way of the Midlands.
• Solomon’s public service and dedication to his community earned him the Order of the Palmetto — the highest award given to a resident of the state — awarded by both Gov. Richard Riley and Gov. Carroll Campbell.