Lander University Celebrates Vernon Burton

During “A Celebration of Vernon Burton,” Lander University honored the renowned historian who grew up in Ninety Six and has achieved national and international acclaim as a scholar and an author and educator.

Friends and colleagues paid tribute to Burton, the Judge Matthew J. Perry Distinguished Professor of History at Clemson University, and discussed his many books and research articles, which have delved into the lives of Abraham Lincoln and Dr. Benjamin E. Mays and also covered topics such as race relations, African-American life and history, Southern families, voting rights and race-related cases heard by the U.S. Supreme Court. Dr. Daniel M. Harrison, right, a Lander professor of sociology, and Burton are pictured during the program, where Burton was called “the wonder boy of Ninety Six, South Carolina” and a “teacher who heard the call of history.”

Photo by Laura Brown