SC HBCUs among those being honored this week across nation

From their founding in an era of racial segregation, historically black colleges and universities have evolved into premiere institutions of higher education in The T&D Region.

This week, they are getting special recognition. The U.S. Senate has proclaimed the week of Sept. 10 as National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week.

U.S. Senators Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, and Saxby Chambliss, a Republican from Georgia, introduced the resolution, which passed unanimously.

"HBCUs have a rich heritage and have played a prominent role in the history of the United States," they said in a statement.

"They have allowed many disadvantaged students to attain their full potential through higher education," the senators added.

HBCUs "provide quality educational experiences and play a vital role in an increasingly complex and highly technological society," the senators said.

South Carolina's oldest HBCU, Claflin University in Orangeburg, traces its roots to the Baker Biblical Institute, founded in Charleston in 1866, which was a year after the Civil War ended.

Three years later, Boston philanthropist Lee Claflin and his son, Massachusetts Gov. William Claflin, provided the financing for a group of prominent Methodists to purchase the Orangeburg Female Academy.

On the grounds of the academy, Claflin University was founded on Dec. 18, 1869. It merged with Baker Biblical Institute in 1871. An act of the state General Assembly established the South Carolina State Agricultural and Mechanical Institute. It operated in association with Claflin from 1875 to 1896.

In 1878, the institute was made the Orangeburg Branch of the University of South Carolina.

The federal Morrill Land Grant Act of 1890 required all states that refused to equally admit African-Americans to educational institutions to maintain comparable, separate publicly-funded institutions for blacks.

"The state of South Carolina tried hard not to do it," U.S. Rep. James E. Clyburn said in a 2004 visit to South Carolina State University in Orangeburg.

"They were thinking of all kinds of excuses not to establish this school," said Clyburn, a student of history. One of the biggest excuses was that there was no land available for it.

"Claflin (University) gave the land and forced the state's hand," Clyburn said.

The state Legislature passed an act on March 3, 1896, that created the Normal, Industrial, Agricultural and Mechanical College for the Colored Race.

In 1954, the college got a new name: South Carolina State College. It became a university on Feb. 26, 1992.

Claflin was founded as a university, became a college decades ago and restored its original name in October 1999.

To this day, the campuses of the private HBCU and the public HBCU sit side-by-side and engage in friendly rivalry as they serve traditionally underserved populations.

This year, Claflin made a top-10 list in U.S. News & World Report magazine's college rankings, while S.C. State made a top-10 list in Washington Monthly magazine's college rankings.

Voorhees College is a private, coeducational, four-year liberal arts college affiliated with the Episcopal Church.

Its origins go back to the Denmark Industrial School, founded in 1897 by a 23-year-old black woman named Elizabeth Evelyn Wright.

Starting in 1901, Ralph and Elizabeth Voorhees of Clinton, N.J., provided the financial support for construction of a new campus for what became known as the Voorhees Normal and Industrial School.

In 1929, Voorhees became a junior college and the first black college in South Carolina to gain accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Many of the buildings were constructed solely by the students at the school, who were studying construction trades such as masonry and carpentry.

The name Voorhees College was adopted in 1962. Five years later, Voorhees became a senior degree-granting institution and received full accreditation as a liberal arts college.

The fourth HBCU in The T&D Region is also situated in Denmark.

In 1947, the state Legislature authorized the establishment of the Denmark Branch of the South Carolina Trade School System. It opened on March 1, 1948, as a residential school mandated to educate blacks in various trades.

The school became known as the Denmark Area Trade School, then in 1969 became the Denmark Technical Education Center.

In 1979, the institution became Denmark Technical College and gained accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Today, Denmark Tech is a comprehensive two-year technical college offering associate degrees, diplomas and certificates.

Claflin and Voorhees have been open to all races since their founding. S.C. State began admitting white students and faculty in 1966. Denmark Tech today also admits students of all races.

Although segregation is gone, all four "historically black" institutions have seen continued growth and progress in recent years.

For instance:

* S.C. State is completing a 755-bed student apartment complex and has nearly $100 million in construction projects on the planning boards, including a new library and a new science and engineering technology facility.

* Claflin has spent $50 million upgrading virtually every aspect of its campus during the tenure of the current president, Dr. Henry Tisdale.

* Voorhees has completed a rural health facility that will serve as the focal point for millions of dollars of research into reducing health disparities in minority and underserved communities.

* Denmark Technical College has built a $4.2 million state-of-the-art library and has acquired a building in Barnwell to expand its outreach programs.