Isaiah DeQuincey Newman

1911-1985

Biographical Note: I. DeQuincey Newman was a Methodist pastor, civil rights activist, and entrepreneur.  A leading figure in the Civil Rights movement in South Carolina, he helped organize the Orangeburg branch of the NAACP in 1943, helped found the Progressive Democratic Party, and served the South Carolina NAACP as state field director from 1960 to 1969.  From 1972 to 1974, he served as executive assistant to the Director of the S.C. Department of Social Services.  From 1974 to 1981, he was Director of the Governor’s Rural Regional Coordination Demonstration Project.  In 1983, at age 72, he was elected to the South Carolina Senate, thus becoming the first African American to serve in that body since Reconstruction.  Due to ill health, he resigned from the Senate in July of 1985.    Papers, 1929-2003, 2.5 ft. Collection Finding Aid   (pdf, 7 pages) (Finding aid includes an extended biographical note) Digital Collection The Newman Collection has been digitized and may be viewed online. I. DeQuincey Newman Institute for Peace and Social Justice (USC) South Carolina Encyclopedia Entry