This award honors the career of Chester C. Travelstead (1911-2006), Dean of the College of Education from 1952-1955, who with great courage stood up and spoke for the rights of others and furthered the struggle for racial integration and social justice in South Carolina. The Travelstead Award recognizes an individual from the state of South Carolina who displays courage and who exemplifies those basic dispositions from the College of Education’s conceptual framework (the core values of justice, stewardship, intellectual spirit, and integrity). The Travelstead Award is given periodically and is determined by a selection committee of three members including the curator of the Museum of Education, a representative from the College of Education, and one educator/non-USC member from the state of South Carolina.
The Travelstead Room, dedicated in 2006, serves as a form of public memorialization and a site of conscience for citizen engagement. The Travelstead Room does not seek to just honor but, instead, seeks to serve as a venue for difficult conversations in order to consider lessons from the past and for the present and future.
The First Travelstead Award for Courage in Education was presented in 2007 to the Honorable Matthew J. Perry Jr. in recognition of his leadership in South Carolina to fight for civil rights.
The Second Travelstead Award for Courage in Education was presented to President Cleveland Sellers of Voorhees College in recognition of his leadership in South Carolina to combat various forms of racism and to fight for social justice.
The Third Travelstead Award for Courage in Education was presented to Charles T. (Bud) Ferillo Jr., producer and director of the award-winning documentary, Corridor of Shame: The Neglect of South Carolina’s Rural Schools, in recognition of his leadership in the struggle for social justice and educational equity.
The Fourth Travelstead Award for Courage in Education was presented to Dr. Millicent E. Brown, activist-historian currently living in Charleston, in recognition of her role as one of the first students to desegregate public schools in South Carolina.