A collection of images portraying African American history and culture in South Carolina

Civil Rights–era photographer Cecil Williams's latest publication, Unforgettable: All the Memories We Left Behind, is an extraordinary collection of images and stories celebrating 50 years of South Carolina African American history, heritage, and culture.

The book contains many never-before published photographs by the Orangeburg,
South Carolina, native who started in photography at the age of nine and became a JET magazine photojournalist by age fourteen.

Unforgettable includes many South Carolina milestones that have spanned 50 years or longer, including Harvey Gantt at Clemson University, the Clarendon County Briggs v. Elliott petition, the Orangeburg Fight for Freedom, the rise of student activism, the resignations of Elloree school teachers, the candidacy of President John F. Kennedy, the emergence of the sit-ins, and the Orangeburg, Columbia, and Sumter marches and demonstrations. Also included are images of the Orangeburg Massacre and the Charleston Hospital Workers' strike.

Williams also includes historically significant portraits, creative paintings, product inventions, digital art, sketches, and architectural projects for homes he designed and lived in.

Cecil Williams began working as a professional and freelance photographer at age fourteen. He is lauded as one of the country's most accomplished visual artists. Williams has worked as a professional photographer, author, and architect, but he is best known as the chronicler of the civil rights era. His photographs have been featured in 126 books, 17 newspapers, and 11 television documentaries.