An official South Carolina Historical Marker was dedicated today at the west end of the Horseshoe, near Lieber College, to acknowledge the history of USC during Reconstruction (1865-77).

• After the Civil War, a new state constitution mandated that university attendance should be open to all “without regard to race.”
• During this time, 1873 to 1877, USC was the only public university in the South to desegregate. USC’s first African American student, Henry E. Hane, was admitted in 1873.
• After Reconstruction, USC was closed for three years and reopened as an all-white institution, which it remained until 1963.

Dedication ceremony: Friday, Jan. 13, 2023, at 10.am.

Why it matters: South Carolina Historical Markers mark and interpret important places important to an understanding of South Carolina’s past.