The 1876 Hamburg Massacre of African Americans was long-ignored by South Carolina’s educators and museums who rewrote history to maintain White Supremacy. This weekend the July 8, 1876 racial slaughter is being commemorated in the Augusta-based Hamburg-Carrsville African American Heritage District which is holding a three-day commemoration beginning July 8, 2022.
After Union troops ended slavery in South Carolina, a solid majority of the state’s population was Black. African Americans helped create the state’s first public school system, integrated the colleges, voted in large numbers, and held elected offices. Violence from Confederate veteran groups like the Ku Klux Klan challenged democracy in the state, but when President Ulysses S. Grant dispatched Federal soldiers to South Carolina in the early 1870s, terrorist activities receded.
A new terrorist group, the Red Shirts, was organized to provide military support to the Confederate general Wade Hampton’s 1876 campaign for governor. Members of the group and others from the Edgefield area murdered Black militiamen whom they captured near the defunct town of Hamburg. This and other murders of Blacks suppressed the African American vote, leading to the restoration of White supremacist control of the state in 1877 and thereafter.
According to local news reports:
The commemoration, which started Friday, is being held at First Providence Baptist Church in North Augusta. Panelists include Vernon Burton, a history professor at Clemson University, John Hayes, an associate professor at Augusta University and Peter Hughes, a local historian. Prayer on Sunday will be lead by Alexander Pope, Jr. Admission is free and the program starts at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Read more at: https://www.thestate.com/news/politics-government/article263281683.html#storylink=cpy
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