New booklet shines light on county’s civil rights past

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A new booklet funded by a grant from the Richland County Conservation Commission tells the story of the seventh annual conference of the Southern Negro Youth Congress held in Richland County in October 1946.

Richland County resident Becci Robbins wrote “History Denied: Recovering South Carolina’s Stolen Past” with support from the S.C. Progressive Network. Funding from the conservation commission helped with the research and publishing of the booklet, which the network celebrated with a launch party on July 23.

The Southern Negro Youth Congress, formed in 1937, led progressive civil rights initiatives throughout the country in the 1930s and 1940s. The organization, which worked to register voters and testified before the Fair Employment Practices Committee during World War II about employment discrimination in the South, had chapters in 10 states with a peak membership of 11,000.

Hard copies of the booklet are available at the South Carolina Progress Network at 2025 Marion St. An electronic version may be downloaded online.