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The front porches of Augusta, Georgia shaped Dr. Bobby Donaldson long before formal education ever could. Through his grandmother's stories, the seeds of historical inquiry were planted, setting him on a path to become one of the nation's foremost chroniclers of South Carolina's civil rights movement.
When Dr. Donaldson arrived at the University of South Carolina 25 years ago, established scholars confidently told him "there wasn't much of a civil rights movement in South Carolina." This assertion – which he immediately recognized as false – exemplifies the historical erasure he's spent his career fighting. Drawing inspiration from pioneers like Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who created Negro History Week (now Black History Month) while facing similar institutional barriers in the 1930s, Donaldson has methodically constructed an irrefutable record of Black resistance and activism throughout South Carolina's history.
Through the Center for Civil Rights History and Research, Donaldson has democratized historical knowledge beyond academic circles. His team digitizes forgotten photographs, develops curriculum for teachers, creates walking tours, and records oral histories – all while training the next generation of historians. The work reveals extraordinary stories: Joseph Rainey, the first Black representative in the South Carolina legislature who helped create a constitution mandating integrated education; the brief period when USC had a majority-Black student body in the 1870s; and the ordinary families from Summerton whose petition for better schools became the cornerstone of Brown v. Board of Education.
Guided by civil rights activist Donella Brown Wilson's principle that "history has no purpose unless you use it," Donaldson's work transcends mere documentation. In our current moment, when battles over curricula and historical interpretation rage across the country, his meticulous research provides both inspiration and armor for those fighting to preserve accurate historical narratives. Listen as he shares how these recovered stories illuminate not just where we've been, but where we might go next.