Charleston's Avery Center: From Education and Civil Rights to Preserving the African American Experience

For 140 years, Charleston's Avery Research Center has been a hub of African American education and study in the South Carolina Lowcountry. No other institution compares to Avery's scope and impact on the black community in Charleston, and Avery's compelling story and rich history reflect that prominence. The influence of Avery's teachers and students on society in Charleston and the South is immeasurable; their legacy enduring. Established in 1865, the Avery Normal Institute educated Charleston's African American leaders and trained most of the area's black teachers. Avery flourished and emerged as a leading college preparatory institute, vital to Charleston's interracial environment. The list of important contributions by Avery's teachers and students includes the establishment of the Charleston chapter of the NAACP, a successful petition to secure positions for black teachers in the city's public schools, the fight for desegregation in the sixties, and the hospital strike of 1969, Ch