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South Carolina State House, Columbia

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New State House monuments tour seeks to contextualize the past

By Sarah Pritchard | Nov 19, 2019

A statue of Confederate General Wade Hampton dominates the south side of the State House grounds.

The South Carolina’s State House is a three-story, neo-classical structure of blue granite, marble and iron that stands at the center of a 22-acre complex in the heart of Columbia.

Today, the State House and its seven surrounding building and 30 monuments are the focal point of a new tour being offered Historic Columbia Foundation.

Robin Waites, executive director of Historic Columbia, said the tour, which has been available since October, seeks to create dialogue about the past and how it’s perceived today.

Waites thinks there are a lot of people who don’t realize the people that are represented in some monuments and what it says about the state of South Carolina.

“So, the questions that we’re asking have to do with whether or not these monuments represent us, today,” said Waites.

A broader debate on the removal of  monuments celebrating some state’s Confederate past has been common around the country for the past few years.

Until 2000, the Confederate battle flag was flown with the American flag and the South Carolina flag atop the Statehouse dome. It was moved to a location in front of the building at the Confederate Soldier Monument under the Heritage Act of 2000. The flag had a permanent home in that location on the Statehouse grounds until July 10, 2015, when then Gov. Nikki Haley called for its removal. 

It was removed after convicted killer Dylann Roof walked into the basement of Emanual AME church in Charleston in June 2015 and killed nine African Americans during a Bible study. The tragedy sparked nationwide debate over displaying the Confederate flag after it was discovered the shooter posted messages of white supremacy and photos displaying the flag.

Several of the monuments celebrate symbols of the past that don’t align with the views of many South Carolinians – Confederate figures that still stand tall four years after the 2015 Charleston church shooting. According to Waites, these tours are a natural progression that follow a nationwide movement to either move controversial monuments, or place interpretive signage next to them.

Waites says the tours aren’t offered in hopes of taking down old monuments but so that people can begin to discuss what, if anything needs to be done about them.

“People might say ‘we’re perfectly happy with these things representing us, and we don’t want anything to change.’ There may be people who say there are opportunities to tell a more complete story with interpretive signage, which a lot of communities are doing,” she said.

Some of the monuments, such as those of Confederate General and Gov. Wade Hampton and Dr. J. Marion Sims, have created controversy and calls to have them removed. Hampton led the largest cavalry regiment during the Civil War and was elected governor in 1876 as a “Redeemer” who pledged to end the federal Reconstruction laws that were imposed following the South’s defeat. His election included intimidation of black voters. 

Sims is a South Carolina native who is considered the “father of gynecology.” However, his experiments on enslaved black women without the use of anesthesia prompted the removal of his statue in Central Park in April 2018.

Another controversial figure is Benjamin Ryan “Pitchfork Ben” Tillman, a 19th century governor who promoted himself as a representative of the common man. But he was also a well-known white supremacist. Tillman happens to be one of the first things visitors see on the north side of the State House building.

The question surrounding Tillman’s prominence on the State House grounds is one of the things Waites and Historic Columbia is asking participants.

“Once you know that about that person, do you think that it’s appropriate that he would be the first person you would see when you walk onto the State House grounds?” Waites asked. “Does that mindset and those values represent us as South Carolinians today?”

Some South Carolinians are torn about Tillman’s role in the history of the state and whether or not they would support removing his statue.

“He’s a very polarizing figure because he greatly hurt African American people. He had many racist policies that hurt them,” said Griffin Keeffe from Elgin. “But he is a key figure in our history. So, it goes hand in hand, but I feel like there should be an asterisk next to his name describing what he’s done wrong and what he’s done right.”

Keeffe believes that it’s important to understand the state’s history and individual roots, and understand where we come from because these monuments are from a point in our history that we shouldn’t forget – good or bad.

Despite these tours providing context and starting an important conversation, it might be a lot longer before any changes are made.

The Heritage Act was adopted by the General Assembly in 2000, when the Confederate flag was moved from the State House dome to the Gervais Street side of the building. The law requires a two-thirds majority vote by members of the general assembly to remove or change and historic monuments or markers.

There are still two more tours available before the end of the year on Dec. 7 and 15. For booking information visit   historiccolumbia.org   or email   [email protected] . The tours are free and open to the public. For a self-guided tour, visit historiccolumbia.org.

Sarah Pritchard

Sarah Pritchard is an aspiring news producer from Charleston, South Carolina. As an endowment intern with South Carolina ETV, she edited videos, wrote voiceovers and developed virtual reality tours for Knowitall.org. After studying power producing, Pritchard hopes to produce a morning news show. She loves Gamecock football and her family's dog, Cooper.

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State House Visit

February 8, 2024, join us as our state officers and student leaders from across the state convene at the south carolina state house in columbia to advocate for and represent skillsusa. attendees have the opportunity to tour the state house, meet state congressional members, and be in our annual state house steps photo. .

This year's visit will coincide with SkillsUSA Week's Advocacy Day on Thursday, February 8, 2024. Leading up to this event, registrants will complete pre-work activities, reach out to local state congressional members, and set up meetings to advocate for CTE and SkillsUSA. While in Columbia, these members will meet with their local congressional members and/or designated members to advocate.

Class A (Red Blazer) is VERY HIGHLY recommended.

If not available, business professional attire is a MUST.

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Ag and Art Tour 2024

Every week Commissioner Hugh Weathers talks about what’s going on with agriculture in our state with The Southern Farm Network.

Check back each week to hear the latest news, or you can listen to past interviews here .

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Kyle Rittenhouse, deadly shooter, college speaker? A campus gun-rights tour sparks outrage

Kyle Rittenhouse is not a typical college campus speaker.

In 2020, at the age of 17, he took an AR-15-style rifle to a Black Lives Matter demonstration and fired it, killing two people and injuring a third. Rittenhouse said he pulled the trigger in self-defense and was acquitted of wrongdoing .

He has since penned a book, “Acquitted,” and has set out on a series of college speaking events dubbed the " Rittenhouse Recap ." He is slated to appear Thursday at Clemson University in South Carolina.

Rittenhouse is selling books, and ostensibly promoting the right to bear arms on campus, but he’s also trying to persuade young people to join the conservative movement. The key group behind the appearances, Turning Point USA, is led by the self-described “youth director” of President Donald Trump’s first campaign and a key ally rallying votes for Trump this year.

The group told USA TODAY that it isn’t a nationally organized tour – that its chapters independently requested Rittenhouse. Student chapter leaders told USA TODAY that Rittenhouse is an important conversation starter. “I think sometimes you have to be kind of polarizing to pull a crowd," said Brady Seymour, president of Turning Point USA's chapter at Kent State University in Ohio.

The provocative choice of backing the Rittenhouse tour is par for the course for Turning Point and its local affiliates, which have hosted controversial figures like Nick Fuentes, a white nationalist and Holocaust denier . But it has stirred up devastating pain and disdain in a man he almost killed.

"He has used every moment to gloat and to make light of taking life," Paul Prediger said, speaking publicly for the first time about what happened in protest of a Rittenhouse speech last week at Kent State. "As if that were not enough, Kyle has embraced and been embraced by those who peddle hateful rhetoric, who believe in nationalism that excludes those who do not look like or think like them, and who have sought to amplify a troubling desire for violence against supposed political, cultural, and religious enemies."

Rittenhouse's message on his campus tour – that students should be allowed to take up arms, including to fend off "these Hamas, Palestinian terrorists" if they invade dormitories – has sparked protests and raised questions about free speech and just how far it should be allowed to go. A similar question helped lead to the resignations of the presidents of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard University , who stepped down amid fierce criticism for equivocating when asked if calls for the genocide of Jews would be allowed on campus.

Rittenhouse, in a statement provided by spokesperson Jillian Anderson, said his campus appearances are not part of an official tour or book-selling venture, and he is reminding students of their rights. "Every American has a constitutional right to bear arms," he said, "and it should not be infringed by a college campus."

Experts say context matters. Tom Ginsburg, a law professor at the University of Chicago and faculty director of the forum on free inquiry and expression, told USA TODAY that federal regulations require colleges and universities to ensure their learning environment is not hostile. Within that framework, some incendiary language could be permitted in a general public space but prohibited if directed at an individual or group.

"That's a key distinction," he said. "Is it said in general, as part of a general demonstration, or is it shouted at a particular group of people who might then reasonably perceive it as being a threat of some kind? And if it's the latter, then it could be punished."

Kyle Rittenhouse says students should carry guns on campus

On the evening of Aug. 25, 2020 , Rittenhouse brought a rifle to the site of intense protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, sparked by the police shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man. Amid a scuffle with protesters, Rittenhouse fatally shot Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber and wounded Prediger.

In a trial that drew national attention in 2021, Rittenhouse said he shot the men in self-defense after Rosenbaum threatened his life and Prediger pointed a gun at him. Prediger said he thought Rittenhouse was an active shooter. Critics said Rittenhouse had no right to fire his weapon and was illegally acting as a vigilante militia. A jury acquitted him of all five charges he faced, including intentional homicide.

Rittenhouse soon took on celebrity status in right-wing circles where the right to bear arms and use them to defend life and property is sacrosanct. The weekend after his trial, he flew to Florida to visit Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort and to appear on Fox News for an interview with conservative host Tucker Carlson.

At Kent State, Rittenhouse implored students to fight to be allowed to carry guns at school.

"We have these blue boxes that are on the campus – we've all seen them, you push a button, it calls the police, and you get connected to a dispatcher," he said. "How long does it take a cop to show up, though? When somebody is trying to kidnap you or somebody is threatening your life, is that the quickest option to be able to protect yourself?"

He encouraged students to join conservative groups like Turning Point USA and said elected officials don't care about them.

"What makes me really scared, and I get really upset that people, especially young campus students, aren't allowed to carry firearms, just because I'm scared that what happens if these Hamas, Palestinian terrorists come to the U.S. and try to attack us?" Rittenhouse said. "Are we supposed to be left defenseless? Are you supposed to be left defenseless because you're not allowed to have a gun in your dormitory?"

After Prediger – formerly known as Gaige Grosskreutz – criticized his speaking tour, Rittenhouse posted a video clip on X, formerly Twitter. It showed Prediger admitting he pointed a gun in Rittenhouse's direction before being shot. Rittenhouse did not include text in the post.

Students accuse Turning Point of 'hateful actions'

In the days leading up to his arrival at Kent State, demonstrators staged a walkout, organized a vigil, and spray painted "Welcome, killer" on a free-speech landmark. A Change.org petition urging the university and Turning Point USA to cancel Rittenhouse's visit gathered more than 3,700 signatures. The event spurred Prediger to speak out. Hundreds showed up to protest.

"I stand with the students of Kent State University who have had enough," Prediger said.

Students said it was particularly insensitive for the campus to host Rittenhouse and his message about guns on campus given the school's history. On May 4, 1970, four students were gunned down at Kent State when the Ohio National Guard fired into a crowd gathered to protest the invasion of Cambodia during the Vietnam War.

Aimée Flores, a representative from the university's Spanish and Latine Student Association, said the organization encouraged students "to learn more about Turning Point USA.... their hateful actions on campus and throughout this whole year, why we don't agree with their actions."

Seymour, the school's Turning Point chapter president, said the event was about "creating conversation." It had no relation to the 1970 killing of protestors, he said.

"In his speech, he talked mostly about having the right to carry on campus, considering students aren't allowed to at Kent State," Seymour said.

"These two stories are completely different and 50 years apart," he said.

Protests at every campus on 'Rittenhouse Recap' tour

Other “Rittenhouse Recap” appearances prompted vocal opposition and protest.

At Western Kentucky University , protesters held a sit-in and march last month. His appearance at East Tennessee State University in February also sparked demonstrations – local press reports show one protester wielding a sign accusing Turning Point of empowering "stochastic terrorism" – the incitement of violence through public demonization of a person or group.

In the days leading up to Rittenhouse's appearance at The University of Memphis in March, the school fielded a barrage of complaints from students, faculty, and community members. Protesters held signs with messages like, “Put Rittenhouse behind bars, not a podium.” Rittenhouse abruptly left the stage after about 30 minutes as protesters shouted him down.

Universities said allowing the events – and the protests – upholds key tenets of American democracy and academic tradition: Free speech and freedom of assembly. Turning Point USA’s chapter at The University of Memphis is a registered student organization, the school said.

"We cannot ban speech because it would go against a core value and because of well-established laws governing free speech on public university campuses,” Kent State said in a statement provided to USA TODAY. “Upholding the First Amendment rights of free speech and peaceful assembly for all, the university has a long history of allowing peaceful dialogue from all points of view, including those whom some may feel are offering different and/or sometimes controversial opinions."

Turning Point has history of booking controversial speakers

Turning Point USA has a track record of booking controversial and provocative figures, placing it at the center of debates over First Amendment rights on college campuses, where it says it has grown to more than 800 chapters since its founding in 2012.

In late 2016 and early 2017, the group was behind a nationwide campus speaking tour by Milo Yiannopoulos – a former Breitbart writer banned from Twitter for harassment and dropped from the agenda at a Conservative Political Action Conference after videos surfaced of him defending sexual relationships between 13-year-old boys and grown men. Yiannopoulos said he was joking and may have used "imprecise language."

In 2019, Turning Point’s Iowa State University chapter claimed partial responsibility for extending a speaking invitation to Fuentes, a white nationalist who has said he wants a "total Aryan victory" and self-identified as a "sexist man," according to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Last year, representatives of the group confronted, criticized and assaulted an LGBTQ+ instructor at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Turning Point has taken action against members for promoting hate speech. In 2019, the group expelled a member at the University of Nevada Las Vegas after a video surfaced of the student shouting "white power" and using a white supremacist hand sign.

Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, said the Fuentes event was not sanctioned, and a local chapter official was tricked into arranging the appearance. He said that Turning Points has repeatedly denounced white nationalism . Kolvet said that in general, students should be able to hear from controversial speakers. "We do our best to make sure that there's going to be enriching discussion, that the speaker is going to be, I would say, uplifting, inspiring, productive."

He said Turning Point chapters chose Rittenhouse as a speaker. "There just happened to be schools that asked for Kyle because he came out with a book and he made himself available, essentially."

Turning Point touts itself as a key player in conservative politics , as does its founder and president, Charlie Kirk , who told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh 's show in 2019 that he “traveled the country for about 70 days straight carrying Donald Trump Jr.’s bags and getting his Diet Cokes.” In addition to becoming Trump Jr.'s "body man," he took on the role of "youth director of the campaign," Kirk said. Speaking at the Republican National Convention in 2020, he called President Trump the "bodyguard of Western civilization."

Kirk also speaks on college campuses, where his fiery rhetoric has sparked controversy. At a speech last fall at Missouri State University , he said all immigration to the U.S. should be halted, called global warming an "academic distraction," and speculated about how many Hamas sleeper cells might be active in the U.S.

Expert says universities grappling with non-academic provocateurs

Ginsburg stressed that colleges and universities must allow free speech. "It’s pretty clear that their obligation is to make sure that event goes forward and to make sure it's not disrupted," he said. "At the same time, peaceful protest also has a long tradition on campus."  

Ginsburg said an added dimension to their challenges is the more recent phenomenon of campus speakers who intentionally draw negative attention.

"What we're now seeing is that people are sometimes getting invited to campus who aren't necessarily academics. They're not articulating a truly academic point of view," Ginsburg said. "In some cases, we have provocateurs, including some people who actually are seeking to be canceled, seeking to be protested."

He said people like Rittenhouse often capitalize on controversy. "He's certainly part of a media ecosystem in which you do have some of those kind of characters where, if you can get canceled, it ups your follower rate and you can portray yourself as a victim," he said.

To the Turning Point leader at Kent State, it's a tactic the group uses to advance conversation.

"That's the sad reality of how people are," Seymour said. "You kind of have to stir up drama or be a polarizing character for people to end up paying attention to you."

Cybele Mayes-Osterman is a breaking news reporter for USA Today. Reach her by email at [email protected]. Follow her on X @CybeleMO.

These 112 House Republicans voted against Ukraine aid

• The House passed a more than $60 billion bill that provides more military aid to Ukraine.
• It's part of a larger foreign aid package that's likely to pass the Senate and be signed into law.
• 112 Republicans voted it against — the most ever, and a majority of the GOP conference.

The House of Representatives on Saturday passed a more than $60 billion bill to provide military and economic aid to Ukraine.

A solid majority of Republicans voted against the bill, which passed by a 311-112 margin. 101 Republicans voted for it, and one Republican, Rep. Dan Meuser of Pennsylvania, voted "present."

The Ukraine aid bill came to the floor after months of delay and despite staunch opposition from the hard right, including a threat from Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene to call a vote to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson if he allowed such a vote.

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Under Johnson's unconventional plan , the Ukraine bill will be sent to the Senate as part of a package that includes aid for Israel and Taiwan and a third bill that forces a sale of TikTok and allows the United States to confiscate Russian assets . Each component received its own vote in the House on Saturday.

The bill is widely expected to pass the Senate in the coming days, as it generally mirrors a $95.3 billion national security bill passed by the upper chamber in February. President Joe Biden has pledged to sign it into law.

Saturday's vote marked the first time the House had approved billions of dollars in Ukraine aid since December 2022, when Democrats still controlled the chamber.

In the two years since Russia's invasion, opposition to aiding Ukraine has grown from a fringe position to a majority view among House GOP lawmakers. Many argue the money should be spent domestically or that policy changes at the US-Mexico border should take precedence.

The new infusion of aid comes at a make-or-break moment for Ukraine , which has faced ammo shortages and insufficient air defenses.

As a result of his move, Johnson could face a vote on his ouster in the coming weeks. The GOP speaker, however, has grown more willing to confront the threat from the right, and Democrats have suggested that they're willing to protect him from an ouster effort if he allowed a vote on Ukraine aid.

"If I operated out of fear of a motion to vacate, I would never be able to do my job," Johnson told reporters this week. "History judges us for what we do. This is a critical time right now."

Here are the 112 House Republicans who voted against the bill:

Watch: Highlights from Biden's fiery State of the Union address

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South Carolina State House

1100 Gervais Street Constructed 1855-1907 Designed by John R. Niernsee (1854-1885); Francis (Frank) McHenry Niernsee (1888-1891); Frank P. Milburn (1900-1904); Charles C. Wilson (1904-1907) Renovated 1995-1998

The current State House is the successor to an earlier, wood-frame, Georgian style building that stood closer to Assembly Street. Work began on the new State House in 1851. However, the foundation was determined to be defective and subsequently dismantled in 1854. After firing project architect Peter Hjalmar Hammarskold for fraud and dereliction of duty, the state hired Vienna-born John Rudolph Niernsee to revise the building’s plans and oversee the project’s completion. Work on today’s building began in 1855 with between 375 and 500 men, about 60% of whom were enslaved African Americans, and many others Irish immigrants, cutting and hauling stones from a quarry near the Congaree River. Their efforts ceased in 1861 with the start of the Civil War.

When Union forces converged on Columbia in February 1865, the unfinished State House was an easy target for Union cannoneers who bombarded it from the west bank of the Congaree River. Today, six bronze stars mark places where shells from their 20-pound Parrott guns damaged the granite walls. The intense fire that destroyed the neighboring wooden State House also cracked the basement cornice and quoins in the southwestern corner of the new State House.

In 1869, a temporary roof allowed the government – the only African American majority state legislature in the history of the United States – to finally occupy the building for the first time. More than 80 African Americans served as legislators from 1868 through 1877. After Reconstruction ended, black people were systematically eliminated from government and businesses throughout the South, especially in South Carolina. In 1970, Herbert Fielding, James Felder, and I.S. Leevy Johnson won election to the S.C. House of Representatives, the first African Americans to serve in the State House since 1902.

The exuberant interiors with cast iron details were installed in the 1880s and the porticos, steps, and dome finished at the turn of the century. Difficulties with financing and personnel plagued the building throughout its construction and the legislature declared its square footage inadequate as early as 1869, necessitating the state office buildings on the south side of Senate Street. The state legislature still meets in the historic building.

As mentioned in Historically Complex: The Podcast

Introducing Historically Complex, a new podcast on the complicated histories of key monuments on the South Carolina State House grounds -- now available to stream and download on our website or your favorite podcast service!

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