A Religious History of the College of Charleston
Critical Reflections on 250 years of
Religion & Race at the College
Religion has shaped the College of Charleston since 1770.
A Video Introduction
Anti-Racism Statement
As a part of our project, we acknowledge the centrality of the institution of slavery to both the origins and history of the College of Charleston. Wealth generated by enslaved labor was fundamental in founding the College. Enslaved laborers were loaned by President Robert Smith to work as bricklayers between 1789-1790. The class of 1861 graduated early to fight for the Confederacy. Throughout all of this, the College of Charleston provided an intellectual framework to justify the perpetuation of chattel slavery and often used Christian rhetoric in order to do so.
Additionally, we acknowledge the role the College played in maintaining segregation, going so far as to end its tenure as a public municipal college in order to avoid allowing non-white students until it was finally integrated in 1968 and became a public institution again in 1970. To this day, the College fails to reflect the diversity of the city whose name it bears.
The discipline of Religious Studies has its own long history of racism and colonialism, including its roots in anthropologists' fascination with so-called “primitive religion” and its harmful exoticizing and fetishizing of non-Western traditions. The discipline has approached its object of study through the lens of White Supremacy and Western Imperialism to the detriment of both itself and its subjects. The Department of Religious Studies shares in our aims to combat racism.
We commit to approaching our project with a critical eye towards the way that race has shaped our institution, our discipline, and our subject and to fill in any gaps left by histories and narratives that gloss over black lives whenever necessary. It is our aim in this project to unearth the link between religion and racism and to join in efforts across campus to shed light on the truth of the College's part in perpetuating that connection.
To virtually explore the College campus, visit Discovering Our Past for a walking tour that highlights the stories of all people who were part of our past, whose presences linger on the land and in our buildings, and whose contributions and stories enrich the narrative that emerges as the unfolding epic tale of the College of Charleston.
To learn more about campus initiatives to address the legacies of enslavement and racism, see Center for the Study of Slavery in Charleston.
The College of Charleston's Office of Institutional Diversity will premier "If These Walls Could Talk", a documentary centering the stories of enslaved Africans and their contributions to the construction of College buildings in February 2021.