The Civil Rights Movement and Economic Issues in Present-Day SC

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Other factors cemented South Carolina’s return to the Republican Party. Protests against the Vietnam War were seen by many in a state heavily committed to the military as unpatriotic and were associated with the Democratic Party. Richard Nixon’s campaign promise to restore “law and order” appealed to conservative Southerners who feared the backlash of the black power movement as well as the antiwar protests. Fundamentalist and evangelical churches, prominent in the South, organized politically as social conservatives and became a cornerstone of the growing conservative movement.

Causes and Consequences of the Growth of African American Support for the Democratic Party beginning in the 1960s

African Americans have voted in increasing numbers as a result of the Elmore v. Rice decision, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and the anti poll tax amendment to the Constitution (24th amendment). Although African Americans supported the Republican Party that won them their freedom and protected it during Reconstruction, they have consistently supported the Democratic Party since the mid 1960s because of the Democratic Party’s support for civil rights. African Americans make up about twenty-eight percent of the population of South Carolina according to the 2010 Census, so they have had limited impact on presidential elections in a state with a winner-take-all policy granting all electoral votes to the candidate that gains the majority. Presently, African Americans hold thirty-eight seats in the South Carolina legislature.

Impact of the civil rights movement on women's rights in South Carolina

The Civil Rights Movement contributed to a reemergence of the women’s rights movement. Although South Carolina women had been able to vote since 1920, South Carolina ratified the nineteenth amendment in 1969. South Carolina was one of ten states that failed to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment and so the Amendment failed. South Carolina women have had prominent roles in government including women who have served in Congress, Lieutenant Governor, and as members of the state legislature. There are sixteen women currently serving in the state legislature.

Efforts to Improve Education in South Carolina from the 1970s to the present

Education continued to be an area of concern even after integration made the equalization effort (8-7.2) moot. In order to ensure continued economic growth, successive governors backed state funding of a minimal level of education for all of the state’s children funded by a sales tax. At the urging of the business community, South Carolina led the nation in addressing educational issues through the Education Improvement Act in the mid-1980s. The act called for a one cent increase in sales tax to be used for education. Although improvement was seen in the graduation rates and the numbers of students attending college, inequality continues and the funding has proved unstable.

The state has cut funding in the last several years because of lower revenues due to the recession. Wealthy districts are able to tap into local resources while poor districts are unable to fully fund education for their children. The achievement gap continues to be the legacy of years of discrimination in educational opportunity. The Education Improvement Act of the 1980s and Educational Accountability Act of the 1990s were passed to ensure that all South Carolina children have an equal opportunity to learn. National legislation, currently labeled No Child left Behind [NCLB] established an accountability system based on state standards.

Impact of World War II and a Growing American Prosperity during the 1950s on agricultural production in South Carolina

Changes in the economy of contemporary South Carolina are rooted in economic changes of the post World War II period. During World War II many workers, especially African Americans, left farms, for factory jobs in towns in South Carolina or in wartime industries across the nation. Consequently, landowners turned to crops that could be harvested by machine such as soybeans.

Many veterans did not return to the farm. Depopulation led to an even greater reliance on mechanization and fewer acres planted in cotton which was still harvested by hand. By the mid-1950s, tobacco replaced cotton as the most important crop in the state. Unable to buy the expensive equipment needed to plant and harvest crops, sharecroppers and tenant farmers left the countryside. Landowners borrowed money using their land as collateral to buy equipment. In the postwar period, new farming methods and the use of fertilizers led to increased yields, overproduction, and falling prices. Falling prices left small farmers unable to pay their loans so many more left the farm for cities and towns.

Lasting Economic Effects of the Growth of Industrialization and Mechanization

By the 1970s, more South Carolinians lived in cities than in rural areas. As a result of industrialization and mechanization, South Carolina’s economy changed from one that was based on agriculture to one based on manufacturing and tourism.

Steps taken to attract business and industry to the state including tax incentives, the creation of "right to work" laws, and expansion of cultural offerings

The state government of South Carolina made a concerted effort to attract new industry to the state and those efforts continue today. With the encouragement of Governor Strom Thurmond, the legislature passed bills that provided for the expansion and modernization of the port facilities at Charleston. By the 1950s, Charleston was one of the leading seaports in the United States. To attract shipping, Charleston developed container facilities. The State Ports Authority oversees the development of the ports of Charleston, Georgetown and Port Royal and has helped to attract foreign companies to the state and promote international trade. The future of the Charleston Harbor, however, depends on efforts to deepen the port to allow for larger container ships once the wider Panama Canal opens in 2014.

An extensive system of roads and highways built by both the federal government and the state of South Carolina crisscrosses the state and provides transportation for goods to consumers throughout the country. Airports, built in major cities in South Carolina, have contributed to economic development. South Carolina has developed a system of technical colleges that prepare a skilled workforce and also attracts new industries. The State Development Board, created in 1954, continues to recruit businesses from other parts of the country and from Europe to the state by touting the incentives of tax breaks, low wages, and the state’s opposition to labor unions.

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