The Education of Harvey Gantt

The 2025 Horry County Museum Documentary Film Series continues with the SCETV film The Education of Harvey Gantt. This 30 minute film tells the story of Harvey Gantt, the first African American student to attend a formerly all-white school in South Carolina.

South Carolina fought the desegregation of its schools longer than any other state, even after the passage of Brown v. Board of Education in 1954. In 1960, a talented African American student from Charleston, Harvey Gantt, graduated from high school and decided to become an architect. Clemson College was the only school in South Carolina that offered a degree in his chosen field. In January of 1963, with the help of NAACP lawyer Matthew J. Perry, Gantt won a lawsuit against Clemson and was peacefully admitted to the college.