After watching Jon Stewart’s on-point and poignant words regarding the tragic shooting at the AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, (watch it here before you continue reading!) I was curious about his statement that “the roads [in South Carolina] are named for Confederate generals.” I wanted to see the prevalence of Confederate Generals’ names as opposed to African American leaders’ names on street signs in South Carolina . For the African American leaders’ names I referred to those inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame. For the Confederate Generals, I picked four famous generals with connections to South Carolina. I used Google Maps to find all the streets with variations of these names (e.g. Robert E. Lee Ave. and Robert E. Lee Blvd.) in South Carolina.
Confederate Generals:
- Lieutenant General Thomas Jonathan “Stonewall” Jackson
- General Robert E. Lee
- Brigadier General Milledge Luke Bonham
- General Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard
African Americans inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame:
-
Mary McLeod Bethune
-
Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden, Jr.
-
Maude Callen
-
Septima Poinsette Clark
-
Marian Wright Edelman
-
Ernest A. Finney, Jr.
-
John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie
-
Benjamin E. Mays, Ph.D.
-
Ronald Erwin McNair, Ph.D.
-
Matthew Perry
-
Philip Simmons
-
Robert Smalls
I found that for the 12 African Americans listed, they only had 10 streets named after them in South Carolina, while these 4 Confederate Generals had 44 in total. How’s that for disparate ratios!
Not only was Jon Stewart right when he said “the roads [in South Carolina] are named for Confederate generals,” but he can also add on that there is a clear disregard for honoring the African American leaders of South Carolina.
Please note that this was done hastily and I apologize in advance for any errors. If you have any thoughts, comments, questions, or suggestions, feel free to contact me and I will respond as promptly as possible.