The research center houses a large collection of archives about Black Lowcountry culture.
The Avery Research Center, which focuses on Black life in South Carolina’s Lowcountry, has achieved a new milestone.
The Avery Normal Institute was formed approximately 160 years ago to educate previously enslaved Black people in the Lowcountry region, a coastal territory in the southeastern United States. It was a watershed moment for the area, allowing Black residents to learn new occupations and ways of life after slavery.
Previously, it functioned as a regular private school, educating the children of former slaves. Since its inception, it has evolved into a research institution that preserves their heritage and history for today’s scholars. It is now officially known as the Avery Institute of Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston.
Furthermore, it houses many of the archives related to this lesser-known period of history. Those looking to reconnect with their familial or cultural past in the Lowcountry frequently visit the Avery Research Center.
“Whenever you come into the Avery, we’ll always greet you and say welcome home. Regardless of who you are. Because you’ll be able to discover yourself. You will be able to find your family. “You’ll be able to find anything within our building,” Daron Lee Calhoun II, a key figure at the center, told WCSC.
Parts of its original schoolhouse remain intact, notably the pillars that supported its foundation. The fingerprints of the formerly enslaved Black people who built it can still be seen today.
Many people come not simply to learn more about African American history, but also to reconnect with their roots. Visitors who are related to this land can search its rich archives for their own family records.
Many scholars, including renowned writer and scholar W.E.B. Du Bois and civil rights activist Septima Clark, have been motivated to come there by its large collection of records. Clark was also a graduate of the initial school.
Clark’s maintained several timeless items at the hospital, such as handwritten papers and a personal note from Langston Hughes. While the home of some important papers that reveal the life and culture of this segment of Black America, they encourage others, whether they have Lowcountry roots or not, to visit the coast and discover this lived history.
“We are not gatekeepers of history, but we are here to share the history with the world,” according to Calhoun.
To honor its generational history of conserving Black life in the Lowcountry, the Avery Research Center will hold a 2025 Avery Family Reunion. The communal celebration will take place on November 16 and will include live music, traditional storytelling, and other activities.
