Whipper, Lucille SimmonsEducator, legislator. Whipper was born in Charleston on June 6, 1928, the daughter of Joseph Simmons and Sarah Marie Washington.…
Whipper, William J.Legislator. Whipper was one of the most influential African American politicians in South Carolina’s Reconstruction government. He was born free…
White LightningWhite lightning, a white whiskey made surreptitiously and illegally, was once produced in great quantities in South Carolina. It got…
White PrimaryParty primary elections were introduced in the nineteenth century. They were touted as a more democratic means of nominating candidates…
Whittaker, Johnson ChesnutSlave, West Point cadet, lawyer, educator. Whittaker was born on August 23, 1858, on the Camden plantation of James Chesnut,…
Wigfall, Louis TrezevantU.S. senator. Lewis Trezevant Wigfall was born in Edgefield District on April 21, 1816, the son of Levi Durand Wigfall…
Wigg, JamesLegislator. Wigg was born a slave in Beaufort County around 1850. As a young boy during the Union occupation of…
Wilkes Fund ControversyThe 1770s Wilkes Fund Controversy forced South Carolina to recognize that its own view of the imperial constitution and the…
Williams, David RogersonCongressman, governor. Williams was born in Cheraw (later Darlington) District on March 8, 1776, the son of David Williams, a…
Wilson, John LydeGovernor. Wilson was born in Cheraw District in May 1784 to John Wilson and Mary Lyde. He studied law in…
WomenAlthough women constitute a majority of South Carolina’s population, they have had to overcome many of the same barriers to…
Women's SuffrageThe enfranchisement of women was first publicly discussed during the Reconstruction era in South Carolina. During the 1868 State Constitutional…
Wragg, WilliamLoyalist. Wragg was born in South Carolina, the son of Samuel Wragg and Marie DuBosc. His father was a prosperous…
Wright, Jonathan JasperWright’s prominent role in the state constitutional convention won him wide praise. After narrowly losing the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor at the party’s 1868 convention, Wright was elected to the state Senate from Beaufort County, making him among the state’s first African American legislators.
XYZ AffairAfter Pinckney’s arrival, the French government continued to be hostile to the United States: France determined that it had no need for an American minister on its soil and demanded that Pinckney leave in January 1797.
Yamassee WarDespite its name, the Yamassee War also involved the Cherokees, Creeks, and Choctaws in a far-ranging rebellion from the Savannah River to Charleston.
Yeamans, Sir JohnWhen Yeamans belatedly came to South Carolina in the summer of that year, he claimed the office of governor. Interim governor Joseph West and the Grand Council initially rejected his claim, but they accepted Yeamans as governor when a proprietary commission arrived in April 1672.
Young, Virginia Durant CovingtonYoung’s career followed the pattern of many suffragists. After active participation in Baptist missionary societies, she joined the Woman’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) in 1886. Suffrage appealed as an avenue to temperance goals.
