We’ll stick with statues again this week. What’s this one, where is it and why is it important? Bonus points: Who is the sculptor and why is the sculptor important? Send your guess – and your name and hometown – to feedback@statehousereport.com.
Last week’s image of “Looking ahead,” garnered identifications from a lot of longtime mystery sleuths who knew it to be a statue of Richard Greener outside the University of South Carolina main library. Greener was the school’s first African-American professor and first African American to graduate from Harvard University. He later served as dean of Howard University Law School.
Hats off to these readers who identified the statue: Charlie Davis of Aiken; Pam Little-McDaniel and Barry Wingard, both of Florence; Jean Prothro, Jay Altman, Hector Diaz, and Elizabeth Jones, all of Columbia; David Lupo of Mount Pleasant; Penny Forrester of Tallahassee, Fla.; Doug Friedman of Charleston; Daniel Prohaska and Frank Bouknight, both of Summerville; Allan Peel of San Antonio, Texas;George Graf of Palmyra, Va.; Pat Keadle of Wagener; and Bill Segars of Hartsville.
Prothro shared an interesting tidbit: “Of interest to me in a recent book group discussion of The Personal Librarian regards Bella deCosta Greene, the daughter of Richard Greener. According to the fictionalized account, Richard Greener became estranged from his wife and daughters upon their claims to be White. The girls’ mother felt that since they could pass as white people, the girls would have better lives.”
>> Send us a mystery picture. If you have a photo that you believe will stump readers, send it along (but make sure to tell us what it is because it may stump us too!) Send to: feedback@statehousereport.com and mark it as a photo submission. Thanks.
We Can Do Better, South Carolina!