Winthrop trustees ask SC lawmakers to drop racist Tillman name from campus building
Winthrop University’s Board of Trustees unanimously voted Friday to ask the South Carolina Legislature to remove the name of one of South Carolina’s most avowed racists from the school’s most iconic building.
The board voted to seek permission to change the name of Tillman Hall, making the Rock Hill school among the first universities in the state to formally do so in wake of nationwide protests for social change this summer.
Tillman Hall was named in 1962 after Tillman. He was formerly a governor of S.C. and a Democratic U.S. Senator.
The building would return to the name of Main Hall, which it was called before 1962.
The board voted to pass a resolution that will go to the S.C. General Assembly. According to South Carolina law, only the legislature has the authority to change the name of public buildings under what is called the Heritage Act. Winthrop is a public college.
Glenn McCall, chairman of the Winthrop trustee board, said in the meeting that of all the emails and letters and other correspondence from students, alumni, professors and the public about the issue, just one message was in favor of keeping the Tillman name.
“Your voice has been heard,” McCall said.
‘Permission to change the name’
McCall reiterated that the vote to ask the legislature is only a request.
“We can only vote to ask the legislature for permission to change the name,” McCall said.
None of the trustees spoke in the meeting about the resolution or spoke in the meeting about the Tillman name.
The request by the trustee board is believed to be the first time the board has asked to change names in recent decades, despite several campus rallies, petitions, and other actions from students, faculty and alumni.
McCall said in the meeting that those in the Winthrop community and public should now turn their attention to voicing their support to the legislature for changing the building name.
“It will take you as citizens of South Carolina to do this,” McCall said.
If the legislature amends the Heritage Act to allow Winthrop permission to change the name, the board would then have to vote again to formally change the name, McCall said.
The resolution states, “The Winthrop community is stronger when people of all races, ethnicities, lifestyles, faiths and cultures are equally welcomed and included.”
The resolution states the board of trustees continues to be opposed to racism, bigotry, bias, intolerance, prejudice and discrimination.
“It is only when we can acknowledge, respect, and celebrate our differences and commonalities will we truly become an integrated community of learners,” the resolution states.
The Winthrop decision follows Clemson, which also has a campus building named after Tillman and last week unanimously passed a resolution to ask the S.C. General Assembly to amend the Heritage Act.
The university was founded by David Bancroft “D.B” Johnson, according to the Winthrop Web site. The site states “In 1886, founding president Johnson successfully petitioned Boston philanthropist Robert C. Winthrop and the Peabody Fund for seed money to form a training school for teachers. Winthrop opened its doors to 21 students in Columbia, S.C., using a borrowed, one-room building. The school soon received state assistance and moved to its permanent Rock Hill home in 1895.”
Long history between Tillman Hall and Winthrop
When petitions went online earlier this month asking for name changes for buildings honoring Ben Tillman and former U.S. Sen. Strom Thurmond at Winthrop, it wasn’t the first time someone had that idea.
Students marched in 2016 after the police shooting death of Keith Lamont Scott in Charlotte. A 2018 Winthrop poll found South Carolinians split on how to display Confederate-era history from the battle flag to historical figures and namesakes like Tillman.
Discussion and calls for change, along with calls to keep monuments and namesakes, followed other racially divisive moments — like the 2015 Emanuel AME Church shooting of Black parishioners, and the 2017 protests in Charlottesville, Va.
Raging debate on what to do with the Confederate battle flag that once flew atop the capitol in Columbia reached a compromise in 2000: The flag came down and was relocated, but legislators also set rules on how similar decisions would be made.
The S.C. Heritage Act passed that year, and it effectively prevents local governments from changing park names or removing monuments dedicated to any war, historic figure or event. A change would require a two-thirds vote from both the state House and Senate.
Information on Ben Tillman
Winthrop, Clemson, U.S. Senate, U.S. Congress, National Governors Association and other online archives detail a man of accomplishments, though many of them came at the expense of Black people. Here are highlights from those sources:
▪ Benjamin Ryan Tillman was born in Edgefield County in 1847. He died in 1918 and is buried in Edgefield County.
▪ Tillman’s family owned more than 80 slaves. Tillman left school in 1864 to join the Confederate Army. He was incapacitated by a cranial tumor that led to the loss of his left eye. He would establish a successful agricultural business and advocate for state farmers.
▪ Tillman served as governor of South Carolina from 1890 to 1894. His term included reform to railroad, tax, cotton mill labor and other state structures, but also local government and voting rules that limited Black representation and rhetoric in support of white supremacy and even the lynching of Blacks.
▪ Tillman was integral in the establishment of two universities: Winthrop University and Clemson University. Due to the Civil War and his ailment, Tillman didn’t receive a college education. He was an original trustee of Clemson Agricultural College and was a driving force behind state support for and a large reason for the location of Winthrop — which arrived in Rock Hill in 1895. (Winthrop was originally as a school for teachers in Columbia.)
▪ Tillman called a state constitutional convention in 1895 which resulted in efforts to deny voting rights to Black people. Measures included a poll tax, educational and property requirements and a civics test registration officials could use to pass or fail potential voters.
▪ Tillman was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1894. He served from 1895 until his death, re-elected three times. Tillman earned the nickname “Pitchfork Ben” by promising to go to Washington, D.C., and put a pitchfork to then President Grover Cleveland to get the economy going.
▪ Both South Carolina senators were censured after Tillman physically attacked then junior Sen. John McLaurin in the Senate Chamber after contentious debate related to annexation of the Philippine Islands. On Feb. 22, 1902, Tillman punched McLaurin in the jaw — bystanders also were bruised in the melee — after both men made derogatory remarks against one another. The incident led to several still-standing Senate rules against imputing one another during debate.
▪ Tillman is responsible for the smoking ban in Senate Chamber. The Senate unanimously agreed to ban smoking that had commonly occurred during executive sessions, when an aged and ailing Tillman proposed it after noting a high death rate among incumbent senators.
This story was originally published June 19, 2020 at 5:23 PM.
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