[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 38 (Monday, March 1, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E187]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TRIBUTE FOR THE 60TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE EDWARDS V. SOUTH CAROLINA MARCH

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                         HON. JAMES E. CLYBURN

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, March 1, 2021

  Mr. CLYBURN. Madam Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to an 
important anniversary that brings the actions of my youth full circle 
to my service in this esteemed body.
  Sixty years ago, a student-led march took place in South Carolina's 
capital city protesting state laws designed to maintain de jure 
segregation of Blacks and whites in my home state. The arrests that 
day, March 2, 1961, resulted in the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 
breach of the peace ruling. The case, Edwards v. South Carolina, is 
still taught in law schools today. I was among the student protestors 
arrested that day for seeking equal justice and civil rights, and I am 
proud of the role this event played in protecting the right to protest 
peacefully in this country.
  On that momentous day, approximately 200 high school and college 
students from all over South Carolina gathered at Zion Baptist Church 
in Columbia and marched to the State House to protest racial 
discrimination. As a 20-year-old student protest leader at South 
Carolina State College (now University), I left Orangeburg with several 
of my classmates to join in the march. We divided into groups, and I 
agreed to lead a contingency of students from my high school Mather 
Academy toward the State House grounds. When we approached the State 
House, law enforcement officers ordered us to turn around. It had been 
my intention to do just that, but the students I was leading wanted to 
press on. We marched on singing hymns and patriotic songs. 191 
protestors were arrested for breaching the peace and spent the next 
three days in jail before being released on bail.
  There were four separate bench trials that March and 189 students 
were convicted in Magistrate's Court despite the exemplary 
representation of NAACP attorney Matthew J. Perry and his colleagues, 
Lincoln Jenkins II and Donald Sampson. All but two of the protestors 
appealed their convictions, which were upheld by the South Carolina 
Supreme Court.
  On December 13, 1962, the Edwards v. South Carolina case, named for 
Benedict College protestor James Edwards, was argued before the U.S. 
Supreme Court by Matthew Perry. On February 25, 1963, the high court 
ruled eight to one in favor of the student defendants, reversing their 
convictions.
  Justice Potter Stewart wrote in the majority opinion that a state 
cannot ``make criminal the peaceful expression of unpopular views.'' 
Since that ruling, Edwards v. South Carolina has been cited as the 
precedent in more than 70 breach of the peace cases.
  Madam Speaker, I ask you and my colleagues to join me today in 
recognizing the contributions of the student protestors in Edwards v. 
South Carolina as we remember their protest 60 years ago. As one of the 
young people involved in this historic event, I can attest that we were 
committed to the fight for civil rights, and had no idea that our 
actions would contribute to preserving the right to peacefully protest 
for future generations.
  Today similar tactics are being employed in movements like Black 
Lives Matter. I applaud their efforts and thank the City of Columbia, 
Historic Columbia and the University of South Carolina for the monument 
they have erected to memorialize this momentous event.

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