More than 1,400 first through third grade students from Orangeburg Consolidated School Districts Three, Four and Five will visit Claflin University on Thursday, March 2 to participate in the annual National Education Association's "Read Across America Day" at 11 a.m. in the Jonas T. Kennedy Health and Physical Education Center.  Admission is free and the public is invited.

Now in its 20th year, "Read Across America" focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources. The event also commemorates the birthday of world-renowned author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel, known as Dr. Seuss.  This year's event will highlight books written by Dr. Seuss that address hunger, homelessness and the Community Character Trait of the Month "Initiative." The program will also include "story time" narrated by Claflin administrators, faculty, students and community leaders, music, and appearances by key Dr. Seuss characters. 

"Read Across America Day" is sponsored by Claflin's Division of Student Development and Services, Office of Career Development and the Orangeburg County Community of Character.

 

For more information, contact Camika A. Beaton, program coordinator for Service Learning and Community Service at (803) 535-5466 or email [email protected].

"Claflin has played and continues to play a tremendous role in shaping this community, the state and the world," said Columbia Mayor Stephen Benjamin on February 27 at the Vice President's Forum on Inclusive Excellence held at Claflin. "We all believe that universities should be a microcosm of society. What has happened and is happening at this university is rare, unique and special.  You are being prepared for some incredible opportunities at a very high level. Fighting for inclusion and justice and being an advocate for those who don't have a voice is in Claflin's DNA. You need to know you have some very large shoes to fill."

Benjamin was the keynote speaker at the forum which was presented by the Division of Student Development and Office of Student Life in the Arthur Rose Museum. The purpose of the event was to highlight Claflin's ability to incorporate the diverse backgrounds, traditions, and experiences of faculty, staff, and students in realizing the goal of an inclusive community that values excellence in scholarship, teaching and learning, and student development. 

Since being elected mayor in a record turnout election in April 2010, Mayor Benjamin has made it his mission to create Columbia as the most talented, educated and entrepreneurial city in the Southeast. Re-elected by a 30 percent margin in November 2013, Mayor Benjamin's administration has been characterized by his firm belief in Columbia's potential and intense focus on job creation. In his first term alone, his leadership helped cut unemployment in the metro by roughly half and secured billions of dollars in new regional capital investment in the midst of a national recession.

Benjamin's message included references to historic moments in South Carolina that helped change American culture and race relations.

"Sarah Mae Flemming was not looking for a fight or to become a part of history when on June 22, 1954, when she sat in a segregated section on a bus in Columbia," said Benjamin. "Who knew what was on her mind."

The incident took place when only a few weeks earlier, the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that "separate but equal" doctrines were unconstitutional." Flemming eventually filed suit against SCE&G which operated the city's bus transportation. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va., overturned a previous decision in South Carolina and ruled that "separate but equal" Jim Crow laws were unconstitutional. 

"The ruling paved the foundation for the bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., led by Rosa Parks which launched the career of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.," said Benjamin.  "Flemming did not see it coming, but neither did they. She was not looking for history - but when history found her she chose to act."

Other participants of the program were Orangeburg Mayor Michael Butler; Devin Randolph, assistant vice president for Student Development and Services at Claflin; and Dominique Riggins, president of Claflin's Student Government Association.

"I never had to face the hardships that so many had to endure during the Civil Rights Movement. But we are here because they did," Benjamin said. "The Sarah Mae Flemmings and others fought, bled, cried and died for us. Because of their commitment to diversity and inclusion, we have the opportunity to enjoy the lives we now enjoy."