Avery Institute for African American History
Interpreting the African American Experience

August 23, 2005 – Rotarians enjoyed a history lesson by Dr. Marvin Dulaney, Executive Director of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston. Besides being the Executive Director of Avery for 11 years and the former Chair of the History Department, Dr. Dulaney is currently writing a book on the history of African Americans in Dallas, Texas. He also was a former Rotarian, and many pleas were made for him to return to the Club.

Dr. Dulaney showed a video of the history of the Avery Research Center and its mission, which is to “collect, preserve and document the history and culture of African Americans in Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry”. The video, Preserving the African American Experience, showed how slaves who once struggled for emancipation were merely struggling for survival at the end of the Civil War. The Avery Research Center emanated from the Avery Normal Institute, which was founded in 1865 as the first accredited secondary school for African Americans in Charleston. Avery Normal Institute became Palmer College in the 1950s, but eventually the building fell into disrepair. The building was finally purchased by the State under the auspices of the College of Charleston, who joined the Avery Institute for Afro American History and Culture to become the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture.

According to Dr. Dulaney, the heart of the center is its archive collection. Avery boasts many books, photographs, periodicals, and artifacts that carefully document the African American experience in the Lowcountry. Avery is also proud of its outreach programs, such as the Avery Scholars Program, which offers tours and lecture series with an emphasis on the SC Lowcountry. We are very proud of this resource to continue to interpret the African American experience and teach generations, black and white, for years to come.