Lucille Whipper (second row, left) attends the dedication for Rutledge Rivers Residence Hall in 1973. Behind and slightly to the right of Whipper in the crowd is President Ted Stern. When Whipper sought admission the College in 1944 along with classmates at the Avery Normal Institute, all were denied admission because of their race. In 1972 President Stern hired Whipper as Assistant to the President and Director of the Office of Human Relations at the College, where she developed the College’s first affirmative action plan. She helped to establish the Avery Research Center in 1985, the same year she became the first African American woman to represent Charleston County in the SC Statehouse. In 2020 the College awarded her a Founders’ Medal, noting, “Whipper’s passion for civil rights led to transformational changes not only at the College of Charleston, but throughout the State of South Carolina.” Courtesy of the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture.Download Original File
