The Red Shirt with Curator of Historic Textiles Virginia Theerman

Examine an important part of Reconstruction Era history in South Carolina, the Red Shirt, with Curator of Historic Textiles Virginia Theerman. Red shirts were often worn by local chapters of what were socially known as “rifle clubs” but were in fact paramilitary groups across the South who worked to intimidate local freedmen and White sympathizers. The Red Shirt in the Charleston Museum’s collection was worn by Josiah McKie, who was present at the Hamburg Massacre in July 1876, one of the worst clashes between White supremacists and Black militia members in the state’s history.
This fall, our new permanent gallery exhibition, Beyond the Ashes: The Lowcountry’s New Beginnings will open to the public. Covering the Reconstruction Era through the Civil Rights movement and beyond, this new exhibit will include the Red Shirt on permanent display.

[@Russell.Jolly.2023]

History in a Nutshell. Thanks for this look at a little known part of SC history.