Winthrop University makes request to rename Tillman Hall

WINTHROP, S.C. — The Winthrop University Board of Trustees voted Friday to request that lawmakers allow the Winthrop University to change the name of Tillman Hall on campus.

Ben Tillman was an SC governor, and senator. Tillman was a white supremacist who opposed civil rights for black people

Benjamin Tillman’s name isn’t hard to find on the Winthrop campus in Rock Hill -- from street signs to the building that bears his name.

Once known as the “main building,” Tillman Hall was built in 1894 and later named for the former South Carolina governor with well-documented racist views.

After years of debate, the university’s board of trustees asked lawmakers for permission to rename Tillman Hall at a meeting Friday afternoon.

While he governed over South Carolina more than 125 years ago and helped establish Winthrop and Clemson universities, Tillman’s legacy leaves a bitter taste for many.

“I’m learning now. I’m educating myself and I’m horrified,” said high school teacher Sally Schneider. She has since learned that Tillman advocated for slavery and lynching laws.

Winthrop’s website describes him as “a staunch supporter of agricultural populism, (who) was an avowed white supremacist, architect of state Jim Crow laws, and a violent advocate of lynch law.”

Schneider said while the history shouldn’t be celebrated, it should be learned from.

“I do think we need to accept where we are and how we got here,” Schneider said.

__________

Related coverage:

• On anniversary of Charleston church shooting, officials say statue of slavery advocate will be removed
• Salisbury votes to remove Confederate statue that has stood more than 100 years
• Gaston County commissioner wants Confederate statue removed from courthouse
• CMS talking about dropping Confederate officer’s name from Vance HS
• UNC Board of Trustees votes to lift 16-year moratorium on renaming campus buildings

__________

“Anytime it hurts somebody else, it just hurts the whole community,” said Jane Bailey, who has worked on the Winthrop campus for years as a secretary. “But, I think they’re trying to unify.”

Bailey noted that the change may not come easy.

South Carolina’s Heritage Act requires a two-thirds vote from the General Assembly to remove historic state monuments, markers or memorials, including building names.

And the General Assembly won’t be back in session until January.

This isn’t the first effort to get Tillman’s name off the Winthrop campus. In 2015, someone tagged Tillman Hall and spray-painted the words “violent racist” across a portrait of him after breaking in.

That same year, the university stripped his name from its top academic prize.

Clemson University’s board asked lawmakers to remove the Tillman name from its iconic campus building last week. It’s a series of changes that student Dwight Burns said won’t amount to much if we don’t look at the deeper issue.

“It’s good to see all the change, but the change also has to come from people’s hearts. That’s the main thing,” he said.

There’s already a handful of lawmakers who oppose the Tillman name change, including Republican Senate President Harvey Peeler, who said there are more important issues at hand, such as education and health care.

Salisbury votes to remove Confederate statue that has stood more than 100 years. Salisbury votes to remove Confederate statue that has stood more than 100 years

© 2020 Cox Media Group