» Unveiling the Legacy of Avery: Cherisse Jones-Branch, Ph.D.

I had the honor of working at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture while I was pursuing my master’s degree in history at the College of Charleston. I also earned my bachelor’s degree in history from there.

I was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. My education in the public school system in the 1970s and 1980s did not include any significant mention of local Black history, even though I was in a city with a substantial African American population.

My interest in history was first piqued when my parents purchased the multivolume Ebony Pictorial History of Black America and the Britannica Encyclopedia. I read both voraciously and was struck by how African-descended people were so prevalent in the former, but not in the latter.

Fast forward to the late 1980s and early 1990s, and I knew I wanted to become a historian, but I had no idea how that world worked. When I transferred to the College of Charleston in 1991, I started hearing about Avery. I remember when Dr. Myrtle Glascoe was director. However, I still did not fully understand Avery’s importance as a repository of Charleston’s Black history until I read Dr. Edmund Drago’s book, Initiative, Paternalism, and Race Relations: Charleston’s Avery Normal Institute, and Dr. Bernard Powers’s Black Charlestonians. I learned not only about Avery’s founding as a Black-centered educational institution but also about the significant role African Americans played as community leaders in Charleston. Again, I had not learned any of this when I was in the public school system.

When I chose to stay at the College of Charleston to earn my master’s degree, I became a graduate assistant at Avery. It was during that time that I was fortunate to meet Avery alumni. I learned about archival collections and the importance of preserving local Black history. I also conducted oral history interviews with Avery alumni and well-known Black Charlestonians that have since been digitized.

Avery was the place where I first learned about the Charleston Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs. This topic also became the main focus of my master’s thesis under the supervision of Dr. Amy T. McCandless. I was working at Avery under the direction of Dr. W. Marvin Dulaney when the Association for the Study of African American Life and History held its annual meeting in Charleston in 1996, an organization I had never heard of before.

Avery gave me opportunities to connect with Black leaders, entrepreneurs, and activists. It was also my conduit and inspiration to earn a doctorate in history. I left Charleston in 1997 to attend Ohio State University. My dissertation focused on women’s interracial activism in South Carolina, using archival materials I found at Avery. When I

turned my dissertation into my first book, Crossing the Line: Women’s Interracial Activism in South Carolina during and after World War II, I returned to Charleston to research at the Avery Research Center.

In the years since, I have returned to Avery and the College of Charleston as a guest lecturer numerous times. To say that the Avery Research Center has been a fundamental part of my scholarly growth is an understatement. I have lived in Jonesboro, Arkansas, for over two decades and have become a rural/agricultural historian. My last book was on rural Black women’s activism in Arkansas. Although my scholarship no longer focuses on Charleston or South Carolina, my experiences at the Avery Research Center and the lessons I learned about being a historian remain indelibly etched in my mind. I carry with me the significance of excavating the stories of the African descended from the margins of history. I always remember that local stories matter.

My journey as a professional historian began at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. I learned a great deal about Black Charlestonians who overcame tremendous obstacles to create access and opportunities that they knew they would likely not live to see. I am forever grateful for their sacrifices and the privilege of learning about them during my time at Avery.