Little Africa, South Carolina

[1] Little Africa was one of a number of independent African American communities formed across the South after the Civil War.

Founded c. 1880 by former slave Simpson Foster and a Cherokee Indian, Emanuel Waddell, it was originally 500 acres set aside for their relatives.

The early residents were descendants of Simpson Foster and Emanuel Waddell who maintained the tradition of farming and agricultural life in Little Africa for decades.

By 1910, family community leaders had built the two-room Africa School to teach local children.

During Jim Crow and after Brown v Board of Education, new residents as other families settled nearby seeking economic opportunity and refuge from white supremacy.