Marlboro County is home to the Pee Dee Indian Tribe, a relatively small American Indian tribe that has occupied the Pee Dee region for several centuries.

The tribe was officially recognized by the government of South Carolina around the beginning of the 21st century,[3] and they have been seeking federal acknowledgment since 1976.

While today the tribe consists of just over 200 enrolled members, they were once a significant cultural and political power in the region.

Their influence and continual presence gave the region its Pee Dee name.

[4] Succeeding indigenous peoples occupied this area for thousands of years.

At the time of European encounter, the inhabitants of the area were the Pee Dee.

Though nearly wiped out by European settlers, the Pee Dee Indian Tribe was able to survive centuries of war, disease, slavery and oppression, and has continued to maintain a presence in the area.

[2] Town Creek Indian Mound, a National Historic Landmark[5] located across the border in present-day Montgomery County, North Carolina, is a surviving platform mound and archeological village site of this Pee Dee culture.

They immigrated to what is now Marlboro County, South Carolina from existing Welsh settlements in Delaware and Pennsylvania as well as directly from Wales.

Construction for a courthouse, designed by Robert Mills, began in 1820. and was completed in 1824.

After Democrats regained power in the state in the late nineteenth century, the legislature passed a new constitution that raised barriers to voter registration, effectively disfranchising black voters; at the time blacks comprised a majority of the population in the state and mostly supported Republican candidates.

The state legislature also imposed legal racial segregation and laws for Jim Crow and white supremacy.

This situation of disfranchisement lasted largely into the 1960s, until after Congress passed the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, to give the government oversight and power to enforce constitutional rights for all citizens.

In the 1972 election, Republican Richard Nixon won every county in the state including Marlboro.

[30] As of April 2024, some of the top employers of the county include the United States Department of Justice, Domtar, Food Lion, Domino's, and Walmart.