Locating Slavery's Legacies @ Sewanee: The University of the South

Memorial Organization

Societies

Enslaver

Preston, William C.

Preston Literary Society, a literary society named to commemorate William C. Preston

The Preston Literary Society was organized in September 1858 by members of the Wofford College student body. It was the second society to be organized, and was named in honor of South Carolina Senator William C. Preston, later president of South Carolina College. The societies served as debating and oratorical clubs, and met weekly to hear speeches and watch members debate topics. The societies organized many of the college's ceremonial events, started the first libraries, and purchased some of the first items in the college's art collection. They started the college yearbook, newspaper, and literary magazine. The Preston Society went out of existence in the early 1950s. Many of its papers and artifacts are in the college archives.

Students at Wofford College

September 1858

1953

1820-1865: Slavery, Anti-Slavery, and Civil War

1865-1890: Emancipation, Reconstruction and Resistance to Reconstruction

1890-1945: Era of the Lost Cause, Jim Crow legal segregation and discrimination, and organized anti-Black racism

Wofford College; Spartanburg, South Carolina

William C. Preston, the namesake of the society

Wofford's literary societies

Altered - Destroyed