The Koger Center for the Arts will host SoulHAUS Sessions featuring Cecil J. Williams on February 27, 2026, with doors opening at 5 p.m. and the conversation starting at 6 p.m. This artist talk will feature an intimate one-on-one conversation with photographer, publisher, author, and Civil Rights activist Cecil J. Williams.
In this edition of Soul-HAUS Sessions, host Preach Jacobs will explore Williams’ work documenting the Civil Rights Movement and the ways he helped establish photography as a powerful form of historical account. As a South Carolina native, Williams has spent his life documenting people, places and pivotal moments in not just his home state, but across the country. Through storytelling
and reflection, Williams will share insight into the moments he captured and his impact on social change through photography.
In 2019, with wife Barbara, and sister Brenda, Cecil created South Carolina’s first and only civil rights museum. Before 12 years of age, his
camera had captured the petitioners in Clarendon County as they lit the torch of freedom. In 10th grade, he photographed Thurgood Marshall coming to Charleston for the Briggs case, and again one year later, speaking at Claflin. In 1955, he became the youngest-ever JET Magazine photographer. In 2023, through a petition to the US Supreme Court, he heightened the role of Briggs vs Elliott as the deserved name, instead of Brown v. Board of Education. Cecil is Director of Historic Preservation at Claflin University.
Tickets for SoulHAUS Sessions with Cecil J. Williams are available for $10 through Eventbrite. For additional ticket and event information, call the Koger Center at (803) 777-7500.
