News

June 16
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Military Museum to be Featured on PBS’s History Detectives July 7

COLUMBIA, SC — The S.C. Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum is featured in an upcoming episode of the critically acclaimed PBS show History Detectives.  The episode explores a privately owned flag that is linked to the largely forgotten African-American 371st Infantry Regiment, which fought in World War I and mainly from South Carolina.

The flag’s owner contacted History Detectives to investigate its authenticity.  The show’s producers then contacted the museum because it has two 371st flags in its collection, one of which is currently on display in the exhibit “Forgotten Stories: SC Fights the Great War.”  In January, the production crew filmed a portion of the episode at the museum, interviewing Sarah Wooton, Chief Curator of Collections and Exhibitions, about the 371st Regiment and the flags. 

The episode will air July 7 at 9:00pm as part of the sixth season of History Detectives. 


About the 371st Regiment
The 371st Infantry Regiment formed in August 1917 and consisted of African-American draftees mostly from South Carolina. After training at Camp Jackson, the unit arrived on the Western Front in April 1918.  It was placed under the command of the French Army because of their desperate need for new troops, and out of fear that racial tension might erupt between African-American and white American soldiers.  The unit was reorganized to fit the French army structure and spent the spring of 1918 training in French tactics.  The regiment was put into battle to relieve the exhausted French and allied Italian units and fought until the end of the war. 
 
A community reception was held in February, 1919 at Allen University in honor of the return of the 371st.  The two flags of the regiment that were carried in France were presented to the community at that time.  Those flags are part of the collection of the S.C. Confederate Relic Room and Military Museum.  One of these flags is now conserved and on display for the first time in the museum's history.