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Call My Name, Clemson: Documenting the Black Experience in an American University Community
Between 1890 and 1915, a predominately African American state convict crew built Clemson University on John C. Calhoun’s Fort Hill Plantation in upstate South Carolina. Calhoun’s plantation house still sits in the middle of campus. From the establishment of the plantation in 1825 through the integration of Clemson in 1963, African Americans have played a pivotal role in sustaining the land and the university. Yet their stories and contributions are largely omitted from Clemson’s public history.
This book traces “Call My African Americans in Early Clemson University History,” a Clemson English professor’s public history project that helped convince the university to reexamine and reconceptualize the institution’s complete and complex story from the origins of its land as Cherokee territory to its transformation into an increasingly diverse higher-education institution in the twenty-first century. Threading together scenes of communal history and conversation, student protests, white supremacist terrorism, and personal and institutional reckoning with Clemson’s past, this story helps us better understand the inextricable link between the history and legacies of slavery and the development of higher education institutions in America.
This book traces “Call My African Americans in Early Clemson University History,” a Clemson English professor’s public history project that helped convince the university to reexamine and reconceptualize the institution’s complete and complex story from the origins of its land as Cherokee territory to its transformation into an increasingly diverse higher-education institution in the twenty-first century. Threading together scenes of communal history and conversation, student protests, white supremacist terrorism, and personal and institutional reckoning with Clemson’s past, this story helps us better understand the inextricable link between the history and legacies of slavery and the development of higher education institutions in America.
313 pages, Kindle Edition
Published November 2, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
April 15, 2021
While reading Call My Name, Clemson, a few questions came to mind:
What does community really mean?
What role does race play in determining what's historically significant?
Why do some people think that a history that's inclusive is revisionist?
Why is it when those who have been silenced begin to speak out, it's a problem if they don't agree with or conform to what's in place as being the norm?
First, what does history mean? Merriam Webster dictionary gives several definitions such as:
1. Tale; Story
2. A chronological record of significant events (such as those affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes).
3. A branch of knowledge that records and explains past events.
4. Events of the past; events that form the subject matter of history.
Can’t forget the synonyms-annals, chronicle, record. This definition is reflective of Call My Name, Clemson. The goal of the book is to share the stories that haven’t been told about African Americans at Clemson. From the first enslaved Africans that labored at Fort Hill Plantation (before it was a university, it was John C. Calhoun’s plantation), to the freedmen and freedwomen and their families working and living on the land as sharecroppers, to the convict laborers who built a school they and their families could not attend, African Americans have always had a place at Clemson. Their stories deserve to be known because that is their legacy to the generations that come after them. These are stories of triumph over and resistance to white supremacy, a message of hope, encouragement, and guidance for the future.
Another reason this book is so compelling is that Dr. Thomas documents her journey from the beginning. The idea of researching a university’s unspoken history sounds like a daunting task, but she explains the good and the bad with candor.
Favorite quote-
“History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are, but more importantly, what they must be” (233) John Henrik Clarke.
For further explanation-
Who’s John C. Calhoun & why it was demanded the Honors College name be changed. https://www.britannica.com/biography/...
https://diverseeducation.com/article/...
The 13th amendment- think for a moment if this really ends slavery, how it relates to Jim Crow & the prison industrial complex/mass incarceration of Black men https://constitutioncenter.org/intera...
Launch site for the Call My Name project https://spark.adobe.com/page/wQoPG/
What does community really mean?
What role does race play in determining what's historically significant?
Why do some people think that a history that's inclusive is revisionist?
Why is it when those who have been silenced begin to speak out, it's a problem if they don't agree with or conform to what's in place as being the norm?
First, what does history mean? Merriam Webster dictionary gives several definitions such as:
1. Tale; Story
2. A chronological record of significant events (such as those affecting a nation or institution) often including an explanation of their causes).
3. A branch of knowledge that records and explains past events.
4. Events of the past; events that form the subject matter of history.
Can’t forget the synonyms-annals, chronicle, record. This definition is reflective of Call My Name, Clemson. The goal of the book is to share the stories that haven’t been told about African Americans at Clemson. From the first enslaved Africans that labored at Fort Hill Plantation (before it was a university, it was John C. Calhoun’s plantation), to the freedmen and freedwomen and their families working and living on the land as sharecroppers, to the convict laborers who built a school they and their families could not attend, African Americans have always had a place at Clemson. Their stories deserve to be known because that is their legacy to the generations that come after them. These are stories of triumph over and resistance to white supremacy, a message of hope, encouragement, and guidance for the future.
Another reason this book is so compelling is that Dr. Thomas documents her journey from the beginning. The idea of researching a university’s unspoken history sounds like a daunting task, but she explains the good and the bad with candor.
Favorite quote-
“History is not everything, but it is a starting point. History is a clock that people use to tell their political and cultural time of day. It is a compass they use to find themselves on the map of human geography. It tells them where they are, but more importantly, what they must be” (233) John Henrik Clarke.
For further explanation-
Who’s John C. Calhoun & why it was demanded the Honors College name be changed. https://www.britannica.com/biography/...
https://diverseeducation.com/article/...
The 13th amendment- think for a moment if this really ends slavery, how it relates to Jim Crow & the prison industrial complex/mass incarceration of Black men https://constitutioncenter.org/intera...
Launch site for the Call My Name project https://spark.adobe.com/page/wQoPG/
August 26, 2020
This is an outstanding work of scholarship, memoir, and call to action, documenting the enslaved persons on whose labor Clemson University was built and operated, the pervading institutional racism of the University, and the struggle of Black professors to hold the University accountable. Thomas's Call My Name public history project is a groundbreaking collaborative work, and this is reflected in the essays and responses in this book. This is an essential read for anyone interested in social justice, racism, higher education, reparations, and grappling with American history.
April 22, 2021
An excellent book! I’m thankful that Rhondda Thomas is calling the names of African Americans in Clemson history. We need to hear accurate history, and Thomas has done this! A must read!
March 26, 2022
Stunningly written; clear prose and engaging throughout. A must read for any Clemson fan or alumni
February 16, 2023
Professor Thomas documents her experiences and the experiences of the enslaved people, sharecroppers, and convict laborers who built Clemson University in a compelling and informative narrative.
November 29, 2021
This should be required reading for anyone with connection to Clemson University - alumni, current students, faculty, staff and even fans with no other tie but a love for the institution. I served as a trained tour guide for the institution, grew up in nearby Anderson and have a family and peer group of almost entirely Clemson graduates and I learned something new from Dr. Thomas on almost every page. Telling the true and complex story of our beloved Clemson is an important part of moving into the future of being a diverse and inclusive institution for everyone. I only wish I had known this information sooner.
July 16, 2022
This is an eye opening and engaging account of the full history of a place and the history that is told and also not told . You will learn about how integral black history is to the history of Clemson University predating the founding of the university , and about the efforts to tell the full history .
March 8, 2025
This book employs a dual narrative structure, both recounting the history of black people at Clemson University and the author's engagement and study of this history.
Clemson, a public university of the state of South Carolina, was established in 1889 on the grounds of the plantation of John C. Calhoun, the "great nullifier" and staunch defender of slavery. In the most rose-tinted view of the institution's history, the worldly inventor and ambassador Thomas G. Clemson came down from Philadelphia, married Calhoun's daughter, and appropriated her inheritance towards progressive, educational ends. But, as this book methodically lays out, the real history of Clemson has been long obfuscated, owing to each generation's particular motivations to avoid inconvenient historical truths.
Before Calhoun owned the land, it was occupied by the Cherokee Indians. They were driven off the land, first into the mountains at the time of the American Revolution and, later, far to the west along the Trail of Tears. While sometimes described as a "farm", Calhoun's land was a plantation worked by many dozens of enslaved people, some of whom attempted acts of rebellion (e.g., by setting fires). After the Civil War, buildings that still stand on the campus today were built by predominantly black convict labor crews: "slaves of the state" guilty, in many cases, of little more than petty theft. Clemson was integrated in 1963, but black students were still subjected to the playing of "Dixie" and waving of the Confederate flag at sporting events. The "Integration with Dignity" historical marker notes that the registration of the first black student occurred without violence, but fails to mention that it came about only when Clemson lost a class-action lawsuit. The marker is located outside of Tillman Hall, a building that today still bears the name of an ardent white supremacist.
Despite being from South Carolina, the author Rhondda Robinson Thomas knew little of this history when she arrived as an assistant professor of English in 2007. She was shocked to find an actual plantation house at the very center of campus. In the other narrative of this book, we learn how she began to research this history and, especially, to try to unearth the names and stories of people who had been a part of it: the enslaved people, the forced laborers on the convict crews, and the black students and activists.
Taken together, this book is a work of local history of high order. Not a mere recounting of events that occurred in a place, it connects Clemson's history directly to the present moment.
Clemson, a public university of the state of South Carolina, was established in 1889 on the grounds of the plantation of John C. Calhoun, the "great nullifier" and staunch defender of slavery. In the most rose-tinted view of the institution's history, the worldly inventor and ambassador Thomas G. Clemson came down from Philadelphia, married Calhoun's daughter, and appropriated her inheritance towards progressive, educational ends. But, as this book methodically lays out, the real history of Clemson has been long obfuscated, owing to each generation's particular motivations to avoid inconvenient historical truths.
Before Calhoun owned the land, it was occupied by the Cherokee Indians. They were driven off the land, first into the mountains at the time of the American Revolution and, later, far to the west along the Trail of Tears. While sometimes described as a "farm", Calhoun's land was a plantation worked by many dozens of enslaved people, some of whom attempted acts of rebellion (e.g., by setting fires). After the Civil War, buildings that still stand on the campus today were built by predominantly black convict labor crews: "slaves of the state" guilty, in many cases, of little more than petty theft. Clemson was integrated in 1963, but black students were still subjected to the playing of "Dixie" and waving of the Confederate flag at sporting events. The "Integration with Dignity" historical marker notes that the registration of the first black student occurred without violence, but fails to mention that it came about only when Clemson lost a class-action lawsuit. The marker is located outside of Tillman Hall, a building that today still bears the name of an ardent white supremacist.
Despite being from South Carolina, the author Rhondda Robinson Thomas knew little of this history when she arrived as an assistant professor of English in 2007. She was shocked to find an actual plantation house at the very center of campus. In the other narrative of this book, we learn how she began to research this history and, especially, to try to unearth the names and stories of people who had been a part of it: the enslaved people, the forced laborers on the convict crews, and the black students and activists.
Taken together, this book is a work of local history of high order. Not a mere recounting of events that occurred in a place, it connects Clemson's history directly to the present moment.
January 14, 2023
I loved my time at Clemson. I loved it so much that I became a volunteer tour guide to talk about the university to prospective students and families. Becoming a tour guide involved memorizing loads of facts about the school and its history. We had a whole section about Harvey Gantt, the school's first Black student, who integrated in 1963. I thought it was odd that it was a full 9 years after Brown v Board of Education, but I wasn't one to push back on authority then. Or ask uncomfortable questions then.
Dr. Thomas's work is incredible. Anyone, everyone with a connection to Clemson should learn the stories of the Black men and women (and in some cases mere children) who helped build the university. She has done incredible work unearthing their stories, their names, and their legacies. I'm in awe of her work, and of all the students who pushed the university to confront its full past.
It's also impossible to ignore the resistance Thomas faced from university leadership when she arrived on campus in 2007. Rule #1 in white supremacy is to protect itself. President Barker was clearly uncomfortable with this revised approach to sharing Clemson's history, but the forces were bigger than Thomas and couldn't be stopped. Student activists on campus have also done so much to create a more inclusive campus in the 20 years since I graduated. I finished the book feeling motivated and inspired to keep working for more inclusive spaces.
Dr. Thomas's work is incredible. Anyone, everyone with a connection to Clemson should learn the stories of the Black men and women (and in some cases mere children) who helped build the university. She has done incredible work unearthing their stories, their names, and their legacies. I'm in awe of her work, and of all the students who pushed the university to confront its full past.
It's also impossible to ignore the resistance Thomas faced from university leadership when she arrived on campus in 2007. Rule #1 in white supremacy is to protect itself. President Barker was clearly uncomfortable with this revised approach to sharing Clemson's history, but the forces were bigger than Thomas and couldn't be stopped. Student activists on campus have also done so much to create a more inclusive campus in the 20 years since I graduated. I finished the book feeling motivated and inspired to keep working for more inclusive spaces.
January 24, 2021
Important historiography on the roles of BIPOC and convict labor in establishing Clemson, a land grant, state university in South Carolina. Equally impressive for its collaborative, call-and-response literary structure. Also, a rare peek behind the scenes of the process of doing academic research.
October 14, 2024
Pretty cool book!
September 19, 2025
okay but maybe THIS one was the best book I've read all year (both because it really is helping me make sense of where I am AND because it's such a stunning example of community-engaged work)
May 30, 2023
Since this was the university I attended, I wanted to learn a little bit more about the school's history, especially as an African American myself, to gain a new perspective. I feel as though I see the school through a different lens. Still a proud alum but for totally different reasons. Knowing the history that has been and still needs to be uncovered is amazing to me. Clemson University still has a lot of growing to do. I am disappointed that this is not something that I knew a lot about while I attended, but I hope that changes for future students. Black history is American history, is Clemson's history, and I'm glad the story is finally getting told.
Only reason it's not 5 stars is because I am not the biggest fan of a non-fiction read. I feel like they are long winded and at times too verbose, and this was no different.
Only reason it's not 5 stars is because I am not the biggest fan of a non-fiction read. I feel like they are long winded and at times too verbose, and this was no different.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews