South Carolina People
Havilah Babcock
Havilah Babcock was chair of the English Department at the University of South Carolina for many years and a passionate outdoorsman and famous outdoor writer.
Maria Martin Bachman
Maria Martin Bachman was a 19th-century natural history painter who worked with John Audubon.
Mercer Silas Bailey
M.S. Bailey was a successful businessman in Clinton, SC, who owned two cotton mills and was active in banking and other local businesses.
Buck Baker
Born in Richburg, SC, Elzie Wylie Baker Sr., better known as Buck Baker, was a stock car racer. He was the first driver to win consecutive NASCAR premier series championships.
Augusta Baker
Augusta Baker was a librarian and storyteller known for her contributions to children's literature, especially regarding the portrayal of Black Americans in works for children.
Anna DeCosta Banks
Charleston native, Anna DeCosta Banks, was the first head nurse at the Hospital and Training School for Nurses in Charleston, South Carolina.
Bernard Baruch
Born in Camden, SC, Bernard Baruch was an economic advisor to presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Charlotta Bass
Born in Sumter, SC, Charlotta Bass was a newspaper publisher in Los Angeles, California, and the first African-American woman on a Presidential campaign ticket in a United States presidential election.
Jack Bass
Jack Bass is an author and journalist.
Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates
Clayton "Peg Leg" Bates was an African-American entertainer from Fountain Inn, South Carolina. He was a well-known dancer who performed many times on The Ed Sullivan show.
David Beasley
David Beasley is the Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme, and he served one term as the 113th Governor of SC from 1995 until 1999.
Linda Bell
Dr. Linda Bell is South Carolina's State Epidemiologist.
Steve Benjamin
Steve Benjamin was the first African-American and 44th mayor of Columbia, South Carolina, from 2010 to 2022.
Paul Benjamin
Born in Pelion, SC, Paul Benjamin was a film, television, and theater actor whose career spanned over five decades. Best known as "M.L.," Benjamin starred in "Do the Right Thing," "Across 110th Street," and "Escape from Alcatraz."
Brook Benton
Born in Lugoff, SC, Benjamin Franklin Peay, better known as Brook Benton, was a popular soul singer of the 1960s, with his signature song, "Rainy Night in Georgia."
Ben Bernanke
Ben Bernanke grew up in Dillon, SC. Bernanke was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve System from 2006-2014.
Joseph Louis Bernardin
Born in Columbia, SC, Joseph Louis Bernardin was a Cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as archbishop of Chicago from 1982 until 1996.
John Berry
Born in Aiken, SC, John Edward Berry is a Grammy Award-winning Country Music artist.
Joseph Benjamin Bethea
Dillon native Bishop Joseph Benjamin Bethea was the first African-American bishop of the South Carolina Conference of the United Methodist Church.
Mary McLeod Bethune
Mary McLeod Bethune was an educator and civil rights leader who was born in Mayesville, SC.
Beau Billingslea
Beau Billingslea is a voice actor best known for voicing Jet Black from the popular anime Cowboy Bebop.
Elise Blackwell
Elise Blackwell is a novelist and writer.
Doc Blanchard
Doc Blanchard was best known as the college football player who became the first junior to win the Heisman Trophy, Maxwell Award and was the first football player to win the James E. Sullivan Award, all in 1945.
Solomon Blatt
Solomon Blatt was a long-time Democratic legislator of South Carolina from Barnwell County.
Coleman Livingston Blease
Coleman Livingston Blease was the Governor of South Carolina from 1911 to 1915 and US Senator from 1925 to 1931.
Charles F. Bolden, Jr.
Born in Columbia, SC, Charles F. Bolden, Jr. was the head of the NASA federal agency from July 2009 to January 2017.
Milledge Luke Bonham
Milledge Luke Bonham was the 70th Governor of South Carolina.
James Butler Bonham
Born near Red Bank, James Butler Bonham was a soldier who died at the Battle of the Alamo during the Texas Revolution.
Anne Bonny
Anne Bonny was a female pirate who lived in Charleston, SC.
Chadwick Boseman
Born in Anderson, SC, Chadwick Aaron Boseman was an actor and playwright. He was known for his leading roles in Black Panther, 42, Get on Up, and Marshall.
Chris Bouchillon
Chris Bouchillon was known as "The Original Talking Blues Man."
Harold R. Boulware, Sr.
Harold R. Boulware, Sr., was a lawyer and civil rights pioneer who played a crucial role in Briggs v. Elliot.
Cathy Smith Bowers
Cathy Smith Bowers is a poet and professor at the Queens University of Charlotte.
Crandall Close Bowles
Bowles is the fifth generation to run Springs Industries and, as CEO, is regularly ranked among the top women executives in the country.
Laura Bragg
Laura Bragg was the first woman director of a major American museum when she became the head of the Charleston Museum in 1920.
Benjamin Griffith Brawley
Benjamin Griffith Brawley was an author and educator from Columbia, SC. Many of his books were considered standard college texts.
Eliza and Harry Briggs
Eliza and Harry Briggs were the petitioners in the important school desegregation case, Briggs v. Elliott.
Gwen Bristow
Gwen Bristow was an author and journalist from Marion, SC.
Preston Brooks
Born in Roseland, SC (Edgefield County), Preston Brooks was a Democratic congressman from South Carolina who brutally beat Charles Sumner, a Senator from Massachusetts, in the US Senate chamber.
J. Anthony Brown
Columbia native J. Anthony Brown is a comedian and he is best known for his commentary on the Tom Joyner Morning Show and The Steve Harvey Morning Show.
James Brown
Born in Barnwell, SC, James Joseph Brown was a singer, songwriter, dancer, record producer, and bandleader.
Edgar A. Brown
Born in Aiken County, Edgar Allan Brown was a longtime Democratic legislator of South Carolina from Barnwell County who served South Carolina from 1922-1972.
Morris Brown
Morris Brown was one of the founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church and the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, SC.
Lucy Hughes Brown
First black female physician to practice in South Carolina
W. Melvin Brown, Jr.
Manufacturer
Matthew J. Bruccoli
Matthew J. Bruccoli was a professor at the University of South Carolina and the preeminent expert on F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Peabo Bryson
Greenville native Peabo Bryson is an R&B and Soul Singer-Songwriter. He is known for singing "A Whole New World" from Disney's 1992 animated feature film Aladdin.
Joseph H. Burckhalter, Ph.D.
Professor of medicinal chemistry; scientist, teacher and administrator.
Franklin Burroughs
Franklin Burroughs is an essayist, environmentalist, and educator.
Orville Vernon Burton
Dr. Orville Vernon Burton is a historian, educator, and author from Ninety-Six, SC.
Pierce Mason Butler
Pierce Mason Butler was the 56th Governor of South Carolina.
Pierce Butler
Pierce Butler was a Founding Father of the United States who represented South Carolina at the Continental Congress, the Constitutional Convention, and as a U.S. Senator.
Betsy Byars
Betsy Byars was an author of children’s books who lives in Seneca, South Carolina. She won a Newbery Medal for her novel, Summer of the Swans.
Levi G. Byrd
Organized a State Conference of NAACP branches
James F. Byrnes
Born in Charleston, SC, James F. Byrnes was a U.S. Secretary of State, Associate Justice U.S. Supreme Court, U.S. Senator, and Governor of South Carolina from 1951-1955.
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