The Benjamin Franklin Randolph Monument: A Symbol of Remembrance and Defiance In the Age of Reconstruction

Dedicated to Benjamin Franklin Randolph on February 27, 1871 in Columbia, South Carolina, the Randolph Monument became a political symbol around which Republicans and the African American community rallied around during the days of Ku Klux Klan violence in the late 1860s and early 1870s. Randolph, a leading member of the Republican Party and state senator from Orangeburg County, was assassinated in October 1868. Because of his influence and accomplishments, Randolph became the leading martyr among those Republicans murdered between 1868 and 1871 and worthy of commemoration. His monument symbolized the struggle to protect the political and civil liberties of blacks and Republicans in a form of nonviolent defiance against Democrats and white militant groups that sought to collapse the Republican-controlled state government