105 Yr. Old Voter Hasn’t Missed a Vote Since 1948

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO) — “I’m so proud and thankful that we, as a race, have lived to become an integral part of the government of, well South Carolina,” says Donella Wilson, 105 years old. Tuesday afternoon, we joined Donella Wilson at her home near downtown Columbia to talk about voting. “I don’t think that we, our children, really understand how and what we went through,” says Wilson We first met her at Ward 9 when she arrived to vote in Tuesday’s primary. While women were granted the right to vote through the 19th amendment, African American women didn’t get that chance until 1948. “That was the first time that we had an opportunity to actually take a part in what was happening the government,” says Wilson We found more about the history inside the South Caroliniana Library on the campus of the University of South Carolina. There, in black and white, we found pictures from so many years gone by. George Elmore led the fight and filed a lawsuit, Elmore vs. Rice, ending the “whites-only” primary. The South Carolina Supreme Court ruled in July 1947. In August of 1948, African Americans lined up to vote for the first time in South Carolina. Mrs. Wilson was among them. “We voted in an open place near Benedict,” says Wilson For more on this story, click the video link.