Briggs Family House

Front: On November 11, 1949, local African American families came to this house to sign a petition demanding equal resources in Summerton’s racially segregated schools. Believing the home’s isolated location offer safety, NAACP leader Rev. Joseph A. DeLaine requested its use from owners Harry Sr. (1913-1986) and Eliza Briggs (1917-1998) who with their children were the first of 107 people to sign the petition. Reverse: The action taken here culminated in Briggs v. Elliott, named for lead plaintiff Harry Briggs Sr., and one of five cases that in 1954 led the U.S. Supreme Court to declare segregated schooling unconstitutional. Like others who signed the petition, the Briggs family faced retaliation. Harry and Eliza both lost their jobs, and the family was forced to leave the state to find opportunity. They returned to Summerton in 1976, living here at the home they had built in the 1940s.