Photo & Video gallery 

"Most members of the group were housed in a run-down, two-story, frame house in the largest and most impoverished black section of  town. The parsonage house at 405 S. Harvin Street  was located on an unpaved street behind the church that owned it.  The houses around ours were even more run-down; most had tin roofs and unpainted wood siding. Screen doors and windows often were in need of repair. Barefoot children ran willy-nilly around the streets surrounding our house."

405 Harvin Street, Bob Welsh (far right), AFSC Project Director, and fellow volunteers enjoying some down time.

405 Harvin Street, Sumter, South Carolina, 1966. From left to right: neighborhood boy, Jim Churchill, Louie Dicks, Abby Young, and two neighbor kids.

The Arnett House outside Frogmore, South Carolina, 1966. From left to right: Bill Wernz, Jim Churchill, Marc Linder, Bob Welsh, and Bill Schauman.

Children playing on the porch of a typical black home, Sumter, South Carolina, 1966.

Baby sitting on front porch, Sumter, South Carolina, 1966.

Typical black family home, Sumter, South Carolina, 1966.

View from 405 Harvin Street and the '55 Chevy, Sumter, South Carolina, 1966

Neighbor kids visiting the house on 405 Harvin Street, Sumter, South Carolina, 1966.

View from 405 Harvin Street of neighborhood children who came and visited the volunteers.

A possible home of a newly registered voter, Sumter, South Carolina, 1966.

Retreat near Frogmore, South Carolina, 1966. From left to right: Toni Powell, Gay Johnson, Louie Dicks, Carol Sidofsky, and Sue Yellig.

AFSC Volunteers enjoying a day at the beach during a two-day retreat in Frogmore, South Carolina, 1966.

Neighborhood boy in cast. Sumter, South Carolina, 1966. Photo Credit: Jim Churchill.

Jimmie Lee Bowman and the '55 Chevy, Sumter, South Carolina, 1966. Photo Credit: Jim Churchill.

Newspaper advertisement for Gamecock Lanes, Circa 1966. Photo Credit: The Item Newspaper (www.theitem.com/looking_back/years-of-strikes-spares-and-gutter-balls)

AFSC Voter Registration Card, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

405 S Harvin Street, Sumter, South Carolina, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

AFSC Meeting at 405 S. Harvin, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

Margaret Welch, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

Bob Welch, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

Inez McKnight, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

Neighbors House, Sumter, South Carolina, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

Bill Wernz and Spanish Moss, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

Bill Wernz, Gene Wright, and Harold Benson, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

Harold Benson Playing Baseball, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

Roy Graham Playing Baseball at the AFSC BBQ, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

Abby Young & Gene Wright, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

Gene Wright, Roy Graham, and Harold Benson, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

Neighborhood Kids Playing in the House, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

Toni Powell and Harold Benson Coming Home, 1966. Photo: Abby Young

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Former Chief Justice Ernest A. Finney, Jr.

"Mention needs to be made about Ernest Finney, who, among all of the members of the Steering Committee, appeared to me to take the most interest in our project.  He often visited us in our house on South Harvin, offering us guidance and opportunities for social events in the black community.  In 1966 Mr. Finney was a thirty-five year old attorney, and already an important voice in city affairs.  He was ambitious, and perhaps saw that a successful AFSC voter education project would be of benefit, not only to himself but to the state at large. In 1994 Ernest Finney was appointed the first black Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court."