African American History of South Dakota

Gary Enright of the 1881 Courthouse Museum shares with us the story of Sarah "Aunt Sally" Campbell who was born a slave but became a property owner and a successful entrepreneur during the Black Hills gold rush.

Oscar Micheaux was a homesteader in Gregory County, South Dakota who became a world-renowned novelist and filmmaker. He was a pioneer in making films specifically targeted to a black audience.

The Allen Chapel served as a spiritual home to several generations of African Americans in Yankton.

The Blair Colony was homesteaded in Sully County, South Dakota in 1882 by Benjamin Blair

It has been a long road to get there for Porter Williams, now 80, but the art of sculpture creation finally found him thirty years ago. After struggling with pencils, he found relief in oils, but in the three-dimensional process of sculpting, he found his true purpose.

Among the settlers coming to Dakota Territory after the Civil War were a handful of Black Americans taking advantage of the Homestead Act and other land programs

Gustav Johnson captured hundreds of images of pioneer life in and around Philip, South Dakota.

Born a slave, Sarah Campbell (1823 - 1888) became a property owner and a successful entrepreneur during the Black Hills gold rush.

Nat Love, alias Deadwood Dick, roped wild mustangs, dodged buffalo stampedes, wrote florid prose in his pursuit of the American dream.

Leonard “Bud“ Williams defied expectations of what was possible for an African-American man born in Mitchell.