Bill > H3415

This bill establishes June 22nd as "Sarah Mae Flemming Day" in South Carolina to commemorate Flemming's pivotal civil rights act in 1954, when she challenged bus segregation in Columbia. The bill highlights Flemming's groundbreaking actions seventeen months before Rosa Parks' more famous protest, detailing how she, as a 20-year-old Black woman, was confronted by a bus driver for sitting in what was deemed the "Whites only" section of a South Carolina Electric and Gas (SCE&G) bus. Her subsequent legal challenge, which was initially rebuffed in federal court but ultimately successful in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, was a significant moment in the civil rights movement that helped strike down bus segregation. Born in 1933 to a family with a history of land ownership and descended from slaves, Flemming's act of defiance is recognized as a crucial step in challenging the Jim Crow era's systemic racial discrimination. The bill will officially recognize her courageous stand by designating her historic date of protest as a commemorative day, ensuring her important contribution to civil rights history is remembered and honored in South Carolina.

Justice

https://www.scstatehouse.gov/billsearch.php?billnumbers=3415&session=126&summary=B