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H. 3915

STATUS INFORMATION

House Resolution
Sponsors: Reps. Garvin, Dillard, King, Simrill, B. Newton and Huggins
Document Path: l:\council\bills\rm\1077wab21.docx

Introduced in the House on February 18, 2021
Adopted by the House on February 18, 2021

Summary: Sue Meriwether, Winthrop University trailblazer

HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS

     Date      Body   Action Description with journal page number
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   2/18/2021  House   Introduced and adopted (House Journal-page 56)

View the latest legislative information at the website

VERSIONS OF THIS BILL

2/18/2021

TO HONOR SUE FRANCES MERIWETHER STEED, A 1967 GRADUATE OF WINTHROP UNIVERSITY, AS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENT TO EARN A DEGREE AT THAT VENERABLE INSTITUTION.

Whereas, Charleston native Sue Frances Meriwether Steed transferred from Tennessee Agricultural & Industrial State University (now Tennessee State University) to Winthrop College, now known as Winthrop University, in the spring of 1965. The fourth African American student accepted into that institution, she credits her father, the late Wilhelm Meriwether, with enrolling her at Winthrop, where she roomed with Delores Johnson Hurt, Class of 1968, and the late Arnetta Gladden Mackey, Class of 1967. Sue's brother, Wilhelm Delano Meriwether, was the first African American student accepted into Duke University School of Medicine; and

Whereas, young and ambitious, Sue finished her undergraduate work in May 1967 as the first African American student to earn a degree at Winthrop College. Further, she earned her master's degree in biology from The Citadel in 1975 and received additional postgraduate training at the College of Charleston and Charleston Southern University; and

Whereas, in 1967, this third-generation teacher launched her career in education as a Head Start program assistant teacher in Lancaster. Later that year, she began a high school teaching career that spanned thirty-nine years at Laing, Moultrie, and Wando high schools in the Mt. Pleasant area of Charleston County; and

Whereas, she retired in 2006, and after stints as a substitute teacher, counselor, and assistant site coordinator at an after-school program, she retired again in June 2017. She continues to volunteer and is an active member of Calvary Episcopal Church in Charleston, where she is a member of the choir, Episcopal Church Women, Calvary Episcopal Altar Guild, and Daughters of the King and serves as supervisor of the church's acolytes. In addition, she is an active founder of the Charleston County Bible Institute; and

Whereas, in 2017, Sue Frances Meriwether Steed was honored with the Winthrop University Alumni Association's Distinguished Service Award; and

Whereas, she enjoys life with daughters Terri, a recreation department coordinator in Mt. Pleasant, and Tammi, a teacher in Charleston. Sue Steed is grandmother to Varanda, a junior at the University of South Carolina, and the late Stephen Wilson, who has brought an awareness of chronic traumatic encephalopathy to the public; and

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, honor Sue Frances Meriwether Steed, a 1967 graduate of Winthrop University, as the first African American student to earn a degree at that venerable institution.

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Sue Frances Meriwether Steed.

This web page was last updated on February 19, 2021 at 11:17 AM