Patriots Point To Hold Symposium on the Effects of Vietnam on North Charleston’s Liberty Hill Community

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. – On Friday, Feb. 6 Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum will host a symposium to delve into the history of North Charleston’s Liberty Hill Community and the estimated 60 young African-American men who went on to war during some of the most turbulent times in American history.

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Liberty Hill Symposium will feature three guest panelists from Liberty Hill: Odell Price, Alfreda Levaine and Charleston County Councilman Henry Darby. Odell Price was one of the five original students to transfer out of Bonds-Wilson High School, a segregated African-American School, and into North Charleston High School in 1965 following the passing of the Civil Rights Act. After graduating, he fought as a Marine in the Vietnam War.

Alfreda Levaine grew up in Liberty Hill during the 1960’s and is the sister of Nathan White - one of eight Liberty Hill residents killed in the war. Councilman Henry Darby is the author of Liberty Hill’s Vietnam Fighting Men, a book that chronicles eight Liberty Hill residents who were killed in Vietnam and examines the perspective of war from veterans who made it home safely.

Respected Charleston musicians, Lonnie Hamilton and Ann Caldwell, will perform the National Anthem, and students from North Charleston High School will read poetry.

The symposium is free and open to the public. It will begin at 11:00 a.m. inside the USS YORKTOWN’s Smokey Stover Theater. The event is part of Patriots Point’s ongoing efforts to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the war in Vietnam. It will be streamed live through the Patriots Point Naval & Maritime Museum’s Livestream channel.  Click Here for a link