List of people from Charleston, South Carolina
Appearance
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/12/Flag_of_Charleston%2C_South_Carolina.svg/250px-Flag_of_Charleston%2C_South_Carolina.svg.png)
The following people were all born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Charleston, South Carolina, United States (categorized by area in which each person is best known):
Athletes
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/2009_Solheim_Cup_-_Beth_Daniel_%281%29.jpg/120px-2009_Solheim_Cup_-_Beth_Daniel_%281%29.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/Ovie_Mughelli_2006.jpg/120px-Ovie_Mughelli_2006.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/9c/Anthony_Johnson.jpg/120px-Anthony_Johnson.jpg)
- Luther Broughton (born 1974), NFL player
- Nehemiah Broughton (born 1982), NFL player
- Kwame Brown (born 1982), basketball player
- Garrett Chisolm (born 1988), NFL player
- Beth Daniel (born 1956), professional golfer
- Zola Davis (born 1975), NFL and XFL player
- Carlos Dunlap (born 1989), NFL player
- Oronde Gadsden (born 1971), NFL player
- AJ Green (born 1988), NFL player
- Harold Green (born 1968), NFL player
- Anthony Johnson (born 1974), NBA player
- Katrina McClain Johnson (born 1965), Olympic gold medalist; retired WNBA player
- Byron Maxwell (born 1988), NFL player
- David Meggett (born 1966), NFL player
- Bud Moore (born 1941), NASCAR driver
- Langston Moore (born 1981), former NFL player
- Ovie Mughelli (born 1980), NFL player
- Josh Powell (born 1983), NBA player
- Laron Profit (born 1977), NBA player
- Robert Quinn (born 1990), NFL player
- Art Shell (born 1946), NFL player and coach
- Roddy White (born 1981), NFL player
- Khris Middleton (born 1991), NBA player
- Edmond Robinson (born 1992), NFL player
- Brandon Shell (born 1992), NFL player
- Javon Kinlaw (born 1997), NFL player
Entertainers
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/7f/Stephen_Colbert_December_2017.jpg/120px-Stephen_Colbert_December_2017.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Lauren_Hutton_1997.jpg/120px-Lauren_Hutton_1997.jpg)
- Angry Grandpa (born 1950), internet personality
- Stephen Colbert (born 1964), comedian
- Jonathan Mangum (born 1976), actor
- Joel Derfner (born 1973), musical theater composer
- Andy Dick (born 1965), comedian
- Thomas Gibson (born 1962), actor
- Shanola Hampton (born 1977), actress
- Lauren Hutton (born 1943), actress
- Mabel King (1932–1999), actress
- Logan Marshall-Green (born 1976), actor
- Will Patton (born 1954), actor
- Grace Peixotto (born 1817), madam[1]
- Darius Rucker (born 1966), lead singer of Hootie & the Blowfish, and country star
- Elise Testone (born 1983), singer, American Idol contestant
- Melanie Thornton (1967–2001), singer, member of La Bouche
Military figures
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/SDLee.jpg/120px-SDLee.jpg)
- Mark Wayne Clark (1896–1984), United States Army general; Supreme commander of the United Nations Command
- Samuel Wragg Ferguson (1834–1917), Confederate States Army general
- Benjamin Huger (1805–1877), Confederate States Army general
- Stephen Dill Lee (1833–1908), Confederate States Army general; 1st president of Mississippi State University
- Robert Charlwood Richardson, Jr. (1882–1954), United States Army general
- William Childs Westmoreland (1914–2005), United States Army general; 25th chief of staff of the United States Army
Political figures
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/40/Henry_laurens.jpg/120px-Henry_laurens.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b6/John_Rutledge_color_painting.jpg/120px-John_Rutledge_color_painting.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/68/SkivringSmith.jpg/120px-SkivringSmith.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/CharlesCPinckney.jpg/120px-CharlesCPinckney.jpg)
- William Aiken, Jr. (1806–1887), Governor of South Carolina[2]
- Judah P. Benjamin (1811–1884), U.S. Senator from Louisiana, Confederate States Secretary of State and Attorney General
- James Francis Byrnes (1879–1972), U.S. Representative and Senator, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Secretary of State, and Governor of South Carolina
- Floride Calhoun (1792–1866), Second Lady of the United States; wife of John C. Calhoun
- John C. Calhoun (1782–1850), U.S. Representative and Senator, Vice President, Secretary of State, and Secretary of War
- Henry William de Saussure (1763–1839), second director of United States Mint; intendant (mayor) of Charleston
- William Drayton, Sr. (1733–1790), associate justice of South Carolina Supreme Court[2]
- Christopher Gadsden (1724–1805), American Revolutionary War leader
- James Gadsden (1788–1858), U.S. minister to Mexico; president of the South Carolina Railroad Company
- Robert Young Hayne (1791–1839), Mayor of Charleston 1836–1837; United States Senator 1823–1833; Governor of South Carolina[3]
- Thomas Heyward, Jr. (1746–1809), signer of the Declaration of Independence
- Fritz Hollings (born 1922), United States Senator from South Carolina; Governor and Lieutenant Governor of South Carolina
- James Ladson (1753–1812), American revolutionary and lieutenant governor of South Carolina
- Henry Laurens (1724–1792), American Revolutionary War leader
- Burnet Maybank (1899–1954), Charleston mayor 1931–1935; South Carolina governor 1939–1941; United States Senator from South Carolina[4]
- Burnet Maybank III, lawyer; two-time head of South Carolina Department of Revenue
- Christopher Memminger (1803–1888), signer of the Confederate States Constitution; Confederate States Secretary of the Treasury 1861–1864
- William Porcher Miles (1822–1899), lawyer; Mayor of Charleston 1855-1857; U.S. Representative from South Carolina; member of the Confederate Congress; designed the Confederate battle flag[5]
- Thomas Parker (1760–1820), U.S. District Attorney for S.C. 1792–1820; married daughter of William Henry Drayton, Mary Drayton[6]
- Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1746–1825), American Revolutionary War leader; United States Ambassador to France; Federalist candidate for President in the 1804 and 1808 United States presidential elections
- Joel Roberts Poinsett (1779–1851), botanist, politician, and diplomat; U.S. Representative; United States Ambassador to Mexico, Secretary of War; founded precursor to the Smithsonian Institution; namesake of the poinsettia
- Joseph P. Riley, Jr. (born 1943), Mayor of Charleston 1975-2015
- Joseph O. Rogers, Jr. (1921–1999), member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from Clarendon County 1955–1966; Republican gubernatorial nominee in 1966; reared in Charleston; spent adult years in Manning
- Edward Rutledge, signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence; Governor of South Carolina, 1798-1800
- John Rutledge, President of South Carolina, 1776-1778; Commander and Chief of South Carolina forces during Revolutionary War; Governor of South Carolina, 1779-1782; second Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court; signed the U.S. Constitution
- James Skivring Smith (1825–1884), President of Liberia, 1871-1872
- George Alfred Trenholm (1807–1876), Confederate States Secretary of the Treasury
- Bill Workman (born 1940), Charleston native; mayor of Greenville, 1983-1995; economic development specialist
Scientists
- Robert Furchgott (1916–2009), biochemist and Nobel Laureate
- Ernest Everett Just (1883–1941), biologist
- William Charles Wells (1757–1817), physician
Slavery-related people
- Benjamin Smith (1717–1770), slave trader
- Joseph Wragg (1698–1751), pioneer of the large-scale slave trade
Writers and artists
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Shepard-fairey-2011-westhollywood.jpg/120px-Shepard-fairey-2011-westhollywood.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/54/Alexandra_Ripley_1999_by_Osmund_Geier.jpg/120px-Alexandra_Ripley_1999_by_Osmund_Geier.jpg)
- Alexander Aikman (1755–1836), publisher, King's Printer, and House of Assembly member
- Louisa Wells Aikman (1755–1831), 18th century author
- Frank Birnbaum (1922–2005), 20th century Jewish cantor
- David Carson (born 1956), graphic designer
- Joel Derfner (born 1973), writer
- Shepard Fairey (born 1970), artist known for Andre the Giant "Obey" and Barack Obama "Hope" stencil pieces
- Arthur Freed (1894–1973), Hollywood producer, composer, and writer
- Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr. (1911–2001), author, Cheaper by the Dozen
- Dubose Heyward (1885–1940), writer and lyricist, Porgy and Bess
- Jessica Hische (born 1984), illustrator
- Robert Jordan (1948–2007), novelist, author of The Wheel of Time series
- Alexandra Ripley (1934–2004), author, Scarlett
- Eden Royce, gothic horror writer
- Stella F Simon (1878–1973), photographer
- Philip Simmons (1912–2009), ironworker
- William Gilmore Simms (1806–1870), poet, novelist, and historian
- Merton Simpson, (born 1928), abstract expressionist artist, African art collector, musician
- Frank Lebby Stanton (1857–1927), lyricist; columnist for the Atlanta Constitution; author of the lyrics of "Just Awearyin' for You"
- Norb Vonnegut (born 1958), author
- Nikki DuBose (born 1985), former model turned author and activist
Other
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b9/Chitra_Wadhwani_%28CBS%29%2C_Thomas_Danaher_%28Sheets.com%29%2C_Sallie_Krawcheck_and_Jon_Ledecky_%28UTA_Media_Partners%29.jpg/120px-Chitra_Wadhwani_%28CBS%29%2C_Thomas_Danaher_%28Sheets.com%29%2C_Sallie_Krawcheck_and_Jon_Ledecky_%28UTA_Media_Partners%29.jpg)
- William Abbott (1790–1843), manager of the New Charleston Theatre [2]
- Garland Bayliss (1924–2015), historian and administrator at Texas A&M University; taught at the Citadel in the mid-1950s[7]
- Rick Brewer (born 1956), former administrator at Charleston Southern University; current president of Louisiana College in Pineville, Louisiana[8]
- Septima Poinsette Clark (1898–1987), educator, civil rights activist; "grandmother" of the Civil Rights Movement"
- Ellsworth "Bumpy" Johnson (1905–1968), well-known African American mob boss
- Sallie Krawcheck (born 1964), Citigroup chief financial officer
- Samuel Maverick (1803–1870), firebrand rancher from whom the term "maverick" was coined
- William Ephraim Mikell (1868–1944), Dean of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, summer home in Charleston
- Robert Mills (1781–1855), architect
- Vanessa Joy Lachey (née Minnillo) (born 1980), Miss USA 1998, MTV VJ, and Entertainment Tonight correspondent
- George B. Rabb (1930–2017), zoologist
- David Stahl (1949–2010), conductor
- Elizabeth Timothy (1702–1757), first female newspaper publisher in America
- Lewis Timothy (1699–1738), first American librarian
- Denmark Vesey (1767–1822), freedman tried and executed for allegedly plotting a slave revolt
- J. Waites Waring (1880–1968), United States District Court for District of South Carolina judge; part of three-judge panel that heard school desegregation case Briggs v. Elliott
- Reuben Greenberg (1943–2014), first black police chief of Charleston
References
- ^ Jones, Mark R (2006). Wicked Charleston: Prostitutes, Politics and Prohibition (illustrated ed.). The History Press. pp. 19–23. ISBN 9781596291348. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
- ^ a b c Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607-1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1963.
- ^ "Robert Young Hayne" http://www.HalseyMap.com/Flash/mayors-detail.asp?polID=28
- ^ "Burnet Rhett Maybank" http://www.HalseyMap.com/Flash/mayors-detail.asp?polID=44 Archived 2010-12-17 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "William Porcher Miles" http://www.HalseyMap.com/Flash/mayors-detail.asp?polID=32
- ^ O'Neall, John Belton (1859). "Thomas Parker". Biographical sketches of the bench and bar of South Carolina. Vol. 2. Charleston, S.C.: S.G. Courtenay & Co. pp. 47–50.
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suggested) (help) - ^ "Garland Erastus Bayliss". Bryan-College Station Eagle. May 28, 2015. Retrieved June 27, 2015.
- ^ Leigh Guidry (March 25, 2015). "LC board names South Carolina VP as ninth president". The Alexandria Town Talk. Retrieved July 23, 2015.