The Colored State Fair

Colored State Fair, 1890-1969

The Colored State Fair, later called the Negro State Fair and the Palmetto State Fair, opened annually the week after the segregated South Carolina State Fair. A state fair had existed before the Civil War, supported by an agricultural organization and the state legislature. Its buildings burned when Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman’s troops ransacked and burned Columbia. In 1869 a whites-only fair —supported by the city of Columbia, the legislature, and the newly organized State Agricultural and Mechanical Society of South Carolina — began with new buildings on Elmwood Avenue. The fair moved to its current home on Rosewood Drive in 1904.

In 1908 Richard Carroll — formerly enslaved in the Barnwell District and later an evangelist, a military chaplain, and a founder of newspapers, an industrial-training home for children, and a black employment bureau — began the Colored State Fair with the help of other black businessmen. See a 1927 fair ad in The Palmetto Leader.

When these photos were taken, attractions included a contest for the marching bands of black high schools; exhibit buildings with livestock and poultry and contests such as the Fat Barrow hog show; a Midway provided by Prell’s Broadway Shows, with rides such as the Wild Mouse and the Paratrooper; and, according to The State newspaper, “the largest wild animal show on the road, an astounding freak show, a minstrel, and many other entertaining amusements.” Attendance of 100,000 was expected on the day dedicated to schoolchildren.