B14 Columbia, South Carolina USA 1786

Here stands the Mann-Simons house, a home bought by former slaves in the 1840s. Property ownership among freed slaves was rare, yet Celia Mann and Ben Delane both managed to buy land somehow.     In 1970, the home was acquired by a local housing authority and slated for demolition. Cleveland Smith, great-great-great grandson to Mann and Delane, worked to preserve the house. He said, “If you don’t know where you’ve come from, you don’t know where you’re going.” 

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