Steady and Measured

Benner C. Turner, A Black College President in the Jim Crow South

Travis D. Boyce

• Publisher: University of South Carolina Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781643364445, 9781643364438
• eBook ISBN: 9781643364452
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: History of Education
• Index: History

Reassesses the career of Benner C. Turner, the polarizing African American president at South Carolina State during the civil rights era

Travis D. Boyce considers the full sweep of Benner C. Turner's life and career in the context of the contrary pressures of white and Black authority. Borrowing an expression from Michelle Obama's remarks to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Boyce casts Turner, long-serving president of South Carolina State University, as a steady and measured leader who preserved the limited resources his historically Black institution possessed in the face of often hostile social, political, and economic power structures.

Previous accounts of Turner and his SC State presidency portray him as unwilling to criticize the state's white power structure and unable to contend with their open resistance to civil rights. Boyce argues that the modern view of Turner flattens a complex terrain, often relying selectively on hostile sources, underplaying the political constraints on presidents of publicly funded HBCUs in the South. Considering Turner in a richer context, with a deep awareness of Turner's early life formative influences, Boyce provides a more complete critical examination of his leadership in trying times.

Table of contents

• Cover
• STEADY AND MEASURED
• Title
• Copyright
• CONTENTS
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction “. . . A Man of Dignity, a Man of Integrity, and a Man of Courage”
• chapter one An Outsider Within Formative Years and Early Education
• chapter two Completing His Father’s Work Turner’s Early Law Career
• chapter three Pessimistic Pragmatist Turner’s Presidency in the Wake of Brown v. Board of Education
• chapter four Academic Leadership during Campus Turmoil
• chapter five Leaving and Not Looking Back Life and Legacy after South Carolina State College
• Afterword
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index