The last state to admit a black student to the college level was South Carolina.

I grew up in South Carolina. A lot of what I remember back in the day is AM radio. When I was a kid, you could hear Stevie Wonder and Buck Owens on the same station. All the walls and lines between music were taken down for me.

I'm from South Carolina. I'm from a real cultured state, where there's still racism daily. Still, places are segregated.

South Carolina is one of the most racist states in America. John C. Calhoun is the name of a building at our school and he was a slave owner. Clemson, the name Clemson itself, was like a guy who was a slave owner. South Carolina, their whole history is messed up.

Where I'm from in South Carolina a lot of my friends, a lot of my family members have locks, what we call them. So, you know, it's more of a way of life, where we from, not a hairstyle. We really don't care to have it neat or you know too pretty it's just you know grow your hair. And I wash my hair everyday too.

My high school coach was a big Clemson fan, and I told him, 'As long as I'm the starting quarterback here, I'm not going to lose to South Carolina.'

I grew up in Florida in different cities. I was born in Mississippi. My parents moved a lot, so I moved to Tennessee, Alabama, South Carolina, Virginia, all through the South. But my family's roots were from central Florida, like Daytona Beach area, so we ended up moving there.

The day I showed up to South Carolina to work, I was with my kid and my ex and our dog and Kirk was hanging with this weird guy and I kind of defined the two of them by his friend and made a vow to avoid him.

Returning to South Carolina meant getting a normal job in a normal town with normal people and marrying a normal person. I wanted the glamour and opportunity of the world.

Shortly thereafter, some friends encouraged me to try out for the Miss South Carolina World beauty pageant. To my surprise, I won - and was sent to New York City to compete nationally.

All of us in the Ball family in South Carolina, from the time we're children, hear stories about our ancestors, the slave owners.

The British merchants represented that they received some profit indeed from Virginia and South Carolina, as well as the West Indies; but as for the rest of this continent, they were constant losers in trade.

I love The Inn at Palmetto Bluff, an Auberge Property in Bluffton, South Carolina. It's a spectacular corner of the world, with massive old trees lined with Spanish moss, and alligators swimming in the river.

Back home in South Carolina, you have a lot of little soul food restaurants you can run to and get some quick, decent food.

When a black church is hit in South Carolina by someone with hate in their spirit, that's something that touches all of America, but as a person of color, I see that story even through a deeper prism of, 'Gosh, that takes us back to a time when black churches were targets in this country.'

In South Carolina, the Confederate flag flies high on countless flagpoles. Those who defend this practice by saying it is part of Southern culture are lying to themselves.

As a Democrat following the 2012 presidential election closely, I was happy to see that South Carolina voted overwhelmingly for Newt Gingrich, a candidate almost too easy for President Barack Obama to beat in the fall. I was not, however, surprised at the state's gaffe.

As a child in South Carolina, I spent summers like so many children - sitting on my grandparents' back porch with my siblings, spitting watermelon seeds into the garden or, even worse, swallowing them and trembling as my older brother and sister spoke of the vine that was probably already growing in my belly.

The climate change issue is real and we are seeing its effects right here in South Carolina.

The American Dream is alive and well for some, but not all Americans. Here in South Carolina, rural hospitals are closing, schools are underfunded, and our coasts are threatened by offshore drilling. We need a Senator who's fighting to improve the lives of South Carolinians rather than focusing on interests in Washington D.C.

Climate change is threatening ecosystems in South Carolina, while making it less safe and more costly to live along our coastline.

Small businesses are the heart and soul of South Carolina's economy - from our bait stores to our restaurants and barber shops.

Lindsey Graham has wavered on this, but I won't: We need to ban offshore drilling. A spill off our beaches would destroy jobs and harm the coastal environment that makes South Carolina beautiful.

Folks here in South Carolina want someone with a backbone, with a spine. Someone who's going to stand up for them and their families, regardless of who's in the White House.

The history of Black Americans in South Carolina is riddled with trials and tribulations.

The coronavirus is not causing our health care problems in South Carolina. But it will likely make them worse - and increase the burden on working people - if we don't take action in a decisive way.

I can tell you as a black person in South Carolina whose grandparents grew up through Jim Crow, when you lose the courts and justice no longer becomes just, we're in a world of trouble.

Am I a Democrat? Yes, I'm a Democrat. But at the end of the day, when I take the oath as a senator it won't be to do the bidding of the Democratic Party or a president in the White House. I will be there to fight for the people of South Carolina.

I grew up in Orangeburg, South Carolina, which has the proud distinction of being the home to two of the eight Historically Black Colleges and Universities in the state: South Carolina State University and Claflin University. When I was a kid riding around town with my grandfather, we often drove by the colleges.

Hillary Clinton, who followed her heart to Arkansas, understands that the American Dream extends beyond the Mason-Dixon line and that South Carolina's motto, 'While I breathe, I hope,' applies to all.

Part of what makes South Carolina so beautiful is the land we conserve for wildlife and for future generations.