“B” is for Brown Fellowship Society

“B” is for Brown Fellowship Society. The Brown Fellowship Society was established in 1790 by free persons of color in Charleston. It is one of the earliest institutions funded by free African Americans in South Carolina. During its early history, free Blacks received minimal benefits from public services and had to provide for their own needs. The organization maintained its own cemetery and if a deceased member left insufficient funds for the care of survivors the society provided assistance. Membership was originally limited to fifty men drawn from Charleston’s free mulatto elite and their descendants. Affiliation with the society became a marker of aristocratic status within Charleston's Black community. The society had its own buildings and held regular banquets and celebrations. The Brown Fellowship Society continued as a social and burial society into the 1990s.