The Combahee River ( ) is a short
blackwater river in the southern
Lowcountry region of
South Carolina
)'' Animis opibusque parati'' ( for, , Latin, Prepared in mind and resources, links=no)
, anthem = "Carolina";" South Carolina On My Mind"
, Former = Province of South Carolina
, seat = Columbia
, LargestCity = Charleston
, LargestMetro = G ...
formed at the confluence of the
Salkehatchie and
Little Salkehatchie rivers near the Islandton community of
Colleton County, South Carolina. Part of its lower
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land where all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
combines with the
Ashepoo River and the
Edisto River
The Edisto River is one of the longest free-flowing blackwater rivers in North America, flowing over 250 meandering miles from its sources in Saluda and Edgefield counties, to its Atlantic Ocean mouth at Edisto Beach, South Carolina. It rises ...
to form the
ACE Basin The Combahee empties into
Saint Helena Sound near
Beaufort, which in turn empties into the
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the "Old World" of Afr ...
.
History
The river is named for its first inhabitants, the Combahee tribe of
Native Americans. Europeans occupied the area as early as the 1680s, and so the Combahee and others of the
Cusabo group are also known as Settlement Indians. Land was set aside for the
Yemassee people along several rivers, including the Combahee. The
Yemassee War of 1715-1717 saw skirmishes in the area.
On August 27, 1782, one of the last fights in the
Revolutionary War took place along the Combahee River. The British made an attempt at foraging, which the Americans, headed by General Gist and Colonel
John Laurens, opposed. Laurens, the son of Henry Laurens, a former president of the
Continental Congress, died in the action.
The Combahee River bordered and supplied the water for some of the largest, most productive rice plantations prior to the Civil War. It was the site of an important military incident during that conflict, the
Raid at Combahee Ferry. This was a Union raid into the interior of South Carolina, which freed over 750 slaves.
Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave herself, well known for leading others hundreds of miles to safety on the
Underground Railway, led this endeavor on June 2, 1863. The bridge across the Combahee on
US Highway 17 is the location today.
Cultural legacy
The
Combahee River Collective was a
Black feminist
Black feminism is a philosophy that centers on the idea that "Black women are inherently valuable, that lack women'sliberation is a necessity not as an adjunct to somebody else's but because our need as human persons for autonomy."
Race, gend ...
lesbian organization, formed in 1974
Marable, Manning
William Manning Marable (May 13, 1950 – April 1, 2011) was an American professor of public affairs, history and African-American Studies at Columbia University.Grimes, William"Manning Marable, Historian and Social Critic, Dies at 60" ''The Ne ...
; Leith Mullings (eds), ''Let Nobody Turn Us Around: Voices of Resistance, Reform, and Renewal'', Combahee River Collective Statement, Rowman and Littlefield, 2000, , p. 524. and named after the
Combahee River Raid, where Harriet Tubman led 750 freed slaves to safety. The Collective was instrumental in highlighting that the white feminist movement was not addressing the particular needs of black women.
[Women's Realities, Women's Choices: An Introduction to Women's and Gender Studies. 2005.] They are perhaps best known for developing the Combahee River Collective Statement,
[The full text of the Combahee River Collective Statement is availabl]
here
a key document in the history of contemporary Black feminism and the development of the concepts of
identity as used among political organizers and social theorists.
[Hawkesworth, M. E.; Maurice Kogan. ''Encyclopedia of Government and Politics'', 2nd edn Routledge, 2004, , p. 577.][Sigerman, Harriet. ''The Columbia Documentary History of American Women Since 1941'', Columbia University Press, 2003, , p. 316.]
References
See also
*
Combahee River Collective
{{authority control
Rivers of South Carolina
Rivers of Colleton County, South Carolina
Rivers of Beaufort County, South Carolina
Rivers of Hampton County, South Carolina