Slavery and The University

First published in 1893 by Walker, Evans, and Cogswell Company, J.P. Thomas’ The History of the South Carolina Military Academy is the earliest institutional history of the Citadel. J.P. Thomas was a graduate of the college and served in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Because of the early date of printing, and Thomas’ first hand knowledge of the school’s early history, there is a lack of additional footnotes. However, some of the events referenced include full-text transcription of legislative acts, student rolls, and event programs. Thomas starts his history at 1783 with the incorporation of Charleston and includes events like the 1822 Denmark Vesey conspiracy and the 1832 Nullification Crisis in his timeline before the establishment of the Citadel as a college in 1842.

The Story of the Citadel by Oliver J. Bond is a monograph that discusses the
creation of the Citadel, from the “Old Citadel” as the Tobacco inspection site, to the
“New Citadel” in its current location, near Hampton Park. Chronologically, Bond writes
about acts passed to create the Citadel, the Denmark Vesey insurrection, and the
institutional history of the Citadel in regards to students and classes, Board of Visitors,
and Commandants. The Story of the Citadel is published posthumously in order to help
gain momentum for the Citadel to move to its current location. This monograph provides
a starting place for research on the institutional history of the Citadel, but should be
understood through the lens of 1936, as racism and sexism are prevalent.

Published in 2009 and less than a decade after the first female graduated from the school, Alexander Macaulay contends that the Citadel is more a barometer of modern social anxieties than it is a high-bound and unchanging institution. The primary focus of this book is from the end of the second World War to the end of the twentieth century, but also examines cadet and institutional identity from before that time. Macaulay is a Citadel alumnus, class of ‘94 and now a professor at Western Carolina University. He obtained a PhD in history from the University of Georgia.

A far more recent institutional history of The Citadel. Published in 2018 Warley's Stand Forever, Yielding Never discusses the changes over time from the foundation of The Citadel as an all-white, all-male, military academy in the Antebellum South into a military college whose Corps of Cadets includes all races and genders. John Warley is an Army veteran, lawyer, and novelist. He is also an Alumni of the Citadel, Class of 1968.