January 2007 - Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce

Matthew J. Perry,Peter Horrybound for S.C.Hall of FameCivil rights activist and famed attorney Judge MatthewJ. Perry and Revolutionary War hero Peter Horry, bestrecognized as the namesake of Horry County, wererecently inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame.A formal induction ceremony took place Jan. 8 at theMyrtle Beach Convention Center, where the S.C. Hall ofFame is located. Portraits of both inductees were unveiledand added to the gallery in the convention center lobby.Matthew J. PerryMatthew J. Perry was born in Columbia in 1921. Aftergraduating from Booker T. Washington High School,Perry served in the U.S. Army from 1942-1946 and thenreceived his bachelor and law degrees from S.C. StateCollege (now S.C. State University). Perry opened alaw practice in Spartanburg and while handling routinecases, he began to devote time to civil rights work. Thiswork soon consumed his professional time and led to hishistoric appointment by the S.C. NAACP as its chiefcounsel in 1957. Perry strategically selected cases to attackthe state’s scheme of racial segregation. In Cummingsvs. City of Charleston, Perry successfully challengedCharleston’s public golf course segregation. Perry alsoprevailed in cases involving segregation of state parks,hospital waiting rooms, state colleges and universities, andpublic schools. His skillful representation of civil rightsmarchers and protesters established important precedentsin the areas of free speech and right of assembly. Perry’srepresentation of civil rights marchers arrested at theState House led to the landmark U.S. Supreme Courtdecision in Edwards vs. South Carolina, considered bymany scholars to be one of the most important FirstAmendment cases in modern American history. Perry alsowas very active in voting rights and in 1976, PresidentGerald Ford nominated Perry on the recommendationof Sen. Strom Thurmond to the U.S. Court of MilitaryAppeals, which marked the first time a black man fromthe deep South had been nominated to the federal bench.Three years later, President Jimmy Carter nominatedJudge Perry as the U.S. District Judge for the District ofSouth Carolina, where he served with distinction for morethan 25 years. In 2004, the new U.S. Court House inColumbia was named in honor of Judge Perry.Peter HorryPeter Horry was born in South Carolina in c.1743. In thelate 1760s, Horry became a partner of Anthony Bonneauin the Georgetown mercantile firm of Bonneau & Horrybut Horry did not pursue a mercantile career. Instead,he became a planter and owned three plantations and116 slaves. Active in the military during the AmericanRevolution, Horry was commissioned a captain in theSecond Regiment and was present at the Battle of FortMoultrie. He was in command of the Fifth Regiments by1780, after being promoted to a major and then colonel.In 1780 after the fall of Charleston, Horry traveledto North Carolina where he joined Baron deKalb’sContinental forces. Uniting with Francis Marion in S.C.’slowcountry, Horry commanded a regiment of light horseand was at the Battle of Quinby Bridge. Together withMarion, he later preserved an important supply route.Years later, Horry wrote a history of Marion’s Brigadeand sent the manuscript to Mason Weems for possiblepublication. Although Horry instructed Weems to editonly for style, Weems fictionalized the manuscript andhad it published as “Life of Marion.” Horry disclaimedauthorship of the distorted work. Horry served in boththe S.C. House of Representatives and Senate and asregister of the mesne conveyances for Charleston. Afterthe state militia was reorganized in 1792, BrigadierGeneral Horry was given command of the Sixth Brigade(Georgetown), where he served until 1802. Horry heldother offices and memberships including commissionerfor auditing public accounts for Georgetown District(1782), tax inquirer and collector for Prince Winyah(1784), justice of the peace (1790), and a member of theSociety of Cincinnati. In tribute to Horry’s service, HorryCounty was reconstructed from Georgetown District andnamed in his honor (1801). Peter Horry died Feb. 28,1815, in Columbia and is buried at Trinity (Episcopal)Church.The Confederation of South Carolina Local HistoricalSocieties is the official selection organization for the Hallof Fame. Each of the confederation’s 10 districts annuallyselects one contemporary and one deceased nominee forconsideration by the board of trustees.The S.C. Hall of Fame is sponsored by the city of MyrtleBeach and the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.For more information about the S.C. Hall of Fame, visitMyrtleBeachAreaChamber.com and click on S.C. Hall ofFame.MyrtleBeachAreaChamber.combc