“A Bench by the Road” poem is seen at Fort Moultrie, Thursday, July 10, 2025, on Sullivan’s Island.
Yet to some people opposing the proposed town signs, the number of quarantined African slaves is beside the point.
“The reality is, whether it’s one, 50,000 or 400,000, it happened,” said Brown, one of the first islanders to condemn the “Gateway to Liberty” phrasing.
Controversy causes officials to rethink their plans
Given this kind of feedback, town council decided Aug. 4 to withdraw their approval of the signs, which would have meant spending as much as $16,000 to modify an existing welcome sign close to the Ben Sawyer Bridge and build another of hard Styrofoam or brick near the bridge over Breach Inlet.
A rendering of a welcome sign proposed for Sullivan’s Island. Some residents objected to the “Gateway to Liberty” slogan, complaining that the phrase was insensitive to the island’s history as a quarantine station for enslaved people imported from Africa in the 18th century.
The town is “taking a step back to re-evaluate” and has referred the sign discussion to the Public Facilities Committee, said Joe Henderson, Sullivan’s Island’s town administrator. Henderson said the town still plans to install a new sign near Breach Inlet, “but it may just be ‘Welcome to Sullivan’s Island.’”
If the “Gateway to Liberty” slogan goes away, so be it, said Walsh, the former doctor who originally coined the phrase with a handful of acquaintances. He said he understands his neighbors’ objections.
“To me the tagline is gone, it’s dead, it’s back to the drawing board,” said Walsh. “We frankly did not think this tagline was going to be offensive to anybody. It’s as innocent as that.”
Walsh said the island, already home to controversies regarding the management of coyotes and its maritime forest, does not need another reason to become divided.
He also noted that history is often complicated. Celebrations of July 4th and the Declaration of Independence, he mentioned by example, gloss over the fact that the Founding Fathers did not demand freedom for enslaved people. In his own letter to the Island Eye News on July 22, Walsh defended the “Gateway to Liberty” slogan and discussed how some historical claims, such as Sullivan’s Island serving as an Ellis Island for Black Americans, can seem overstated.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
