Clemson Area African American Museum remembers Daniel High School legacy

“Sincerely, Daniel” has opened at the Clemson Area African American Museum in Clemson.

Created by Jaquial Durham and D’Andrew Keasler-Bruce in partnership with the city of Clemson, the exhibit takes visitors through an immersive exhibit highlighting the legacy of African American athletes from D.W. Daniel High School from 1964 to 2014.

The “Sincerely, Daniel” exhibit at the Clemson Area African American Museum Photo provided by city of Clemson

Revisiting Daniel High School

The exhibit was born from one of Durham’s class assignments while pursued his doctorate at Clemson University.

“I was in a course called data visualization, which is essentially figuring out ways to organize statistics and data,” Durham said. “With my research extending around Clemson history, I wanted to take the angle of sports (and) look at just different athletes. I started looking at one of the athletes who went (from) Daniel High School to Clemson. My assignment focused on one athlete and then essentially grew to this exhibit where we have a plethora of athletes from Daniel High School to Clemson over the last 50 years.”

As the idea of “Sincerely, Daniel” formed, Durham teamed up with fellow Daniel High School alum Keasler-Bruce. Both men eventually settled on highlighting 21 in prominent displays across the exhibit as well as featuring Easter eggs — hidden surprises — and photographs of 80 to 100 other individuals.

“Sincerely, Daniel” also includes mostly authentic memorabilia, except a mascot and two custom jerseys from the ’70s and ’80s that were created for the exhibit.

“We’re highlighting at least 10 pro athletes that came from Daniel High School and five of them came within years of each other,” Keasler-Bruce said. “So that by itself just shows that there’s something in the waters here in Clemson, South Carolina. This is our love letter to the world about small, little Clemson.”

Traveling back over 50 years

Upon entering “Sincerely, Daniel,” visitors are given headphones so they can listen to in-game audio from the various sports and music as they are taken on a journey through the 1970s up to 2014.

“When you come into the exhibit, you’re going to be transported back into the ’70s,” Keasler-Bruce said. “The first thing you see when you come into the building is our concession stand-themed area. As you walk through the hallway, there’s a timeline with vinyls surrounding the entire wall (starting) with players from the ’70s (and) it’ll take you all the way through to the ’90s and wrap you back around to 2014.”

The exhibit also features a gymnasium, a locker room and a pro room, which features Daniel High’s pro athletes and individuals who ran track.

“Sincerely, Daniel” will be on display at 214 Butler St. in Clemson into 2026. The exhibit is open from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Friday and from noon to 7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday. For more information, visit caaam.org.