COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - The South Carolina Democratic Party will rename its annual Jefferson-Jackson Dinner after the upcoming fundraiser in September, making it the latest state party to distance itself from the slave-owning presidents who are considered the party's founders.
The party's executive committee voted Tuesday night to drop the names of the nation's third and seventh presidents, Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson. Beyond owning slaves, Jackson is known for the forced removal of Native Americans over the Trail of Tears.
State Chairman Jaime Harrison says the committee decided the dinner should reflect the modern Democratic Party.
South Carolina's last Jefferson-Jackson Dinner will be Sept. 30.
Other states to drop the names of the late presidents from party fundraisers cited last year's massacre in Charleston of nine black parishioners by a white gunman.
