The Charleston Schützenfest, a shooting competition and community festival transplanted from Germany, was held every year at the German Rifle Club on the banks of the Ashley River beginning in the 1850s. The fest was a place where German-Americans negotiated both local and national inclusion, and Black Charlestonians were initially welcome to join. But by the 1870s the Schützenfest was the premier expression of white supremacy and militant racism in Reconstruction-era Charleston.
