Constitution Day September 17, 2026
Each year, the Department of History, Political Science, and Philosophy celebrates the Constitution by offering educational programming to USCA and the Aiken community.
The event is free and open to the public, registration is not required.
Alexia Helsley
“South Carolina: Where the Revolutionary War Was Won”
3:30 PM, Thursday, September 17, 2026 in Penland 106
Speaker
Alexia Jones Helsley is a historian, author, archivist, and Senior Instructor in the Department of History, Political Science and Philosophy at the University of South Carolina Aiken. She has taught at USC Aiken since 2002 and also serves as an archivist for the university’s Institutional Archives. Before joining USC Aiken, Helsley spent more than three decades with the South Carolina Department of Archives and History.
Helsley is the author of numerous books on South Carolina and regional history, including Lost Aiken County, South Carolina, Columbia, SC: A History, Wicked Edisto: The Dark Side of Eden, Hidden History of Greenville, South Carolina, and Beaufort: A History. Her article “The Catawba Nation in the American Revolution,” published in the Proceedings of the South Carolina Historical Association, received the Daniel Hollis Prize for best article.
Her honors include USC Aiken’s Val Lumans Teaching Award, the Governor’s Archives Award, and the South Carolina Archival Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award. She is a former president of the South Carolina Historical Association and has served as chair of the South Carolina Old Exchange Commission.