1. On January 7, 1712, the Tuscarora War broke out in what is now North Carolina, but it also affected South Carolina. The Tuscarora, a Native American tribe, had formed an alliance with other tribes to attack English settlements throughout the Carolinas. South Carolinian forces aided in the defeat of the Tuscarora by providing supplies and troops.

2. January 7, 1782, marked the Battle of Pyle's massacre during the American Revolutionary War. Colonel Abraham Buford and his troops were attacked by a group of Loyalist soldiers led by Banastre Tarleton near present-day Buford, South Carolina. The outnumbered patriots were brutally slaughtered, with only around twenty men surviving.

3. Benjamin E. Mays, an influential African American educator and civil rights leader, was born on January 7, 1894, in Greenwood, South Carolina. Mays served as president of Morehouse College and mentored Martin Luther King Jr.

4. On January 7, 1925, the South Carolina General Assembly elected Coleman Livingston Blease to the US Senate. Blease, a former governor of South Carolina, was known for his populist rhetoric and controversial views, including support for segregation and opposition to women's suffrage.

5. South Carolina native Dizzy Gillespie, a prominent jazz trumpeter and composer, was born on January 7, 1917. Gillespie is credited with being one of the creators of bebop jazz and was a key figure in the development of modern jazz. He received numerous awards throughout his career and was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1989.