1. On July 20, 1944, the U.S. Army Air Forces began construction on the Columbia Army Air Base, which would later become the Columbia Metropolitan Airport. The base played a significant role in training pilots during World War II.

2. In 1865, Union General Edward E. Potter ordered the evacuation of Morris Island, a barrier island near Charleston that had served as a key site in the Union's blockade of the city during the Civil War.

3. South Carolina's first ever state-supported institution of higher education, the South Carolina College (now the University of South Carolina), received its charter on July 20, 1801.

4. On July 20, 1864, Confederate forces under General William W. Walker attacked Union troops occupying a fort on James Island. Although the Confederate forces were ultimately repulsed, the battle marked a significant moment in the ongoing struggle for control of Charleston.

5. In 1969, Don Fowler, a South Carolina native and political strategist, helped organize a protest against the Vietnam War that drew nearly 10,000 people to the State House grounds in Columbia on July 20. The demonstration helped galvanize opposition to the war in South Carolina and across the country.