Turks of South Carolina

The Turks of South Carolina, also known as Sumter Turks or Turks of Sumter County, are a group of people who have lived in the general area of Sumter County, South Carolina since the late 18th century. According to Professor Glen Browder, "they have always been a tight-knit and isolated community of people who identified as being of Turkish descent".

As of 2018, they numbered no more than 400 in the town of Dalzell.

History
The "Turk" community traces its history back to an early settler from the Ottoman Empire, Joseph Benenhaley, who reputedly served the colonial cause in the American Revolutionary War. He made his way to South Carolina, where he served as a scout for General Thomas Sumter during the American Revolution. General Sumter then gave Benenhaley land on his plantation to farm and raise a family. A few outsiders married into the family, but most who identified with the ostracized community, and their progeny considered themselves people of Turkish descent. By the mid-20th century, they numbered several hundred.

The Turks of South Carolina today include surnames such as Benenhaley, Oxendine, Scott, Hood, Buckner, Lowery, Chavis, and Ray.

Marriages in the community
The community has generally been "cautious about outside society." Consequently, "few outsiders were accepted in the community, and Turkish people mainly married within their own crowd for generations". Hence, the repetition of family surnames throughout the generations. It is very likely that while there were no forced marriages "there were unwritten societal customs in each group regarding the acceptable parameters of marriage".

Genetic studies
DNA reports on living members of the Turkish community who descend from Joseph Benenhaley showed that the genetic profile indicates significant connections to the Mediterranean/Middle Eastern/North African regions, along with substantial west European admixture and some potential evidence of Native American linkages. Notably, the DNA results showed no discernible contributions from Sub-Saharan Africa, contradicting criticism that the community had claimed Turkish ancestry to cover African roots.

Misrepresentations of the community
Dr. Terri Ann Ognibene, a "Sumter Turk" herself, has discussed the misrepresentations of the community:

Early examples of the community's misrepresentation date to at least the 19th century. The tax collector of Sumter sent an inquiry to the South Carolina Committee on the Colored Population, dated December 7, 1858, as to whether the "descendants of Egyptians and Indians" residing in Sumter should be taxed under the bracket of "Free Blacks, mulattoes and mestizos, or as whites." In the early 20th century, some believed that they were of primarily Native American background, with some admixture of Turkish. They have been mistakenly connected to a family of "Free Moors" who resided in Charleston (see Free Moors of South Carolina).

Discrimination
The community's heritage has reflected their long experience of isolation and discrimination in rural South Carolina. Due to segregation policies in the past, there were "Turkish schools, Turkish school buses, and Turkish cinemas in this period."

Assimilation
In their study on the Sumter Turks, Dr. Terri Ann Ognibene and Professor Glen Browder said the following regarding identity and assimilation: