Claflin University is a private, coeducational, liberal arts university located in Orangeburg, South Carolina, United States, about 40 miles (64 km) southeast of Columbia. Founded in 1869 after the American Civil War by northern missionaries for the education of freedmen and their children, it offers bachelor's and master's degrees. In 2014, it was ranked as the best liberal arts college in South Carolina by Washington Monthly,[3] and in 2018 it was ranked as the seventh-best HBCU in the nation by US News & World Report.[4]