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Aiken Graded School

This historical marker denotes the location of the Aiken Graded School, a two-story brick elementary school for black children built in 1924-25 with funds provided by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation.  One of South Carolina’s finest Rosenwald schools, the school had ten classrooms, a library, and a 600-seat auditorium.  Aiken Graded… Read More

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Berkeley Training High School

Berkeley Training High School, first called Dixie Training School, stood here from 1920 until the 1980s. The first public school for blacks in Moncks Corner was founded in 1880. It held classes in local churches until its first school was built in 1900. The three-room school built here was one… Read More

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Bowman Rosenwald School

Bowman Rosenwald School, which stood here from 1927 to 1952, was one of several African American schools in Orangeburg County funded in part by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. The five-room frame building was typical of the larger rural schools built by the Rosenwald Foundation. Bowman Rosenwald School educated about 250… Read More

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Catawba Rosenwald School / Liberty Hill School

The Catawba Rosenwald School was built in 1924-25 to serve the African American community in southeastern York County. It was known as the Catawba School on official lists of Rosenwald schools, but is generally known as the Liberty Hill School locally because of its association with Liberty Hill Missionary Baptist… Read More

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Catawba Rosenwald School/ Liberty Hill School

The Catawba Rosenwald School was built in 1924-25 to serve the African American community in southeastern York County. It was known as the Catawba School on official lists of Rosenwald schools, but is generally known as the Liberty Hill School locally because of its association with Liberty Hill Missionary Baptist… Read More

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Cedar Grove Baptist Church / Simpsonville Rosenwald

The Reedy River Baptist Association built a school for the African American children of Simpsonville and other area communities on this site in 1891-92. In 1923-24 the Simpsonville Rosenwald School, an eight-room elementary and high school, was built nearby. Marker sponsored by the Greenville County Council and the Greenville Health… Read More

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Cedar Grove Baptist Church /Simpsonville Rosenwald

The Reedy River Baptist Association built a school for the African American children of Simpsonville and other area communities on this site in 1891-92. In 1923-24 the Simpsonville Rosenwald School, an eight-room elementary and high school, was built nearby. Marker sponsored by the Greenville County Council and the Greenville Hospital… Read More

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Centenary Rosenwald School / Terrell's Bay High School

Centenary Rosenwald School was built here in 1924-25. The two-room frame school was one of 500 rural schools in S.C. constructed with partial funding from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. An average of 125 students a year attended, at first in grades 1-7 but later adding grades 8-12. Centenary School and… Read More

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Choose a location

While many reunions seek to gather at an ancestral home site, many are increasingly becoming “destination” reunions for mini-vacations, gatherings to discover an undiscovered aspect of African American heritage or genealogical events to search for ancestral information. The best way to choose a location is to determine which type of… Read More

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Dixie Training School

The first public African American school in Moncks Corner was founded in1880. The three-room school was built 1918-1920 with funds raised locally by the community and from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. The school first included grades 1-11, and became Berkeley Training High School in the 1930s. The school stood here… Read More

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Fountain Inn Principal's House and Teacherage

Built in 1935, this structure is the only remaining building that is historically associated with the Fountain Inn Negro School complex, comprised of the grade school built in 1928 (a Rosenwald school), a high school built in 1930, a library, and the Clayton “Peg Leg” Bates Gymnasium, built in 1942. Read More

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Gifford Rosenwald School

The first (c. 1921) of four Rosenwald schools in Hampton County, it had two to five teachers for an average of almost 200 students a year in grades 1-9 until it closed in 1958. Since then the facility has been used for church services and Sunday school classes. Marker sponsored… Read More

News

Going Back to (Rosenwald) School!

SC African American Heritage Commission invites people to imagine going back-to-school in the early 20th century For many children in rural South Carolina, going back to school in the 1920s meant a walk down dirt roads to wood-frame, one-story buildings, oriented to capture natural light because there was no… Read More

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Good Samaritan-Waverly Hospital

Established in 1938 by the merger of two older hospitals, Good Samaritan-Waverly Hospital (GSWH) served the Black community in Columbia and surrounding counties for 35 years.  It merged Good Samaritan Hospital, founded in 1910 by Dr. William S. Rhodes and his wife, Lillian, and Waverly Hospital, founded in 1924 by… Read More

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Great Branch School and Teacherage

The Great Branch School, which stood here from 1918 to the early 1960s, was one of the first Rosenwald schools in S.C. A two-room frame school built in 1917-18, it was typical of the rural black schools funded in part by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation between 1917 and 1932. A… Read More

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Hannah Rosenwald School

Twenty-six Rosenwald schools, the second-highest number in the state, were built in Newberry County. Hannah Rosenwald School was built during the 1924-1925 school year, replacing the older Free Hannah School. Known in Rosenwald School records as the “Utopia School” after the local community, Hannah Rosenwald School was built on four… Read More

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Holly Hill Rosenwald School

The Holly Hill Rosenwald School once stood near this location.  Built 1926-27, the Holly Hill School was the third school for African American students built in the area and one of almost 500 funded in part by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation (1917-32).  Separate lunch room, home economics, and library buildings… Read More

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Hope Rosenwald School

The two-acre lot for this Rosenwald School was donated by James H. Hope, Mary Hope Hipp, and John J. Hope. James H. Hope, then S.C. Superintendent of Education, was its longest-serving head, 1922-1947. The school closed in 1954. In 1958 it was sold to the Jackson Community Center and Cemetery… Read More

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Hopewell Rosenwald School

Built in 1926, Hopewell is the only Rosenwald School remaining in McCormick County.  Hopewell greatly impacted the education of rural McCormick County’s African American students from 1927 to 1954.  By 1954, Hopewell’s enrollment dropped to only nine students as many of the African American families left the area for better… Read More

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Howard Junior High School

Howard Junior High School (also known as Shiloh School) was built on the site of an earlier school constructed by the Shiloh AME Church. This one-story, wood frame building was constructed in 1924-25 with matching funds from the Julius Rosenwald Fund. The Howard Junior High School, which was built according… Read More

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Laurens County Training School

The Laurens County Training School, located here 1924-1954 had its origins in Gray Court School, a one-room school founded c. 1890 on the grounds of Pleasant View Baptist Church.  The training school, opened in 1924 in a building constructed with assistance from the Rosenwald Fund, taught grades 8-11 until 1948. … Read More

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Lexington Rosenwald School

Like other Rosenwald schools built in the rural landscapes of South Carolina, this one was constructed (in 1928-29) for the African American children of the district. More than $7,000 was raised in the community to combine with the Rosenwald appropriation of $1,200. The school was built on four acres and… Read More

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Little Africa

“Little Africa” was one of a number of independent African American communities formed across the South after the Civil War.  Founded c. 1880 by former slaves Simpson Foster and Emanuel Waddell, it was originally just a few acres set aside for their relatives.  It grew to several hundred residents as… Read More

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Loris Training School

This Rosenwald school opened in 1928 and was the first for black students in Loris and other nearby communities.  When the school closed in 1955 its students were transferred to the Finklea Consolidated High School, where George C. Cooper (1915-1991) served as principal until it closed with desegregation in 1970. … Read More

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Manning Training School

Founded in the early 20th century as Clarendon County Training School, this institution provided both education for black students and advanced training for teachers. The first building, funded by the Slater Fund, burned in the 1920s, and a new one was constructed with assistance from the Rosenwald Fund. That building… Read More

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Mt. Zion Rosenwald School

This church, founded in 1868, held its early services in a brush arbor.  In 1870 trustees purchased this 1.75 acre tract to build a school, the first for black children in the Mars Bluff community.  This sanctuary was built in 1875 and extensively remodeled in 1970.  The cemetery includes the… Read More

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Myrtle Beach Colored School

The first public school for African American students in Myrtle Beach (1930s to 2001), it was a six-room frame building similar to the Rosenwald schools. The school, replaced by Carver Training School in 1953, was torn down in 2001 but was reconstructed nearby at Dunbar St. and Mr. Joe White… Read More

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Old Pilgrim Baptist Church / Old Pilgrim Rosenwald School

This church was founded in 1868 by black members of nearby Clear Spring Baptist Church.  Rev. John Abraham, their first pastor, held services in a brush arbor until a log church was built on this site.  In 1894 it took its current name.  Old Pilgrim Rosenwald School, named for the… Read More

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Palmetto High School

Palmetto High School, completed in 1953, was built as a school for African American students.  It replaced the previous Rosenwald School completed in 1924.  The new school was one of the equalization schools built in the early 1950s as part of an effort to equalize African American educational facilities.  It… Read More

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Pine Grove Rosenwald School

Built in 1923, the Pine Grove School is a wood-frame, one-story rectangular gable-front building with a V-crimp tin metal roof.  The layout of the Pine Grove Rosenwald School is a variant of the typical Rosenwald two-room schoolhouse.  The common characteristics of this school plan included the orientation of the building,… Read More

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Pine Hill AME Church

Founded in 1876, the congregation of Pine Hill AME Church acquired this site in 1891 and built a sanctuary shortly afterwards.  The current building was constructed in 1977.  Pine Hill Rosenwald School, one of the first ten Rosenwald schools in the state, was built here in 1917-18. KEYWORDS: … Read More

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Poplar Grove School

Poplar Grove Elementary School was one of 17 African American schools built between 1918-1930 in Union County.  Poplar Grove Elementary School was originally a four-room school house. An additional room was added in 1941.  That added room still stands as a private residence and is the last intact portion of… Read More

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Retreat Rosenwald School

Retreat Rosenwald School, built in 1924, was one of 10 Rosenwald Schools in Oconee County. The 2-teacher, 3-room school served African American students in the Retreat community of Westminster.  Construction costs were $2,300, of which $700 came from the Julius Rosenwald Fund.  The school has a northwest/ southeast orientation, deviating… Read More

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Ridge Hill High School

Ridge Hill High School, built in 1934, replaced a Rosenwald-funded wood clapboard school built on the same site in 1924 which burned 10 years later. The school was rebuilt as a brick version of the original industrial school, using the same six teacher plan. The total building cost was around… Read More

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Ridge Hill School / Faith Cabin Library

This school, built in 1934, replaced the Ridge Hill Rosenwald School, a six-classroom frame school built in 1923-24. This new school was built on the sale plan, at a cost of about $8000. Grades 1-11 attended this school until grade 12 was added in 1947. Ridge Hill School closed in… Read More

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Rocky Swamp Rosenwald School

This is the site of Rocky Swamp Rosenwald School, a frame three-room school built here in 1920-21 for African American students in Neeses and vicinity. An elementary school with two to three teachers in grades 1-9, it was one of more than 500 schools in S.C. funded in part by… Read More

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Rosenwald Consolidated School / Rosenwald High School

The Julius Rosenwald Consolidated School, built in 1930, was one of almost 500 schools in South Carolina funded in part by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation during the early twentieth century. A frame industrial education building was added in 1936. When the school opened it included grades 1-10, grade 11 was… Read More

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St. James AME Church

The congregation of St. James AME Church first worshipped under a brush arbor in the vicinity of what is now Ariel Crossroads. Mattie Munnerlyn White sold one-half acre of land, including the original church, to church trustees in 1891. The cornerstone of the current church was laid in 1914. In… Read More

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St. James Rosenwald School

The school, which was located at this site from the late 1920s until the early 1970s, was one of several Rosenwald schools in the county. Rev. Smart Small, Sr. (1891-1961), assisted by Eugene Beaty (1889-1958), Dave Carr (1886-1992), Henry Small (1897-1999), and Richard Small, Sr. (1893-1950) led fundraising efforts. It… Read More

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St. James Rosenwald School -- York County

St. James Rosenwald was one of 20 African American schools built in York County in the early 20th century with support from the Julius Rosenwald Foundation, which helped fund nearly 5,000 new schools for African American children across the South. This school was built in 1929-30 at a cost of… Read More

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St. Phillip School

Founded by St. Phillip AME Church, a three-teacher school was built across and down the road from the church in 1938. Today, it is private property. Constructed after the Rosenwald School period, it may have been built from architectural drawings by Rudolf E. Lee, a Clemson College engineering professor and… Read More

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St. Stephen Colored School / St. Stephen High School

The first public African American school in St. Stephen was built in 1924-25. A three-room frame building, it was one of almost 500 schools in S.C. funded in part by the Julius Rosenwald Foundation. It opened with grades 1-7, but burned in 1935. A brick elementary and high school with… Read More