South Carolina Coalition Launches to Preserve Historic Black

The Central Carolina Community Foundation has launched a coalition to help preserve South Carolina's historic Black schools. The South Carolina Historic Black Schools Preservation Network will assist alumni associations and nonprofits in handling the complex process of saving these culturally significant buildings.

Georgia Mjartan, the foundation's president, said the network is designed to pool knowledge and resources about funding sources, historical designations, and research. The effort currently involves about a dozen long-closed K-12 schools but is also open to historically Black colleges and universities, according to Trimease Carter, the foundation's director of community impact.

Starting a Network

Many of the state's thousands of historic Black schools closed after desegregation and were left to deteriorate. Alumni like Earnestine Holden, a 1967 graduate of Lakeview School in West Columbia, are leading passionate but often amateur efforts to save them. After receiving multiple calls from alumni seeking funding help, the foundation decided to act as a connector. "I feel like so many were working in silos, and they were trying to do things by reinventing the wheel," Carter said.

The network provides a space for these groups to meet and share resources. Although the foundation typically serves the Midlands region, the network is open to schools across the entire state.

Historic Designations

A key challenge is securing a place on the National Register of Historic Places, which can offer protections and open funding avenues. Virginia Use, a researcher for the state Department of Archives and History, oversees that process and called the application "serious business" akin to a graduate-level research paper.

At least 67 schools are individually listed on the national register. Historians have identified 33 other schools that would likely qualify but have not applied. Use noted a significant increase in interest, with 18 schools recommended for listing in less than six years of this decade, compared to 17 in the entire previous decade.

The types of schools on the register vary. According to Use, the breakdown is as follows:

Rarer examples include Faith Cabin Libraries and the sole surviving Black mill school, Marysville School in Spartanburg County. Bobby Donaldson, a history professor at the University of South Carolina, shared that collaboration was key to successfully listing Booker T. Washington High School in Columbia after an initial rejection.

Funding and Future Use

The biggest barrier for most groups is fundraising, Carter said. Schools typically piece together money from various sources, requiring complex paperwork and research. For example, Bull Swamp Colored School in Orangeburg is planning a $1.2 million renovation funded by federal grants, donations, and local partnerships. Long Point Schoolhouse in Mount Pleasant has secured $150,000 from the state budget, with another $250,000 pending.

Many schools aim to become museums or community hubs. "Even though we were unequal for our facilities, these schools just were the heart of these African American communities," said Deloris Pringle, an alumna of Lincoln High School. Wilfred Pace, leading the Bull Swamp effort, noted plans to add a commercial kitchen, food pantry, media lab, and activity center to the property.

The new network, launched officially on Thursday, seeks to support these varied endeavors by build collaboration and sharing expertise where it is needed most.