roofer in St. George, SC

An historic school built for African Americans in 1925 is restored and reopened in St. George, S.C. as a community center and museum. It will share the stories of those who created it and were educated there.

Painted bright white with a red, tin roof, the St. George Rosenwald school in Dorchester County looks new. Inside, former student Clara Britt is excited to sit behind a small, wooden desk again.

“I never thought that this would happen,” says Britt, giggling like a schoolgirl. She’s about to turn 102-years-old.

Sitting beside Britt is former classmate Ordie Brown. He’s 94-years-old and met his wife here.

“She was taking home economics,” says Brown. “They were practicing how to cook. She would give me lunch out the window.”

Brown and Britt are reunited for the reopening of the historic St. George school. After years of fundraising, planning and construction, the restored schoolhouse will now serve as a community center and museum, sharing the story of African Americans denied an education and the hope they found in schools like St. George Rosenwald.

Built in 1925, the schoolhouse is known as a Rosenwald school because it was funded in part by Julius Rosenwald. He was the son of Jewish immigrants who became the president of Sears, Roebuck and Company.

Rosenwald met educator Booker T. Washington in 1911. The founder of the Tuskegee Institute believed education was the key to African Americans breaking free from generations of oppression.

Together, the wealthy business owner and the educator born into slavery, set out to build schools for Black children.

At the time, 90% of African Americans lived in the South. Yet, schools for Blacks were just shacks with merely a fraction of the funding as White schools, if they existed at all.

Rosenwald offered to match funding in Black communities that raised money for schools and got the support of local white schoolboards. The idea was to get communities to work together.

Black families, already paying taxes for white schools, struggled, but came up with the money. They knew education could be life changing.

“If you’re a parent who can’t read or write, you want your kids to be able to that,” says former state Sen. John Matthews.

Matthews is grateful for the education he received at a Rosenwald school in Bowen, S.C. He helped raise money for the St. George restoration.

Between 1917 and 1932, roughly 5,000 Rosenwald schools were built, educating more than 600,000 Black children. Their graduates include civil right activists like Medgar Evers, John Lewis, and Maya Angelou.

Today, 500 Rosenwald schoolhouses remain but many are in disrepair. Former students like Ralph James want to save them.

“We see the progress, that in spite of these things, we tell the story of how persons made it,” says James. “How they were successful in life.”

A retired municipal judge, James attended the St. George school until it closed in 1954. He’s made it his mission to resurrect the schoolhouse and proudly gave a tour during its reopening earlier this month.

James says the six-teacher schoolhouse is one of the largest in the state, repurposed with electricity and bathrooms, amenities that did not exist when he was a student. He points to potbelly stoves and brick chimneys that warmed children who often had to walk miles because there were no school buses for Black children. And, like most Rosenwald schools, the building features tall windows with classrooms strategically placed.

“Because they had no light, they had no power and they didn’t want shadows on their desks,” explains Micah Thompson with the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, which helped with the restoration.

Congressman Jim Clyburn joined the tour as a special guest during the reopening. His late wife graduated from a Rosenwald School. He said preserving them pays tribute.

“Making sure that we honor the blood, sweat and tears of those who made this community what it is today.”

The congressman helped celebrate Brown and Britt as members of the school’s first graduating class. Brown spoke about playing basketball for the school with the team making a big tournament. But they’d only played on a dirt court.

“We went to the white high school and asked to practice on a wood floor,” said Brown. “But we were told no.”

Britt, meantime, was smitten with Clyburn.

“I had no idea I would ever meet you,” she said.

But Britt took issue with a banner that read she and Brown graduated in 1950.

“Our class is the class of 49. So, I would like them to change that sign,” said Britt as a roomful of guests erupted in laughter.

And, who’s going to argue? Britt is known as the student who once rode an ox to school to maintain her perfect attendance.

ST. GEORGE — School’s open.

This renovated Rosenwald school — one of about 500 in the state, and one of nearly 5,000 in the American South, all constructed between 1913 and 1932 — hosted its first big meeting when members of the board of the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina gathered in the auditorium on Aug. 8.

It was an occasion to remember the history of the school, to celebrate its rebirth and to consider its future. Plans already have been laid to partner with the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry on establishing a satellite location here, an idea first proposed by Patsy Knight when she was a state representative, and with the Dorchester County Library to furnish the small library room adjacent to the school’s auditorium.

This historic building in rural South Carolina has been restored thanks to a herculean effort by local advocates and financial support received from lawmakers and private sources. Board members of the nonprofit St. George Rosenwald School now hope to build on their success, adding amenities and historical features to the property, securing 3.5 acres of adjacent land to create public green space and more parking, organizing special events and arranging activities for children.

In short, they want this venue to become a community center and, thus, the epicenter of town.

They have supporters:

The project got underway more than a decade ago, led by Ralph James, a former educator and municipal judge who attended the St. George Rosenwald School as a child. Matthews found $65,000 in rural development funding to help the community purchase the property. Charleston-based architect Glenn Keyes was engaged to salvage the water-damaged and badly deteriorated structure.

Money trickled in over the next several years, about $4 million, and little by little the restoration work was accomplished, documented in a series of pictures by Alan Nussbaum, a rheumatologist and amateur photographer. Reeves joined the effort, becoming James’ close collaborator and engaging the interest of other electric cooperative leaders.

An employee of the Electric Cooperatives of South Carolina, Micah Thompson, managed to find dozens of old iron-and-wood desks, the kind once used in the school. One or two of them were part of the St. George Rosenwald School’s original furnishings.

Last year, Stephens sponsored an earmark worth $500,000 to help cover costs. This year, he sponsored another for $400,000.

“I’m not stopping, trust me,” he said, referring to his staunch support of the efforts in St. George. “They won’t let me stop.”

James said the main building is ready for public use, but there are still a few pieces of the puzzle to put in place. A train carriage eventually could sit on a short stretch of rail by the school and become a café, as well as a memorial to the late schoolteacher Ezekiel L. Gadson — a poet, singer and disciplinarian who worked as a railway porter before becoming an educator. A current version of the old sweet shop that once was located nearby could entice youths.

An outhouse and shop building behind the school, once was used for vocational training, could soon be renovated and transformed into an exhibit space featuring information about domestic life in the Black community during Jim Crow.

The wooded area just east of the school perhaps could be purchased for the purpose of creating public greenspace, with trails, historical interpretation, an amphitheater and extra parking.

Historic partnership

Clara Dixon Britt, 101, remembered attending the school for third grade and, later, for eighth grade. She’d walk five miles to get there, except on days she could ride an ox.

Ordie Columbus Brown, 94, had to travel farther — 6 miles or so — but often found a ride. His father eventually purchased a small school bus, and a teenage Brown would drive it, full of students from his community, south to the school.

He played on the basketball team, which used a rough-cut court located between the two wings of the building. The team was good, and one year made it to the tournament level. Brown visited the nearby White high school to ask permission for the players to prepare for the tournament by practicing on the high school’s hardwood court. School officials said no.

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Julius Rosenwald was a Chicago-based businessman and the son of immigrant German Jews who became president of Sears Roebuck and Co., the biggest retail store of the early 20th century. Sears sold pretty much everything, and it distributed a thick catalogue through the mail, enabling many Black people forbidden by legalized segregation from shopping in regular White-owned retail stores to purchase all kinds of items, from seeds to lumber to kitchen supplies.

After Rosenwald made his fortune, he became an avid philanthropist. He met Booker T. Washington in 1911, and the two men worked out a plan to build a network of schools for African American children. At the time, the separate-but-equal legal doctrine codified by the Supreme Court in the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson case resulted in unequal public education. White schools generally were much better funded than Black schools, and the entrenched poverty among African Americans that was a consequence of nearly three centuries of slavery and Jim Crow meant that education was a privilege that not all families could afford.

Rosenwald and Washington changed that. Eventually, the 5,000 Rosenwald schools ensured that about a third of all African American children could receive a quality education. The schools produced a new generation of achievers, setting the stage for the freedom struggle of the 1940s and ’50s, followed by the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

DORCHESTER COUNTY, S.C. (WCIV) — Not one, but three pine trees fell on a house in St. George when severe thunderstorms rolled through Monday night.

"So, it’s a lot to take in, and then thinking about the process that we have to go through to get the work done is something else too," said Shawn Calvin.

St. George family recounts moments trees fell on their house during Monday night's storms (WCIV)

Calvin and her husband, Frederick, have owned their home on Davis Terrace for about 15 years. They are devastated and overwhelmed by the mess.

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"About 9 o'clock is when the weather started to shift," she said. "It started raining really heavily, and the wind started blowing, and then by 10 o'clock is actually when it got really bad. So at that point, I was in the den talking to my sister and my husband was in bed."

She told her sister she was going to put the dog up in the other room and get ready for bed. That's when the ceiling came crashing down.

"I noticed that the middle part of the ceiling in the den fell in, and rainwater was coming in at that point," she said. "When I went down the hall to grab my purse, I noticed some of the insulation was coming down in the hallway."

They just finished remodeling the home, so the damage hit hard, but they are still grateful.

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"Well I’m full, but blessed because nobody was injured," Calvin said. "The dog and my husband, we all got out safely, but it’s just a lot to take in because we have had the house newly renovated. We haven’t been back here a year."

Now, they will find someplace to stay until they know if it’s safe.

"We’ll stay with relatives until we know the plan for repairs or what our next steps are," Calvin added.

But in the meantime: "So, we’re hoping that they can get it repaired in a few months or less, and we’ll move back in, prayerfully. Until then, we’ll just reside with relatives," Calvin said.

According to the National Weather Service in Charleston, there were 18 reports of wind damage across Colleton and Dorchester counties.

A developer is requesting to change more than 360 acres of residential land to industrial land.

ST. GEORGE, S.C. (WCSC) - Calling one place home all your life until a rezoning request sign pops up on your street. That is what happened to a group of people who live in St. George.

One developer is requesting to change more than 360 acres of residential land to industrial land that would affect large properties off Highway 78 one mile east of St. George.

Although Dorchester County’s plans do not say what exactly will be built in this area, a number of residents who have spent their whole lives here say they want their land to be kept the way they’ve always known it to be.

Richard Myers was born on Sugar Hill Road in St. George and has lived here all his life.

“Everybody seems to know that something big is going to happen in this area except the people that live here,” Myers said.

He owns around 37 acres, which has the possibility of turning into industrial land.

“All of this that we’re standing on now used to be our farm, but as the years changed... the farm got smaller,” Myers said. “But we still got a farm, and we want to keep it that way. We don’t want a factory sitting in the middle of it or a warehouse.”

Another resident in the area, Barbara Felder, is the sixth generation in her family to live here. Her grandparents and aunt’s home is still on the land.

She was asked what her reaction was when she first saw the Dorchester County rezoning sign down the street.

“We were shocked,” Felder said. “There were no letters or no communication about the changes in our area.”

Felder says she worries about how this rezoning could affect pollution, their roads and access to emergency vehicles.

“We shouldn’t let the county nor the developer to come in our community and tell us what to do as taxpayers and for our future,” Felder said.

Myers says he has no intention of selling his land but knows his taxes will rise if he doesn’t.

“If they want your property, they’re going to get it because they’re going to run your taxes sky high until you say, ‘Enough,’” Myers said. “‘I got to sell it because I can’t pay the taxes.’”

Both of them say they want to be involved with the rezoning process.

“We are tired of explaining and they need to change and not think about the almighty dollar that’s coming into Dorchester County area,” Felder said.

Dorchester County did not respond for a comment because Monday was a holiday. This rezoning still has to go through three readings before it can be approved.

To take a closer look at the official rezoning plan from the county, click here.

Copyright 2023 WCSC. All rights reserved.

Employer: Armando’s Mexican Restaurant LLC

Investigation site: 5792 Memorial Blvd. Saint George, South Carolina 29477

Investigation findings: Investigators with the department’s Wage and Hour Division found that the employer allowed some employees to work off-the-clock without compensation, a violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Employees performed work when they reported to work before their scheduled shift time or stayed after their shift ended. In addition, Armando’s paid a fixed salary to some employees, failing to pay an overtime premium for all hours over 40 in a workweek. Investigators also determined the employer failed to keep complete and accurate records of the number of hours worked by employees.

Back Wages and Liquidated Damages Recovered: $38,610 for 17 workers and an equal amount in liquidated damages.

Quote: “Restaurant workers are some of the community’s lowest-paid workers. When employers fail to pay these workers all of their legally earned wages, workers and their families find it harder to make ends meet. Illegally withholding wages also give employers an unfair advantage over their law-abiding competitors,” said Wage and Hour District Director Jamie Benefiel in Columbia, South Carolina. “The Wage and Hour Division is able to provide resources to both employers and employees to help understand their responsibilities and rights under the law.”

Background: Employers can contact the Wage and Hour Division at its toll-free number, 1-866-4-US-WAGE. The division also offers numerous online resources for employers, such as a fact sheet on Fair Labor Standards Act wage laws overtime requirements. Workers who feel they may not be getting the wages they earned may contact a Wage and Hour Division representative in their state through a list and interactive online map on the agency’s website. Workers and employers alike can help ensure hours worked and pay are accurate by downloading the department’s Android Timesheet App for free.

Learn more about Wage and Hour Division.