Harrington School
Mary Eva Tredway writes:
Good afternoon,
In 1919, WWI ended,
prohibition began, women were given the vote, and the newly formed
Georgia Literacy Commission reported that since the end of the Civil War
in 1865, illiteracy among blacks dropped from
95% to only 29%
In less than two
generations since the war, African Americans in Georgia had embraced
education. WHY? Because education meant freedom. In 1919, the
population of St. Simons Island, Georgia was 75% African
American (of Gullah Geechee heritage), dispersed in three distinct
neighborhoods across the island, one of them the mid-Island community of
Harrington.
The people of this
community were so deeply convinced of the vital link between education
and freedom, that they founded the Harrington School for the benefit of
their children and future generations.
Today, nearly 100
years later, Harrington Graded School is the last schoolhouse standing
on St. Simons Island representing the post-war story of the Gullah
Geechee heritage -- from freedom to civil rights.
It was a one-room building with no running water and outhouses for
restrooms, with second-hand books lovingly passed down from class to
class and year to year.
The friends of
Harrington School, Inc. have just announced a challenge grant from the
Watson-Brown Foundation, and are hoping that anyone interested in
helping with the restoration of this historic and educational
building can do so before December 31 since all donations are
tax-deductible and are hoping you might be interested in sharing this
information with your readers.
FRIENDS OF HARRINGTON SCHOOL, INC.
Restoring Our Island’s African American Heritage
DONATIONS TO HISTORIC GULLAH GEECHEE SCHOOLHOUSE
COUNT TWICE BEFORE DECEMBER 31
The Friends of Harrington
School, Inc. announced that they have received a $25,000 challenge
grant from the Watson-Brown Foundation to help them complete the
interior restoration of the historic African American
schoolhouse on St. Simons Island, Georgia. All tax- deductible
donations received by December 31 will be matched by this grant and the
combined funds will be used to finish the interior restoration and open
for tours and programs in February 2017.
A key site on the Gullah
Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, The Historic Harrington School
Cultural Center will fill in the gaps in local history. “Education
meant freedom in a Gullah Geechee community so it is
appropriate that this schoolhouse will be the place where anyone can
learn about the contributions made by African American families over the
150 years from emancipation through the civil rights era, “stated Amy
Roberts, Executive Director of the St. Simons
African American Heritage Coalition and a recipient of the Governors
Award in the Humanities for her work saving and sharing local African
American heritage.
In the 1930s the Father of
Gullah studies Lorenzo Dow Turner came to Harrington to make cultural
and linguistic links between Africa and the coastal barrier islands. In
1959 famed folklorist Alan Lomax recorded
Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers inside the schoolhouse.
Jones took their songs to
the freedom workshops in the early 1960s and taught civil rights leaders
such as Andrew Young that “the old songs,” not new songs, best
expressed the people’s cry for civil rights.
While other historic sites
focus on slavery, programs at the Harrington Cultural Center will
describe how the “Couper’s people” at Cannons Point built homes and
businesses in Harrington the largest of the island’s
three African American communities and how the families of those who
came on the last slave ship The Wanderer went on to have impactful lives
contributing to the thriving success of this local community and
beyond.
“Our people are so
connected to the history of the islands, but only a small part of their
history is told,” stated Dannie Davis who counts among her ancestors
Wesley Lee, a Union soldier in the 33rd
US Colored Unit stationed on St. Simons Island, and Mrs. Isadora Hunter
a Harrington student in 1928 who recruited church members to join the
NAACP and who donated her heirs property to save the schoolhouse.
Today their descendants
are members of the St. Simons African American Heritage Coalition, the
organization that maintains and operates the schoolhouse under a 99-
year lease from the St. Simons Land Trust. “We
are very excited to be able to bring visitors and school children to
the Harrington School and help them learn about the lessons taught and
lessons learned in a one-room segregated schoolhouse,” Berthenia Gibson,
a Harrington student who taught school for
over 35 years.
The Watson Brown
Foundation grant is a real tribute to all the people who have worked so
hard to restore this historic schoolhouse. “Ninety-one percent (91.1%)
of all donations have gone straight into repairs to
the structure,” reported Patty Deveau, President of The Friends of
Harrington School, Inc. This grant and any matching funds raised will
provide money to install electricity, repair the original bead-board
walls, paint the interior, sand and finish the floors,
and the blackboards. HVAC will come later as more funds are raised. An
ADA ramp will connect to the trails and parking at the new Harrington
Community Park.
The Harrington School is
located on St. Simons Island at 291 South Harrington Road between
Bennie’s Red Barn and Village Creek Landing.
Tax-deductible donations
towards matching the challenge grant may be made by check payable to
“Friends of Harrington School, Inc.” and mailed to P.O. Box 20496, St.
Simons Island, GA 31522, or by credit card
via PayPal at the website www.ssiheritagecoalition.org.
The Friends of Harrington School, Inc. and the St. Simons African
American Heritage Coalition are both 501 c-3 non-profit organizations.
For more information go to
www.ssiheritagecoalition.org or call 912-634-0330.
No comments:
Post a Comment