Across South Carolina, old brick schools with low roofs and banks of windows sit in the middle of neighborhoods or cotton fields.  Some of these schools are used for after-school programs or community centers, while others sit with broken windows and peeling paint.  Several still serve the community as schools.  These one- or two-story schools, usually faced in brick and designed in the Modern architectural style, are a physical reminder of racial segregation and the African American fight for desegregation of South Carolina’s schools.

Parents in Clarendon County initiated the legal fight against grossly unequal schools in their local school district.  Protesting against the lack of transportation for students, dilapidated school buildings, and the general lack of interest in black education, the parents sued the school district in a case known as Briggs v. Elliott.  This case was filed in the state Supreme Court system in 1950, arguing for the desegregation of the public school system in Clarendon County.  Eventually, Briggs v. Elliott was heard by the United States Supreme Court as part of a package of school desegregation cases known as Brown v. Board of Education.

Briggs was a sufficient threat to the racial status quo and the state’s politicians reacted to this threat by passing the first general sales tax in order to fund a statewide program of school construction.  The 3 percent sales tax supported a bond issue of $75 million focused toward improving black educational facilities and constructing black high schools.  The multi-million dollar school building campaign utilized modern school design, materials, and architecture to build new rural, urban, black, and white schools in communities throughout the state.  South Carolina was determined to address “the needs for new construction, new equipment, new transportation facilities, and such other improvements as are necessary to enable all children of South Carolina to have adequate and equal educational advances.”

The schools constructed as part of South Carolina’s school equalization program represent the intersection of modern, national architectural trends and the postwar baby boom with South Carolina’s fight to maintain racially-segregated public schools. All schools constructed under this “equalization” program were architect-designed and reflected Modern architecture and modern building materials.  The schools have flat or low-pitched roofs, banks of windows, covered walkways, articulated entrances, brick veneer or concrete block walls, and classrooms that opened to the outside.  Most of the schools sprawl low to the ground and are surrounded by grassy areas for play and recreation.

The major push for school construction occurred soon after the 1951 act creating the tax.  In 1955, state politicians and educators announced that they had “equalized” the black and white schools of the state.  By that time, the state had approved approximately 775 school building projects reflecting a total investment in South Carolina’s educational system of almost $125 million.  Every county had a black high school or one under construction.  Prior to the equalization program, the state had only 80 accredited high schools for African American students.  By 1957, South Carolina had 145 black high schools.

South Carolina’s equalization program was not successful in preventing desegregation of its school system.  Despite new school buildings, African American education suffered from decades of unequal funding and teacher training.  Charleston County schools reluctantly desegregated in 1963, and other school districts slowly followed suit.  After the federal government demanded the elimination of the dual school system in 1970, many of these black equalization schools were closed or restructured in the school districts.  Black high schools became middle or elementary schools and some schools were closed altogether.

Today, school districts are replacing many of these equalization schools with bigger schools.  Officials argue that it is difficult to bring many of the older 1950s schools up to current technological and code standards.  However, many schools are still in use although slated to be replaced.  Yet the history embodied in these school buildings is important to the state and the nation.  Many of the schools that have had little or no physical alteration to the roofs, windows, or buildings, could be eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.

In an effort to document and record the history of these schools, Rebekah Dobrasko has started a website to collect photographs, stories, and websites related to equalization schools across South Carolina.  There is no comprehensive list of schools constructed as part of the equalization program, as the school construction files were stored incorrectly and damaged.  Please visit the website at http://scequalization.schools.officelive.com and let Dobrasko know of any schools not on the list!  She is especially interested in schools in the Pee Dee area and the Upper Savannah River area, and in Lexington and Sumter Counties in the Midlands.  Dobrasko is willing to visit schools, speak to groups, and assist communities in listing their equalization schools in the National Register.