‘Building a legacy’: Historic Colleton County building honors Black educators of the segregation era

WALTERBORO, S.C. (WCSC) — A historic building in Colleton County is honoring part of its legacy by celebrating Black educators of the segregation era through a history exhibit.

The Ray T. Johnson Building, located in Walterboro, originated in 1955 as the Gruber Street USO, serving as a temporary home for Black servicemen. After the war, the Colleton Training School, built right next to it, began using the building. Colleton Training School opened in 1925 and served African American students in elementary and high school grades. It was renamed Colleton High in 1954 and it has since been turned into the Lowcountry Community Resource Center.

The Lowcountry Community Resource Center is now honoring Colleton County African American educators of the segregation era by highlighting the history through a new display.

“This exhibit has been a dream of mine for quite some time,” Kellye Whitaker, Lowcountry Community Resource Center executive director, said. “I’ve always thought that Colleton County did not do a good job talking about the history and the importance of our community as it relates to the contributions made by the indigenous and the enslaved Africans in building this county.”

Whitaker and a few other Colleton County natives then started collecting artifacts, looking for an opportunity to tell the real story of Black history throughout the county.

Through a grant they received from the Lowcountry Oral History Initiative, they have identified 240 Black educators and collected oral histories and documents all related to the Colleton Training School. The center honored several educators through a celebration last month and has decided to keep the exhibit up and further expand on it.

“I think it’s very important for everyone, both the upcoming generations, as well as our current and past generations, to look back to where we’ve been and use that knowledge, that culture, that education, and use that to help move us forward, and this is an attempt to do that,” Whitaker said.

Herman Bright is a part of the school’s alumni association and also taught there. He says his time as a student there is what inspired him to become a teacher.

“Even in this room, as I look around, a lot of these teachers and former teachers and principals have inspired me over the years,” Bright said. “You’re really building a legacy and a historical moment in your life that you may not even realize.”

Vera Bodison is also a retired teacher who was honored during the exhibit’s celebration and says being an educator right at the end of the segregation era is something she’ll never forget.

“I saw the inequities, I saw the shortages, but when teachers love what they do, and they give, give and give some more, they’re able to move the children in a direction of appreciating what they are doing in the classroom,” Bodison said. “I have memories myself in the classroom with teachers that cared and made a way out of no way.”

She says she’s honored to be a part of the exhibit and hopes it’s a history everyone can appreciate – no matter their background.

“This is the history of America, and everyone should be aware,” Bodison said. “There should be no history over here for these people. Those days are gone. We can come together and enjoy the richness of our heritage. We have a lot to offer.”

Bodison was able to bring her daughter to the exhibit and says it’s a moment she’ll forever be grateful for.

“I’m so glad that I was able to come to this historical moment,” she said. “I don’t remember us being celebrated like that, and it was just an honor to be there for those who are thinking out of the box, thinking about things that need to be dealt with and enjoyed because it’s part of our history. It was phenomenal.”

To view the exhibit, visit the Lowcountry Community Resource Center Monday through Friday anytime between 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

“Our goal is to eventually make this a full-time, long-term museum for Colleton County and the rest of the state to come through and see the contributions that our community has made to the growth and development of Colleton,” Whitaker said.