‘A way to come together and grieve:’ Myrtle Beach Colored School remembers lost alumni
The pandemic has taken something from everyone. Some people lost loved ones, others lost the ability to see relatives and everyone has lost a sense of normalcy.
With that in mind, Will Williams, an intern with the Neighborhood Services department for the City of Myrtle Beach, came up with a way to allow people to come together and grieve. Williams spends most of his time at the Myrtle Beach Colored School Museum where he has been working to track down former students and their relatives. Last weekend, he organized a candlelight vigil to honor former students and others lost during this year.
The museum serves as a living memorial to the former students of the segregated elementary school and sits down the street from the original site of the school. The school closed in 1953 but at its peak had 241 students. The museum and community center is located at is located at 900 Dunbar Street.
“My primary concern is making sure that the museum remains an accurate reflection of the community that we’re serving,” Williams said. “We want to be sure that we respect the families of the former students, and that they’re aware that this place exists.”
Williams organized a candlelight vigil at the museum, aimed at honoring and possibly locating some alumni. He opened the event to the public to give everyone a space to grieve with them.
“We realize that this has been a hard year for everyone, for many different reasons. And especially during the holidays, people who are struggling with grief, that’s a very challenging time for them,” he said.
Former students and families invited
There aren’t many former students still living and Williams said there isn’t a complete list either. He wrote letters to some former students’ families to invite them and to make them aware of the museum’s existence.
Patricia Burgess is one of those students. The 77-year-old attended the school in the late ‘40s and said that while attending the school, most children didn’t realize it was segregated.
“To me, it was school. We didn’t know the difference,” she said.
Burgess is one of about four surviving students from the school and was one of the only remaining alumni in attendance Sunday night. She was met with applause when she stood up after Williams asked if any former students were in attendance.
“It feels good,” she said from under her mask after the service. Almost two decades ago, she was one of the former students who sold cookbooks to raise money for the museum. The cookbooks were full of recipes from the former students and their families and were on sale at the event for $10.
Burgess’ recipes include broccoli bread, cherry burst pie and pecan “chewies”.
“We love our p’ecans in South Carolina, not to be confused with pe’cans,” the recipe states. The cookbooks were part of a campaign by former students to preserve the wooden schoolhouse as a memorial and community center, spearheaded by Mary C. Canty. Starting in the 1980s, thousands of cookbooks were sold for $10 and made it possible for the museum to be placed in a Black neighborhood.
“It was a trailblazing idea,” Williams said in a speech to the crowd Sunday night. “They had a vision. They believed in their vision and saw it to fruition.”
