This Georgetown County school was nationally recognized for civil rights efforts
A Georgetown County school has received national recognition for its efforts involved in registering people to vote and increasing literacy during the Civil Rights movement.
The Sandy Island School was added to the African American Civil Rights Network in September. Prior to the school’s construction, children were taught in homes and churches, according to the National Park Service, which coordinates the network. The network was created in 2017 and recognizes different groups for their efforts against discrimination and segregation.
“The school embodies the self-sufficiency of the Sandy Island community in the face of unequal and scarce educational resources for African Americans throughout the twentieth century,” the school’s page on the National Park Service website reads.
In the 1950s, the school included adult education classes geared toward increasing literacy in order to make the voting process easier.
“Learn how to read so you know how to vote,” was a refrain among civic leaders at the time, according to the National Park Service.
Georgetown County voter registration increased by 85% between 1958 and 1962, credited partially to the Sandy Island School along with the NAACP, Progressive Democratic Party and the Georgetown County Negro Adult School program.
“It was used for adult education, to allow them in the 1950′s and early 1960′s to be able to pass literacy tests in order to vote,” Robin Salmon, who works with historical collections at Brookgreen Gardens and helped preserve Sandy Island’s story, told WMBF News. “As a result of that education, Sandy Islanders and other Georgetown County residents were able to vote. The percentage was rather high and that’s another big deal.”
