Myrtle Beach colored school museum celebrates 5th anniversary - WPDE
The community came out Saturday to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Myrtle Beach Historic Colored School Museum.
After a short ceremony, families toured the museum. Kids saw what desks and a chalkboard looked like in the 1930's. There was also a table made from the door of the original school house.
Former students attended the celebration including 90-year-old Florrie Cuttino. She hopes younger students will learn from touring the museum.
"I want them to come, I persuade them to come. It's a joy to me to see them come, because if they ever needed education before, they need it now," Cuttino said.
In 1932 the Myrtle Beach Colored School was opened with 29 children grades 1st - 7th.
"We had to walk to school, we didn't have any buses. We didn't have any indoor gym, we played basketball outdoors on the clay court. There was a lot of skinned knees!" former student Mary Canty said.
Before this school was established these same children were either taught from a church they attended or not at all because they could not allowed to go to a white school. Over the years the school was turned into a warehouse and left vacant. The original students like Canty and Cuttino had a vision to rebuild the school that they say once was the only place they could receive an education.
According to the city of Myrtle Beach's website (cityofmyrtlebeach.com) In 2001, the city appointed former students and community representatives to refurbish the school with $10,000 seed money. Fundraising helped donate $715,278 to rebuild the school.
The city says the development of the Myrtle Beach Colored School shows how the government, neighbors, and citizens can all work together to preserve a historic building and keep it open to continue providing service and education to the community.
Today the building serves as a place of history, as well as open classroom space for GED classes taught by Horry County Schools and a Father's Place.
25 Sep, 2011--
Source: http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&fd=R&usg=AFQjCNFFMvRxygoFITgbAfcszW1Wv6ds8g&url=http://www.carolinalive.com/neighborhood/story.aspx?id=667093
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