At first glance, this seems to a be a Rosenwald School, but it doesn’t have the hallmark bays of windows. There are Rosenwald Schools that deviate from Rosenwald plans, and there are many schools that used the plans because of their efficient designs.
I agree with the assessments made by Random Connections and the South Carolina Picture Project. Shiloh Baptist Church does share the property with the school. The oral history of any older church members would be needed to verify.
The Rosenwald database is currently down and is anticipated to return in the Summer of 2023. While the site is being revamped, it may not have additional info. I did search some out-of-print books on South Carolina education and Rosenwald schools and found nothing.
I found this photo of a 6-teacher school in Edgefield County in Carter Woodson’s The Rural Negro, but the name of the school was not given, just the county. The Rosenwald Database is down until Summer 2023. According to the South Carolina Department of Archives and History, Edgefield County had two 6-teacher schools, the Edgefield School and the Johnston School. Please let me know if you are able to confirm which one it was.
Reference: Woodson, C. Godwin., Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, i. (1930). The Rural Negro. Washington, D.C.: The Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, inc.
I had no intention of ever posting this photo because it is simply not a good one. I arrived at the abandoned Simmons Hill Elementary School in Brooks County early in the morning. The schoolyard was being used for storage of construction equipment, so there was no good location to get the school.without the equipment.
I visited this school because I knew it was an extant Rosenwald School that had been expanded over the years. Since I just found a photo of the school when it was first a Rosenwald, I thought I would share that photo.
Reference: Georgia. Department of Education. Annual report of the Department of Education to the General Assembly of the State of Georgia …Atlanta, Ga.: State Printer.
Originally Tate High School, the Tate Elementary School building was constructed from locally quarried Georgia marble. The school was built in the early 1930s after the wooden structure burned to the ground in 1927. The current building is still standing. The footprint of the campus has expanded, but it is essentially unchanged.
(Photo from a Georgia Educational Report)High School that caught on fire and was replaced with with marble structure (photo from the Digital Library of Georgia)
Located east of Eastman in Dodge County, Georgia, the Giddens School is a bit of a mystery. The sign says, “1883 established 1947 1985.” I found an old history book about Dodge County, and there is no mention of it. The Giddens School is not mentioned. I imagine the school was established in 1883 and ceased existence as a school in 1947. I can only guess what the third date means. This may or may not be a Rosenwald, but the Fisk site is down to check (even though that site is incomplete.). Either way, this school architecture didn’t become prominent until the 1920s.
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