”The Road to Education for Black Americans“ Exhibit and Talks at the Laurens County Museum
February 9, 2025
The Laurens County Museum will recognize the thought-provoking issue of the different routes to public education Black Americans have faced over the centuries during the month of February, 2025. A new exhibit, “The Road to Education for Black Americans” will open on Saturday, February 15, and will include three talks by historians and educators during the month. A special tour of Piney Grove School, an original one room Black American school house, will be available on Saturday, March 15, at 1:00 pm, at Culbertson Backcountry Settlement.
The new exhibit will open on Saturday, February 15, at 11:00 am, with a special talk by Dr. Lillie Beasley Glover, a 1957 graduate of Sanders High School in Laurens, SC, and Professor Emeritus of SC State University. The talk is free and open to the public.
Revolutionary War historian Durant Ashmore will speak about “The Role of Enslaved and Free Blacks in the Revolutionary War” on Tuesday, February 11, at 7:00 pm, at the museum. The public is welcome. Museum members and youth are free to attend. There is a suggested $5 donation for others for museum support.
Presbyterian College professor, Dr. Kendra Hamilton will speak on Tuesday, February 18, at 7:00 pm, about her research on the Gullah, an African American community in coastal regions of South Carolina and a few other states who descended from enslaved Africans brought from West and Central Africa. The Gullah are working to preserve their language, music, and storytelling. Dr. Hamilton will have her new book, “Romancing the Gullah”, for sale. The talk is free and open to the public.
Piney Grove School, a restored one room African-American schoolhouse located at the Culbertson Backcountry Settlement on Georgia Road in Gray Court, will be available to tour on Saturday, March 15, at 1:00 pm. The tour is free and open to the public.
The road to getting a public education in the United States has not always been as easy as waiting for a school bus ride and walking into an air conditioned building with a lunchroom, library, multiple classrooms, playgrounds and ball fields. Laws, socio-economic status, skin color, and gender have all been a deciding factor as to who got to attend school at different times in the history of this country. Come to the museum and explore how the education system in Laurens County has evolved.
The public is also invited to attend the Laurens District Genealogy Society meeting at the museum on Thursday, February 13, at 7:00 pm. Attendees are encouraged to bring a favorite genealogical item to show and share. The public is welcome.
The Laurens County Museum is located at 116 South Public Square, Laurens, SC, and is a non-profit membership association. The exhibit hall is free to tour and open Tuesday through Saturday from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm. Memberships and volunteer opportunities are available. For more information call the Laurens County Museum at (864) 681-3678 or visit LaurensCountyMuseum.org or Facebook.
