What You Should Know About Saving Mt. Pleasants Longpoint School, the Last Standing African American School

Here are 10 Reasons to support saving the historical Longpoint School, the last standing African American School East of the Cooper

1. The Longpoint School is the LAST Standing African American School East Of The Cooper
2. The school was built in 1903. Starting in 1863, Charleston, S.C. put a ban on slave children getting an education, which in turn led to a downward spiral in the black community that still is affected by this law until this day. The Snowden community was established after the Reconstruction, when blacks had to create their own communities, businesses, and schools.

   

3. Today, the one room school house sits off of Longpoint Road behind a chain-link fence. Once ambushed by weeds and shrubbery, the overgrown debris has been cleared by a team of volunters who are working on trying to save the historical building.
4. The old school sits on a 4-acre parcel that the Mazyck family of Snowden has owned for a century, but the family has a contract to sell it to a company that plans to build a new health care building.
5. This schoolhouse was once a school for all blacks in and throughout the Snowden area, through 7th grade. There are still plenty of residents who are still living who attended the tiny school.
6. Like so many other parcels of land across the Lowcountry, a developer has purchased the school property & funding is needed to move the building before the developer demolishes it.
7. The Snowden community is raising funds to physically move the school before the developer destroys it. Then, the plan would be to restore the school building.
8. “It is a virtually intact artifact of one of the most pivotal periods in United States history. It is a physical manifestation of the challenges faced by formerly unfree African-Americans as they sought to improve their lives through education. It is also illustrative of the facilities provided by the State of South Carolina for African-American education. The transition to the Jennie Moore School from the Long Point Elementary School is illustrative of the long struggle toward equal rights for African-Americans in a political, social and economic environment that sought to restrict these rights at every turn through every means available. The building itself tells these truths and should be conserved and preserved as a precious reminder of this very dark period in American history.” –Grant Gilmore, Historic Preservation and Community Planning Program Director

   

9. Neither the family nor the developer has a need for the historic school house, which is documented that it appears to be structurally sound, but definitely needs some work.
10. The GoFundMe page for the Longpoint school as only raised $275 this month, but according to the Post & Courier, the school has raised a total of $10,000. $28,000 is needed to physically move the school. The total fundraising goal is $200,000. Click HERE to give a donation.