J.K. Gourdin School was founded in Pineville in 1925.
During the Colonial Period, education in South Carolina was solely in the hands of parents. Those with money, whites and free blacks, hired tutors for their young children. Skills in the trades were learned through hands- on apprenticeships. Wealthy merchants and planters sent their children to Europe or New England for higher education.
Soon after the federal and state constitutions were approved, Columbia, Charleston, and several other cities in South Carolina established pauper schools. In 1811, the S.C. Legislature passed the Free School Act, which enabled groups of parents and churches to establish public schools. During Reconstruction, the state established a system of free schools under a state superintendent. By 1920, the racially divided dual system of education had been created in the state.
The Pineville Academy, established in 1805, disappeared with the Civil War. The population of the village was so diminished education was something of the past. After Reconstruction, the few white families left hired live- in tutors for their children. Once the Berkeley County School System was established after 1910, Pineville’s white children attended public schools in St. Stephen and Moncks Corner.
On the other hand, Pineville’s black community took advantage of the state’s promise of $1 per student per year and established their own schools. The early schools were Crawl Hill School, a two- room school near Crawl Creek; Prince Hill School, a two- room wooden school affiliated with Jehovah Episcopal Methodist Church; Redeemer School, a two- room wooden structure affiliated with Redeemer Episcopal Church; Belle Isle School near the tomb of Gen. Francis Marion; and Eadytown School in a big wooden building in the Eadytown community west of Pineville.
In the early 1920s, J.K. Gourdin, one of the patriarchs of the white Gourdin and Marion families who had resettled Pineville after Reconstruction, saw the need for a public school for black children in the community. He swapped land with the black Gourdine and Brown families to create a large plot at the junction of highway 45 and Russellville Road. He then gave the land for the school and assisted in building it in 1925, which was named the J.K. Gourdin School.
The large, two- room wooden building had no running water, no electricity, and no restrooms. Wooden desks were shared by two students. The heating system consisted of a potbelly iron stove in the middle of the room. Students were responsible for gathering fuel such as straw, tree bark, rotten limbs, and pine cones.
Housing was provided for teachers, and enrollment was unlimited. The teacher taught as many as could fit into the room, all ages at all levels.
Books and school materials were handed down from churches and white schools. These books were usually in poor condition, and parents had to rent them.
Hot lunch, prepared by the parents, was served daily for three cents a plate. Those who couldn’t pay, ate anyway. After the USDA subsidy was instituted, lunches were supplemented with peanut butter, meal, flour, prunes, raisins, peas, and beans.
A south wing with six classrooms, restrooms, and other rooms was added in 1954. A west wing was completed in 1961 and consisted of 10 classrooms, restrooms, a janitorial storage area, and a cafetorium with two restrooms.
In 1957, fire destroyed one wing of the building. The community rallied, and in 1960, a new wing housing grades one through three and the cafeteria was constructed.
A second tragedy struck in 1998 when District Superintendent James E. Hyman recommended to the board the school be closed because it only had 297 students. Orlando Brown organized the Save J.K. Committee and once again the community rallied with petitions and appeals at school board meetings. The board delayed a decision until Superintendent Hyman was replaced by Chester Floyd who reversed the recommendation. Floyd was congratulated by S.C. Sen. Larry Grooms who said the closing would have destroyed the community. Principal Roberta R. White agreed that J.K. Gourdin School was a “focal point, a gathering place” for the community.
Principals of J.K. Gourdin School have been
1924-1928 – W. A. Outing
1928-1931 – Mozell Cain
1931-1940 – William Seymour
1940-1951 – Ansell Halback
1951-1954 – Thomas Sherman
1954-1970 – Alfred Davis
1970-1973 – Maggie Davis Sumter
1973-1982 – David Brisbon
1983-1990 – Dorie Gaillard
1990-2004 – Roberta R. White
2004-Present – Luretha Sumpter
(Keith Gourdin of Pineville contributed to this article.)
(Next week: Tower Hill Plantation)
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