In 1915, the board purchased for $12,000 a lot on Blossom Street from Jesse T. Reese. Lafaye and Lafaye were named the architects and a contract for $26,260 was awarded to W. R. Harbeck. The cornerstone was laid for Booker T. Washington School March 13, 1916. The school opened in September, 1916, with 960 students in grades 1-10. Dr. C. A. Johnson was the first principal. There were 12 teachers for the first year.
“We’ll forever be true to Booker Washington.”
The last line of Booker T. Washington High School’s alma mater holds new meaning today ( June 14) as the University of South Carolina dedicated renovations completed on one of Columbia’s first allblack public schools, which the university acquired after the school’s closing in 1974.
In addition to important upgrades made to the auditorium building, which is located on Wheat Street and constructed in 1956, the renovations feature permanent displays to preserve and share the school’s history as an African-American landmark. A $1.7 million gift from Booker T. Washington alumnus the Rev. Dr. Solomon Jackson Jr. helped make the renovations possible.
“I am proud this building will preserve the school’s great legacy for generations to come,” said Jackson, a 1971 graduate who grew up in the Wheeler Hill community. “It was a wonderful time and experience at Booker T. Washington. I have many great memories of those good old days that I shall always and forever cherish. I want the world to know about this great school that has provided an excellent education for thousands of students.”
USC President Harris Pastides said the project reflects an important collaboration between the university and the Booker T. Washington Foundation.
“Today, we are celebrating a community of students, teachers, and administrators who studied, taught, and flourished, against high odds, for six decades. Today is about more than the renovation of Booker T. Washington, it’s about moving its legacy forward. The university is honored to be a part of this remarkable day,” Pastides said.
Pastides and Jackson addressed Booker T. Washington alumni and guests at a program to dedicate the auditorium, which now features seats and stage curtains in the high school’s black and gold colors. They also announced that an adjacent multi-purpose classroom will honor Fannie Phelps Adams, a 1934 Booker T. Washington graduate and longtime assistant principal at the school and Wheeler Hill resident.
Adams, 95, said she is honored to have played a role as a teacher and administrator at Booker T. Washington in helping so many students reach their highest potential. “After God and church there was Booker T. Washington,” Adams said. “It was a special place that was interested in the whole child – the academic, physical, and social parts of every student. That was important so that each child could love people and have a clear vision of what he or she wanted to do. We wanted all the children to do the very best they could and go beyond what they thought they could do. It was my responsibility to help them be the best they could be. I want future generations to know that Booker T. Washington was one of the best schools in this nation.”
The auditorium building is the remaining structure of the original four-acre Booker T. Washington school complex. In addition to changes made in the auditorium so it can also serve as a lecture venue, a new entrance was built and a front stairwell, elevator, and heating and air conditioning system installed. The renovations, additions, and exhibits were designed by Columbia architect, The Boudreaux Group. The building currently houses the university’s TRIO programs, which serve low-income and firstgeneration college students, and the College of Arts and Sciences Department of Theatre and Dance’s lab theater program.
Mary Anne Fitzpatrick, dean of the college, said she is thankful the renovation and historical preservation came to fruition so that the school can continue its education mission for university students and for others to learn its history.
“From the time I joined the Carolina community, I have been aware of the historical importance of Booker T Washington High School,” Fitzpatrick said. “In 2008-2009, I commissioned an architectural study and a proposal to seek funding from major national private foundations to renovate the BTW auditorium. At the end of 2009, when I had almost given up hope, the Reverend Dr. Jackson appeared and funded the project.”
The building’s exterior also was restored. The light pink paint used on many of the university’s buildings in the 1970s has been stripped away to reveal the original brick that is recognizable to the school’s alumni and residents of Columbia who remember the school.
USC Professor Bobby Donaldson, who guided the public history component of the renovation, said the return to the brick is perhaps the most striking change.
“To alumni the paint signified that it was a university building. Now, the restoration of the brick is a signal that says, ‘It’s our building where we learned and held classes,’” Donaldson said. “The brick and the new addition make it look like the building it was 50 years ago.”
Working with current and first Booker T. Washington Foundation presidents Henry Hopkins and Doris Glymph Greene and foundation members, Donaldson created 15 large text and photo panels that don the halls of the building and display cases to house school and personal memorabilia.
Donaldson said each panel chronicles a different chapter of the school’s history, from the laying of the cornerstone on March 13, 1916, and six decades of educating students and future leaders through the transition of desegregation, which took place in all South Carolina schools in the fall of 1970, and its closing in 1974.
“It was a community institution that had a reputation for academic excellence, athletic achievement, a great music program and a phenomenal arts and trades program. It was the crossroads of the black community, and its graduates were an association of incredible leaders,” Donaldson said.
He said a goal of the foundation and university’s collaboration is that Booker T. Washington become a destination for people to learn the history of Columbia and the school.
“The vision is for it to be a living textbook, a laboratory for younger students to learn about African- American and civil rights history,” he said. “We hope it will lead more alumni to share oral memories and photos and memorabilia that can be scanned and put online so that more people will learn about the history of Booker T. Washington High School.”
The City of Columbia will add a sign above the Wheat Street sign that reads “Booker T. Washington High School Way.”
The Booker T. Washington Foundation will host an open house, which is free and open to the public, from 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. on Saturday, June 29.
Booker T. Washington
High School
Preserving the Legacy and
the Lessons
1916-1974
By USC historian
Bobby Donaldson
“A building is but bricks and mortar, subject to decay and destruction. A spirit is indestructible so long as it is cherished in the hearts of men and women. So it is with the Booker T. Washington High School. The building is gone, but the spirit of community service and pride which its students learned within its walls still lives.”
— Booker T. Washington Plaque Dedication, June 16,
1978
The Legacy
From World War I until 1974, Booker T. Washington High School produced thousands of graduates who distinguished themselves in a wide array of professions in Columbia, S.C., and across the country. Established in 1916 on a four-acre track at Blossom and Marion streets, the school taught both elementary and high school age students.
Under the leadership and guidance of dedicated administrators and teachers, the school developed an ambitious educational mission that included innovative academic courses, extensive vocational training, creative and performing arts opportunities and an award- winning athletic program.
The African-American landmark attracted highly acclaimed educators, including C. A. Johnson, the first principal; Celia Dial Saxon, an 1877 graduate of the South Carolina Normal School; J. Andrew Simmons, a Fisk University graduate and the founder of Booker T. Washington’s John Works Chorus; and civil rights activists Septima Clark and Modjeska M. Simkins.
From World War I until it closed in 1974, Booker T. Washington produced nearly 7,000 graduates. Some of the distinguished alumni include Fannie Phelps Adams, a retired Booker T. Washington administrator and a member of the USC Community Advisory Board; John Hurst Adams, an African Methodist Episcopal Bishop; J.C. Caroline, an NFL standout with the Chicago Bears; Dr. Edward Sawyer Cooper, former president of the American Heart Association; Emmett J. Rice, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors; M. Maceo Nance, former president of South Carolina State University; Matthew J. Perry, a U.S. district judge; Lt. Col. Charity Adams Early, the first African-American officer in the Woman’s Army Air Corps; and Paul Livingston, a member of the Richland County Council
In the aftermath of school desegregation and urban renewal campaigns in the 1960s, Booker T. Washington witnessed a drop in enrollment. In 1974, the high school closed, and the University of South Carolina purchased the complex from the Richland County School District. Of the structures that existed on the campus, only the auditorium, constructed in 1956, remains standing.
In 1978, USC and the Booker T. Washington Foundation unveiled a plaque on the original site of the school that read, in part: “To the young men and women of several generations, Booker T. Washington was the source of learning and intellectual development, a home for the greater part of the day, and a community center.”
The Lesson
The restoration of the Booker T. Washington auditorium and adjacent area brings renewed attention to a vital chapter in Columbia’s history. As a refurbished lecture hall, the Booker T. Washington auditorium enhances the university’s teaching and community outreach programs. Along with an exhibit space, the restored auditorium preserves and chronicles Booker T. Washington’s remarkable history for future generations.
The Rev. Dr. Solomon Jackson Jr.
The Rev. Dr. Solomon Jackson Jr. is pastor and founder of Solomon’s Temple in Columbia, S.C.
Jackson grew up in the Wheeler Hill community of Columbia and graduated from Booker T. Washington, where he excelled as a student athlete. He entered the ministry in 1978, serving for 10 years as the pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in Ridgeway, S. C., and Hyco Baptist Church in Cassett, S.C. before leading Hyco Baptist Church’s ministry for 24 years. He retired from the S. C. Department of Revenue in 2000.
He earned an associate degree from Midlands Technical College and has been awarded several honorary degrees including a doctor of divinity degree from Morris College School of Religion in Sumter, S. C., where he attended and was elected to the college’s board of trustees in 2010 and a doctor in pastoral ministry degree from Central Christian University of South Carolina, where he serves as acting chairman of the university’s board of trustees. In 2011, he was conferred a Doctor of Humane Letters from Claflin University.
He is a member of the 100 Black Men of Greater Columbia and the founder of the “Solomon Jackson Jr. Foundation,” which is dedicated to the support of students in higher education.
In 2010 Jackson gave $1.7 million to the University of South Carolina for renovations to the Booker T. Washington auditorium building.
Fannie Phelps Adams
Fannie Phelps Adams, 95, lives in the Wheeler Hill community of Columbia, S. C. where she grew up and graduated from Booker T. Washington High School in 1934. She was the eighth of 10 children in her family.
Drawn to education, she graduated from Allen University in 1938 and earned her master’s degree in 1953 from South Carolina State University. She did additional study at Columbia University, North Carolina College in Durham and Fisk University in Nashville.
She taught at Booker T. Washington Heights Elementary School, now Watkins-Nance Elementary, from 1938 – 1943, before joining the faculty at Booker T. Washington High School, where she taught English and social studies and served as a guidance counselor, assistant principal, and acting principal until the school’s closing in 1974. She went on to serve as assistant principal of A. C. Flora High School until she retired in 1978. Upon her retirement, the Booker T. Washington Foundation honored the beloved educator with a scholarship in her honor.
Her commitment to the community extends beyond education and includes leadership at St. James AME Church. She has earned numerous awards from her church and other faith communities. She has received honors and awards, including ones by the Richland County Education Association, the S.C. Education Association, and the National Education Association.
She is the director of the Wheeler Hill Neighborhood Association and serves on USC’s President’s Community Advisory Committee. She is a former board member of Palmetto Health Richland, a charter member of Palmetto Health Richland Children’s Hospital, a volunteer with the Senior Citizen Food Co- Op and a member of the NAACP.
Adams and her late husband David King Adams have one daughter, a grandson, and two greatgrandchildren.
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