Community Journals’ editorial independence is safeguarded by our readers. African-American history has been strong and is marked by key features of downtown Greenville. … Feb. 26: The Black History Month Monologue Contest sponsored by the NAACP will be held in room 101 of Johns Hall at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 26. What was accomplished was accomplished, as Citizens' Committee chair Ernie Harrill said, with "grace and style.". Rev. “I believe the fact that it’s still standing says a lot,” Harrison says, as if reflecting on Southernside as a whole. The area, wedged between downtown and the Reedy River, is historically a predominantly African American neighborhood. African-American history has been strong and is marked by key features of downtown Greenville. The Revs. Students were dancing at a senior class party when the disc jockey told them to leave the building as quickly and calmly as possible. Feb. 17: Greenville County Schools will host an exhibit commemorating 50 years since integration at the Upcountry History Museum. The event will present a "sermon in songs" with the theme of "from paradox to praise." Asheville's Monuments: Past, Present, & Future. Feb. 13: A Love Jones Open Mic Night sponsored by the Student League for Black Culture will be held in the Thomas room of the Trone Student Center at 7 p.m. Feb. 13. The event free and open to the community. Local homes and schools you'll see gave rise to internationally significant black political and social leaders, including Jesse Jackson. Explore these 10 SC Sites during Black History Month. A musician who put Greenville on the map and was the highest selling African-American artist in his time, was left fatherless by the Greenville police force, was accused of communist in the 1950s, and a sculpture to remember him remains unfunded in 2019. It was founded in 1867 by members of Greenville Baptist Church (now First Baptist Church), which had been a combined congregation of whites and blacks before the Civil War. Greenville featured a nationally-significant lynching trial, a black labor boycott, and library sit-in that significantly precipitated the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Feb. 12: Beyoncé and Spirituality: At the Digital Cross(roads) with Beyoncé sponsored by the Student League for Black Culture will be  in room 101 of Johns Hall at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 12. The performance combines accounts from prominent African Americans with poetry, essays, comedy and campaign speeches. The drugs coming in was the ugly.”, Of the $41.2 million Unity Park, which is expected to open in October 2021, she says, “The word ‘unity’ speaks volumes in itself because it says inclusiveness, and with it being in Southernside, which has been one of the most blighted areas, it’s one of the greatest things that can pull us together.”, Says Mills, “The pride here is so thick for people who find strength and togetherness and remembering and identifying common memories. Children knew they had to be respectful, and we had to go to church and schools,” Duckett said. By the Numbers: Curious about Father's Day? This is the oldest black Baptist congregation in downtown Greenville. In some tellings, Greenville has never been a hub for black culture. Feb. 10: Black Cowboys: Then and Now sponsored by the NAACP will be held in the Watkins ballroom in the Trone Student Center at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 10. Commemorating South Carolina's Civil Rights History . Tour takers may want to only visit 6-13 in the center of downtown, rather than the longer walks from site 1 (Sterling High School) into the city and beyond the city to the old library location and cemetery. Dew, A Bob Jones graduate, will portray six characters, including Martin Luther King, Jr., former President Barack Obama and boxer Muhammad Ali. The library carries no memorial to honor its historic sit-ins. Save Young Afro Excellence 1st Annual Vendor Exposition to your collection. A fire-insurance company map from the 1920s shows the area around Mayberry Street littered with auto junkyards and industrial wholesalers; Tabernacle Baptist Church “(Colored)” lies between the Municipal Convict Labor Camp and National Oil Co. “Growing up in this area, we were all family. Rather, the site offers something of a soundtrack for a hard-knock Greenville neighborhood that’s heard its share of the blues. “I know of them through my family telling me stories,” Traa Lake says of such African American musicians as Sarah Vaughn, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald and others who stayed in the Southernside home where, beginning in 1963, she grew up. Gabriel Poole, known as “Father Poole,” was its first pastor. Contact Genna at [email protected] or on Twitter @GennaContino. A march and sit-in at the downtown airport for Jackie Robinson made national headlines. The house stands out not just because it’s a story taller than the other homes on Asbury Avenue or for its flaking white clapboard. Your California Privacy Rights/Privacy Policy, Where: 506 S. Pleasantburg Drive, Building 105 Greenville, When: 7:30 a.m.-8 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday-Saturday Feb. 3-29, Where: 1700 Wade Hampton Blvd. Feb. 19: A watch party for the Democratic debate in Las Vegas will be held in room 101 of Johns Hall from 8-11 p.m. Feb. 19. “The existing diversity in Southernside,” the 71-page report says, “is seen as a valued asset of the community. Feb. 17: The Children's Museum of the Upstate is commemorating the 50th anniversary of integration in Greenville County Schools with One Voice: A Black History Narrative. Hi, Curious, I'm Dad. Postal Service who no longer lives on Asbury Avenue, is working on renovating the house in the middle of a three-block stretch originally called John Street. Sat, Oct 17, 4:00 PM . But more important than those accomplishments is the more everyday existence and contribution to the fabric of Greenville--the "quilt" of many fabrics, as Jackson once called it. Share Young Afro Excellence 1st Annual Vendor Exposition with your friends. The gym was turned into a community center in 1970. “Throughout the history, the good times and bad and the torment, you know, it’s still here.”. Zoom Webinar • Asheville, NC. © 2019 PocketSights, LLC. Slave-holding never took root as much as lower parts of the state, keeping the majority population white (unlike Charleston and the lowcountry of South Carolina). Greenville’s oldest, and for more than 50 years its only black high school, was destroyed by fire in 1967. In the 1950s, the home was listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book, which provided “the Negro traveler information that will keep him from running into difficulties, embarrassments.”. Places: Historic Davenport House in downtown Greer. Two blocks away, an even bigger revitalization is underway: the 65-acre Unity Park. Enter Unity Park. The event is sponsored by the Pre-Law Society. Feb. 29: Bob Jones University will host One Voice, by Jeremiah Dew, at Stratton Hall. Institutions and organizations throughout the Upstate will be observing Black History Month through a variety of events this February. Unlike many news organizations, Community Journals has made a choice to keep all of our content free and available to everyone. “Those were the values that I learned in Southernside.”, The 1960s brought the neighborhood’s collapse, she says. SC Black History Feb 23, 2020 10:05PM By Lori Coon Greenville Business Magazine salutes Black History Month by recognizing the achievements of these 11 African-American leaders in … By the end of the tour, you should see things differently. … The event is sponsored by Mere Christianity Forum. Those who were students and staff in 1970 during integration will attend to provide a firsthand account and tell stories from integration. It will be held in the church at 31 Allendale Lane, Greenville. Some of these sites are on the National Register of Historic Places (NR) as independent sites or as part of larger historic district.Several of the sites are National Historic Landmarks (NRL).Others have South Carolina historical markers (HM).The citation on historical markers is given in the reference. The History of Greenville . Musical guests include the Berea College Alumni Choir, the Beyond Differences Youth Choir, African drummer Ben Weston, musical minister Michael Frayer and Sarmarria and Israel Taylor.