CAMDEN, S.C. — A new effort to preserve history is underway in Camden.
The Jackson Teen Center: Boys and Girls Club, formerly known as Jackson High, used to be the only all-Black high school in Camden during segregation.
“Over the years, we’ve talked about converting it into some historical memory," alumni Roosevelt Halley said. “This building is their heritage."
A school board alumnus, Halley now finds himself walking down the hallway almost 56 years later. He and Brian Mayes, director of the Teen Center, want to educate the students about the building's history.
"We’re going to try and find out the teacher that was actually in this classroom, get us a nice plaque here and tell the history about that teacher so that way, when the kids walk into the classroom, they walk into history,” Mayes said.
They also plan to find a place for all the trophies the students won.
"They were basically champions in just about all the sports activity," Halley said. "We had a big case of trophies.”
Halley says they’ve also torn out a section of the old locker room and bathrooms have been demolished and will be replaced.
Halley says the goal is to make sure the history is never forgotten as Jackson High alumni grow older.
“They would never know what happened at Jackson High School, they would never know of a Jackson High School unless there is something concrete, something tangible that they can see and actually visit and be a part of. It will disappear,” Halley said.