Education

Sara Daise on differences between Black and White Students at Beaufort High School


SD: I would never go back. I know that some people loved high school. I did learn and I did enjoy it. I did marching band I was in color guard my senior year, I was color guard captain. I enjoyed choir as well. Um, I had a few good teachers some not so great, uh freshmen year was really tough for me because I wasn’t ready for high school so for tenth grade I had to get it together, buckle down and get my work done and I excelled. I got to meet different people. I was not in the honors program, but I took some AP [Advanced Placement] classes, but I could never be in the AP program because math and science are not my thing, so that would just be horrible. So, one of the things that is interesting is that in my honors classes that I did take the Black kids that were from marching band and choir were in those classes. There would be three or four of us in those honor classes. If I wanted to get to know the rest of the Black population I would have to go my CP classes.

AH: CP classes?

SD: College Prep

AH: College Prep, okay

SD: It is interesting to see that in most of the schools, college prep, oh that good, but at Beaufort High College Prep, college prep does not prepare you for college.

AH: Laugh. Okay, okay. So in your high school, in Beaufort there was a division between Black and White kids and they were tracked differently?

SD: Definitely, like I said in the honors classes I did take, like English and History, and um government, there would be about three or four or five of us. It was always the same ones and we were also the ones who did extracurricular like marching band, or choir; athletes not so much in the honor classes. I mean there were a few who acted like they were not dumb, but not much. It was mostly those in student government

About Black in the Lowcountry

Welcome to the Black in the Lowcountry site is a digital project that aims to collect and preserve the stories of African American youth in the South Carolina Lowcountry. The project gives youth to share their story in their own words without the intervention of mainstream media.  The project was inspired by the film Woke Up Black, which was directed by Mary Morten and the Black Youth Project Research, which was founded by Cathy Cohen. 


The project was lead by Aaisha Haykal, MSLIS, an Institute of Library and Museum Services (IMLS) Archival Fellow and Dr. Robert Chase, the Public Historian at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture. The Avery Research Center was established to collect, preserve, and make public the unique historical and cultural heritage of African Americans in Charleston and the South Carolina Lowcountry. Avery’s archival collections, museum exhibitions, and public programming reflect these diverse populations as well as the wider African Diaspora.

Collection Details

The collection is comprised of interviews of African American/Black youth in the Greater Charleston area. The interviews were done with high school students who attend St. John's High School on John's Island and with college students at the College of Charleston. All interviews were conducted by Aaisha Haykal.  


The themes discussed in the interviews include 

Family, Religion, and Spirituality
Media
Education
Social Justice
Sexuality and Gender Roles
Living in the South

For information about how to use these interviews please contact Dr. Robert Chase, the Avery Research Center's Public Historian, via phone 843.953.7612 or e-mail (chasert@cofc.edu). 

If you have any questions or concerns please e-mail averyyouth2012@gmail.com