Lesser-known Black history sites in the South
A mural covering most of the side of an eight-story building in downtown Greenville, South Carolina, has been named by Fodors as one of 12 places to learn about Black history in the South.
The mural is of Pearlie Harris, the only Black teacher at the all-white Crestone Elementary in the 1960s, well before Greenville schools were integrated. She is shown with a group of children.
The mural was created by Australian artist Guido van
Helten to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the integration of Greenville County schools.
“The idea is I’m standing over Greenville and the hundreds of thousands of people who come into Greenville every day. We hope it’s saying something to those people about diversity and about love — love for one another, love for children and love for the community,” Harris said on the Bon Secours health care system website.
Harris was the first Black woman to serve as chair of the Bon Secours board and is the namesake for its center for breast health in Greenville.
Harris taught in Greenville schools for 37 years. At Crestone, which no longer exists, her third grade classroom was the school’s only portable one, she told The Greenville News in 2020.
“People didn’t want me in their schools because one of the things they said, even in PTA meetings, is, ‘They don’t know as much as white teachers do. They will not be able to teach as well as the white teachers teach because their schools were not as good as the white schools,’” Harris told The News.
She was awarded the Benemerenti Medal by Pope Francis for her service to the Catholic Church and was one of 50 people highlighted in a book by Oprah Winfrey, “Lift Every Voice.” The book is made up of interviews by young Black journalists of the older generation of civil rights pioneers.
Fodors said, “Downtown Greenville, South Carolina, has no shortage of charm, from Falls Park on the Reedy to the city’s impressive restaurant scene. Adding to its delights is the mural of Pearlie Harris.”
Also named by Fodors were:
Georgia’s Golden Isles: “On St. Simons Island, the beautiful marsh area known as Igbo Landing was the site of one of the largest slave suicides in history.”
Sapelo Island, Ga.: “Near St. Simons, visitors can take a ferry to Sapelo Island, one of the nation’s
oldest Gullah Geechee islands. After emancipation, the Gullah Geechee people established farming communities along the southern coast from North Carolina to Florida.”
Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum, Tenn.:
“The little white house at 826 North Second Street in Memphis was a safehouse for enslaved people escaping to the North on the Underground Railroad, but no one knew it until 1991.”
The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, Ala.:
“It’s hard to leave The National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery the same way you walked into it. Founded in 2018 by Brian Stevenson
and the Equal Justice Institute, the memorial pays homage to Black Americans who lost their lives to racist lynching.”
“The Douglass Theater was the place to see the hottest acts in vaudeville and music during the 20th century in Macon, Georgia. As one of the first Black-owned theaters in the country, it was a must-play for legends such as Little Richard, Bessie Smith, James Brown and Ma Rainey.”
The Douglass Theater, Ga.:
The museums of Jackson, Miss.:
“It’s hard to miss Mississippi’s two museums in the heart of Jackson. On one side is the state’s history museum, and on the other is the Civil Rights Museum, which
chronicles the struggle for equality from slavery to the present day.”
The Harriet Jacobs Trail, N.C.:
“Some credit Harriet Jacobs’ 1861 book ‘Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl’ with lighting a fire for the 19th-century abolitionist movement.”
Florida’s beaches: “Florida’s white sand beaches have been called some of the most beautiful in the world, but many of those beaches were segregated until the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Sections of the beach where people of color could swim became known as inkwells.”
The St. Rose de Lima Church, La.: “The St. Rose de Lima Church in New Orleans has a history of defiance in the name of social justice nearly two centuries in the making.”
Testament statues: “On Sept. 25, 1957, nine brave African American students integrated Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 2021, bronze statues of the Little Rock Nine were erected in front of the state capitol.”
Brough Brothers Distillery, Ky.:
“Black history is still being made every day, and brothers Bryson, Chris, and Victor Yarbrough made it happen in 2020 when they opened Brough Brothers Distillery. It’s the first Black-owned Bourbon distillery in ... Kentucky.”