Ronald Calhoun was front and center when it was time to take a picture in front of the marker recognizing the site of the former Cayce Colored School, sitting in his walker with a host of fellow alumni behind him.

“I started first grade at the school,” the 70-year-old told the Chronicle. “Without this school, I wouldn’t be here.”

He and many other former students were in attendance Feb. 24 as a state Historical Marker was unveiled at the site, with 93-year-old Isola Calhoun, who said she was the oldest former student there, taking part as they removed the bag covering the monument.

The school, the first former all-Black school in the city to be recognized with a state marker, means a lot to the students who went there, but it’s also a reminder of the state’s segregated past.

In 1927-28, a wood-frame school house was built on the site, now occupied by Mt. Zion Church of Cayce, to house the Cayce Colored School, which served African-American residents of the city, alum Ella Rose Gladney recounted, dedicating the marker and reading the text that appears on its cast aluminum face. About 200 students attended each day until the school was expanded in 1930.

“In 1953, a 10-classroom building was built south of the old school, by then known as Cayce Negro Elementary,” Gladney read. “It was funded by the South Carolina Equalization Program, a state effort to preserve segregation by improving Black schools.”

The school was later renamed Ida A. Bull Elementary School in honor of a local teacher before being closed in the wake of desegregation in 1969.

In addition to recognizing the experiences of the students who attended the school, Cindye Richburg-Cotton, executive director of the nearby Brookland-Lakeview Empowerment Center, told the Chronicle it’s important to remember the finer points of what segregation looked like in local communities, reinforcing that this is a history that must not be repeated.

“Preserving the history of this school is very significant and very important,” she said, noting that it was a feeder into Lakeview School, the former segregated school that is incorporated into the center she leads. 

“These weren't the only schools that existed for African Americans back in the day, and many of these schools were part of the state Equalization Program, which meant that these were funds that they received to stay separate,” Richburg-Cotton said. “It gave them money to expand their facilities to improve their facilities, but it was designed to keep them separate.

“And so for that reason, we want to preserve history so that history doesn't repeat itself. And then also to have a place where people can come and learn and grow.”

Momentum would seem to be building locally to keep adding reminders of this history. The Lakeview School recently applied to and was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and making a similar push for the Cayce Colored School was mentioned during the unveiling ceremony.

“I think it feels like a lot of momentum,” Richburg-Cotton said. “Because people hear through this forum here. They see it on television, they see it in print, and they feel inspired to want to preserve history.”

Making people feel empowered and inspired to preserve this history is key, she added, as anyone can get the ball rolling to have an aspect of history that’s important to them remembered in such a way, so long as they’re willing to be patient and work hard to see it done.

In the case of the Cayce Colored School marker, it was a collaborative effort that involved the Neriah Community Development Corporation, the Brookland-Lakeview Empowerment Center, Cayce Elementary Alumni, and the state Department of Archives and History. 

On hand for the unveiling was Cayce Mayor Pro Tem James “Skip” Jenkins, who attended the school and has been vocal in his push for Cayce to uncover and preserve the area’s Black cemeteries, with the city currently undergoing an initiative to do just that.

“I started my education here in this school. It was the only one available for us,” he said. “It prepared all the kids from here to go to Lakeview, where we completed our education. Over the years, the school had changed names twice, but it's still standing. And that's one thing we need to be thankful for. ... Hopefully it will go on to the near future, and you can teach your kids coming along where their parents got their start from.”