By Wanda R. Walker
On Saturday, February 7 the Lander Memorial Library in Williamston hosted an overflow of citizens from Williamston, Pelzer and surrounding towns for a special presentation by Claude Anderson on local black history in honor of Black History Month.
Produced by the Lander Library Branch Manager, Jennifer Sontag, and organized by Program Committee, Claude Anderson and Rev. S. Andrew Mattison, the presentation featured many institutions and churches as well as local past and living citizens, who experienced segregation.
Celebrate Black History Month – Lander Library Branch Manager, Jennifer Sontag, Claude Anderson and Rev. S. Andrew Mattison (l-r) put together a special presentation and exhibit on local black history. The program was presented Saturday and the exhibit will run through February at the Lander Memorial Library.
Some of the honorees included the historical Spearman School, The Caroline Community Center, New Prospect Missionary Baptist Church, Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church, Shady Grove Baptist Church, the late Dr. Harold J. Mackey, Councilman Tony Hagood, Former Police Chief Tony Taylor, Blues Musician Mac Arnold, the late Dr. Larkin V. Walker, Jr., the late Walter Smith, Sr., Stanley Horton and Centegeranian Julia Jones, to name a few.
Rev. S. Andrew Mattison read an original poem he wrote depicting his graduation in 1959 from Spearman School during integration and Wanda Walker read an original piece she wrote called, “Integration: A Lost Village.”
A presentation of beautiful purple Calla Lillies was made to Sontag by the program committee for her diligence in producing the exhibit. Sontag is making a special plea for next year Black History Month to have more local participants submit information on their past and present family members for the education of all of our citizens.
The exhibit will run through the entire month of February.
Sontag said she began planning the exhibit and program in November and started by visiting three area churches, Shady Grove in Pelzer, and Mount Pleasant and New Prospect in Williamston.
“I told them I’d like to feature any person who lived through segregation in an exhibit,” she said.
Roughly twenty-five people responded, including a Harlem Globetrotter, a legendary Blues musician, and the woman who integrated Mount Vernon Mill.
The exhibit includes a total of 30 frames, with four from Anderson and Cecil J. Williams from Orangeburg.
“The majority, obviously, are still alive,” she said. “But among the deceased are a free man named Caesar, an enslaved woman named Juno Waller Seymour, a mill worker named Lum Wilson, Harold Mackey, and Larkin Walker and his wife Ruth Walker Whitted. ”
According to Sontag, eighty four people attended the program on Saturday.
“My husband had to rig up an overflow area from the meeting room into the library. We are already planning next year’s program.”
From the past – Jennifer Sontag is pictured with the no longer “whites only” type of water fountain in the library.
Featured Photo – Claude Anderson presented information on local black history during a special program held Saturday at the Lander Memorial Library. The presentation featured many institutions and churches as well as local past and living citizens, who experienced segregation. An exhibit on local black history will run through February at the library.
