Thread by @michaelharriot

A cool thing just happened with one of my favorite stories about Black History.

It began when a Black community went up against LITERALLY one of the most powerful corporations in America

A thread:

My hometown, Hartsville, SC didn’t fully integrate its schools until the 90s. But in 1982, they closed the black high school/middle school.

It was named for a local pastor and preacher.

After the school closed down, this huge property was just sitting there. No one could afford the upkeep.

Meanwhile a family-owned business was looking for a place to try out it’s new plan to revolutionize small-town shopping with a thing they called the “superstore”

My hometown was selected as one of the locations. And where were they going to put it?

Well, there was this huge old high school in the Black side of town that was perfect. All they had to do was tear it down. The city LOVED the idea. Jobs money!

The deal was done.

Until the Black folks heard about it and were like: “Awww hell no!”

And the city was like: “But it’s already done …UNLESS, you want to buy it.”

These black folks in this small town didn’t have millions to outbid Walmart, so guess what they said?

“Bet”

One of the old Butler grads who was living in NJ, retired moved back to SC and helped form this Black organization called the Butler Heritage Foundation.

She had a whole career in grant writing so she knew what to do.

All they had to do was raise some money on their own. Then, take THAT money, go to the department responsible for preserving Black History in the state, ask for matching funds & they could turn the school into a community center.

Boom!

*Y’all know SOMEBODY said “boom.”

So they did it! Y’all, these old folks had cookouts, fish fries, church services and raised half of the funds needed to outbid WAL fucking Mart!

Now I don’t know if they had the money in one pocketbook (Black ladies don’t carry purses) …

But they went to the statehouse and asked for the people in charge of preserving the state’s Black History. And the state said:

“Ummmm… We ain’t got one of those.”

Wait…What?

This seemed unfathomable to the Commission. How could they not have anyone preserving their history

So they said: OK, just show me who’s in charge documenting Black History, including it in the school curriculums, archiving artifacts, you know… stuff like that. Maybe they could provide some resources.

SC was like:

Before I continue, there’s something you should know:

1. South Carolina has one of the biggest historical tourism industries in America and Black people built it.

Basically white spend $7 bn to tour slave plantations (I wrote about it here)

americanway.com/articles/what-…

2. If you’re a descendant of an enslaved Black person in the US, you probably have ties to SC. In the 5 years before the Revolution, SC imported more enslaved people than all the other colonies combined, which is why Charleston residents had the highest per capita income

That’s why it was the “Slave capital of America” After the Civil War, SC had a Black Lt. Gov, Supreme Court Justice, & the 1st Black congressman. Remember the movie Glory? That was in SC (they don’t show the Black spy who helped them…Some woman named Harriet Tubman)

SC filed the first lawsuit that became Brown v Board of education. And I know you think of it as a white state but here’s the thing:

SC was a majority Black state UNTIL the 1920s. (Of course, after Reconstruction, that whole you-can’t-vote thing prevented us from taking over.)

So the Heritage Foundation came up with a plan: they got some grants from a bunch of places and said they’d turn it into a community center with tutoring, free child care, a small business resource center, a center for gifted students & more (it was TWO whole schools, bruh)

Then they had a plan that involved the 2 biggest things black folks love:

Cookouts & outdoing each other. He got the former class presidents to contact everyone they knew. They’d have ONE BIG reunion every year and see which class could raise the most money

They did it! These motherfuckers beat WAL fucking Mart with cookouts JUST TO STUNT ON YOU HOES!

But they had to actually remodel & actually do the stuff they said they’d do. So they put the old basketball coach in charge.

Ok… he wasn’t just a coach, but you know how we do

He has a whole doctorate but folks still call him “Coach Heatley”

Now, you may be wondering what happened to the grant lady?

Well she was pissed off because she’s one of those ladies who Black ppl say “don’t take no mess” & white folks call “uppity”

What was she mad about?

HOW CAN SC NOT GIVE A F*** ABOUT BLACK HISTORY!

So she petitioned the SC legislature to start giving a f*** (I don’t think those were the exact words in the proposal) but no one paid her any attention. The legislators really didn’t have time on the calendar for new funding, plus, you gotta get a sponsor talk to the governor…

But, again, you know how we… Oh wait. They DON’T know how we do! See, there was a former teacher who worked in the SC State house for years. Every piece of legislation, funding or resolution etc came across her desk.

She could tell the lady was pissed when they turned her away

Ok, they were sisters…so they found out exactly what was in the budget and confronted the Gov.

Tell me, do you want 2 Black ladies who just beat Walmart’s ass on your back?

Nope.

So this happened:

Now it’s important to know this lady was not a historian. She was just a lady. So she gathered Black historians from colleges, Geechie Gullah storytellers, oral historians and black folks who just know a lot about the past and created this thing. They had some cool ideas, too

You know how States started doing those digital versions of the Green Book a couple of years ago?

Guess where that came from?

theroot.com/green-book-mob…

When they realized that the students weren’t learning Black history in schools, they created a state guide that JUST focused on integrating Black history into the curriculum… NOT JUST THE SOCIAL STUDIES CURRICULA… everything

Now, other states are implementing this model all over the country.

Did Butler get enough money to open a community center? Well kinda. They’re still raising money to renovate some parts. (You can donate here butlerheritagefoundation.org/members.htm

The other part?

Well…what had happened was

Ok, let’s see what would be the happiest ending

If they opened that community center, that would be great!

If they had this big celebration there every year, would that be spectacular?

Ok, they did all of that.

But they could only use part of the facilities…

The other part of the school is an ACTUAL PRIVATE SCHOOL called…

It’s too on the nose. Y’all wouldn’t believe me, so

butleracademy.us/who/

A year-round, tuition free school that was specifically created to close the achievement gap.

The interesting thing is that, before they closed Butler, there wasn’t a big achievement gap between the Black school & white school.

Can they do it?

Well, these motherfuckers beat Walmart so… I wouldn’t bet against them.

How do I know so much about this story?

Well, the Governor’s office announced a thing today about my aunt @JannieHarriot but they didn’t know HALF the story.

So in my hometown, no one on the Black side of town really celebrates Independence Day.

That’s Butler Heritage Week.

And this is the National anthem:

My homeboy Chip called this week and said he’s coaching the Butler Heritage basketball game. (His dad just passed & was our coach)

Now, I love Butler & my aunt but I’m old & I don’t want to die

“Why are you calling me?” I asked. “You want me to tweet something?”

This is that