On January 25, a ceremony was held dedicating a historical marker in the Four Holes Indian Community of Ridgeville, South Carolina. The historical marker honored those who created a Freedom School in 1969 for the Native American children, who were denied admission to the Ridgeville public schools.
Although the school had been integrated and Black children were attending, the Native American children could not attend. Leaders from the Native American community and the Black community requested assistance from the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC) in getting the Native American children admitted to the public schools.
I was assigned to direct the effort, and we began several months of demonstrations and boycotts. One of the families donated a building, and a temporary "freedom school" was established. Classes were taught by student volunteers from the University of South Carolina and other institutions, as well as volunteer teachers from New York and New Jersey, and there were other professionals who provided health care in a medical van.
For more than eight months, marches and demonstrations that received national media attention were conducted, and many Native American demonstrators were arrested and jailed. The effort to get the Native American children admitted to the public schools was finally successful, and they began classes in the Ridgeville public schools at the beginning of the 1970/71 school year.
Copyright © John Reynolds. 2025
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