CHESTER — Nearly a century after a local Black grade school closed, its supporters and a handful of surviving graduates said its absence is still felt. "The curriculum of Brainerd Institute, which included daily devotionals, music, sports, crafts, romance and classical languages, would not be matched in any other Black prep school of the country," said the board of directors for the Brainerd Institute Heritage , where they want that type of learning to resume in earnest. The Brainerd property at 115 Marquis St.
has just one remaining building — in serious need of repair — on its acreage. The vision to educate young people there remains intact, said board member Pete Stone, who said they're gathering funding and expertise to make it happen. The Brainerd Heritage Institute in Chester was a grade school for Black children in the late 19th century and early 20th century.
Property owners recently received a federal grant to hire consultants who will develop a master plan to offer cultural, arts and literacy programs at the institute. "The idea is to teach literacy through the fine arts and bring opportunities to Chester that you could only get in Charlotte," he said. "Cosby Show" actress Phylicia Rashad bought the property in 1999.
Her mother, Vivian Ayers Allen, was in the school's final graduating class in 1939. That was 75 years after Presbyterian USA Church created Brainerd as an elite educational institution for Black students, the board of directors said. Ayers remains active with Brainerd programming.
As of now, the opportunities to teach at Brainerd are limited to occasional outdoor workshops. They've made the most of it, with actress Debbie Allen, Rashad's sister, putting on a dance clinic featuring professional dancers from Los Angeles, Stone said. Story continues below Poet Vivian Ayers Allen, a 1939 graduate of the Brainerd Heritage Institute in Chester, has been involved with educational programs at the former gade school for Black children.
The nonprofit National Trust for Historic Preservation in Washington, D.C., took notice of Brainerd and awarded it a $75,000 grant for the effort to refurbish its building.
The trust announced in July it gave out $3 million through its African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund, which they said is the largest resource dedicated to preserving Black historic places. At Brainerd, the money won't be enough to repair the remaining building, but it will allow them to put together a master plan for facilities and curriculum, and to tap a fundraising consultant to help the institute progress, Stone said. "We want to develop a model with sustainable funding and still use the beautiful grounds under the oak trees when we can," he said.
Elsewhere in South Carolina, the Action Fund has provided grants in Ladson for the Slave Dwelling Project, which preserves documents of slave history and former slave housing, and for Morris College, a historically Black college in Sumter..
