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Clara Dixon Britt, who recently turned 103 years old, revisits memories at the restored St. George Rosenwald School.
Photo by Thomas Hammond
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The St. George Rosenwald School was one of several built in the early 1900s to provide better education opportunities for Black children throughout the South. It has been restored and now hosts educational and gathering spaces.
Photo by Thomas Hammond
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Clara Dixon Britt, an 80-year member of Edisto Electric Cooperative, recently celebrated her 103rd birthday.
Photo by Thomas Hammond
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Clara Dixon Britt revisits the St. George Rosenwald School, which is now an educational space replica classrooms and a children’s museum.
Photo by Thomas Hammond
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Clara Dixon Britt reflects on 103 years of memories and wisdom.
Photo by Thomas Hammond
Clara Dixon Britt
Age: 103.
Resides in: Saint George.
Claim to fame: She once rode her bull, Dan, to the St. George Rosenwald School so she could earn perfect attendance.
Advice for a long life: Eat right and don’t put anything in your stomach that you don’t like or will make you sick. While Britt might turn away bacon or stew, she’s a big fan of fried pork chops and chicken wings.
A few of her favorite things: Vintage cars, printed photographs (enough to fill many albums and gallery walls) and plants.
Co-op connection: She is an 80-year member of Edisto Electric Cooperative.
For nine of her more than 10 decades of life, one place has played an enduring role in Clara Dixon Britt’s story: The St. George Rosenwald School. It’s where she recently celebrated her 103rd birthday with family and friends.
The school was one of several Rosenwald Schools built in the early 1900s to provide better education opportunities for Black children throughout the South. Britt remembers it as the place she attended lessons, excelled in home economics class and sang on the auditorium stage.
The St. George Rosenwald School operated for nearly 30 years before shutting down in 1954 and falling into disrepair. But with help from South Carolina electric cooperatives, the schoolhouse has been restored and now boasts replica classrooms, a children’s museum and an event space perfect for hosting 103 years’ worth of friends and family. (For more on that, search for “Rosenwald School” online at SCLiving.coop.)
Being back at the school resurfaces fond memories for Britt of her love of learning. While other students often tried to get out of school, Britt did everything she could not to miss it. One day, that meant riding her family bull to school in a rainstorm.
“See, I lived out in the country, and the water was everywhere, and I couldn’t get to school without wading,” Britt says. “And I got ready, and I got on that bull, and I went on to school.”
When she got a car, Britt helped other students get to school and didn’t ask for anything in return from the classmates who would pile in her backseat. “Through my life, I always try to be nice to people, you see,” Britt says. “If you be nice to people, then people remember.”
People certainly remember Britt, from her Sunday school students—some of whom now call her Mama Clara—to the friends and family who surround her. She is proud the Rosenwald School is now back up and running and can be a space not only for her birthday party but also for young students again.
“I was so proud that that they have it remodeled … and you can walk in and (feel) all these memories,” Britt says.