ATLANTIC BEACH
"The Black Pearl"
On October 11, 1934, Mr. George Tyson, an astute African American entrepreneur, purchased 47 acres of beachfront property in Horry County, South Carolina from Mr. R. V. Ward, one of his few white business connections. This tract of land was located between 29 th and 32 nd Avenues South, east of U. S. Highway 17. Mr. Tyson made a $2,000 down payment and entered into an agreement to pay the $10,000 balance using a “land contract”. Under a “land contract”, the seller retains the legal title to the property while permitting the buyer to take possession of the property for most purposes other than legal ownership. Ownership is not passed until the final payment is made. This transaction between Mr. Tyson and Mr. Ward was unregulated, as there was no bank involved, and Mr. Tyson could have lost all of the land by missing just one payment. Confidently, Mr. Tyson moved forward ordering a land survey and mapping to lay out the Atlantic Beach lots. Tyson began selling individual lots to other African Americans to build homes and develop businesses. This began the journey to what is now known as the Town of Atlantic Beach, S.C.
Over the next several years, to the surprise of Mr. Ward and other investors, Mr. Tyson made the annual payments. Mr. Tyson had a clear vision for the Atlantic Beach community. His vision included financial oversight and community development. On July 8, 1941, Mr. Tyson bought an additional 49-acre tract from Viola Bell. This tract, located on the west side of U. S. Highway 17 adjacent to the initial tract, was called Pearl Beach after Mrs. Bell’s daughter, Ila Pearl, who witnessed the transaction as the notary. Now, the African American communities of Atlantic Beach and Pearl Beach consisted of over 90 acres of prime beachfront land in South Carolina.
Understanding the magnitude of these transactions, Mr. Tyson astutely engaged ten other African American stockholders - business persons, educators, physicians and community leaders - to join him, and together they formed the Atlantic Beach Company. Dr. J. W. Seabrook, President of Fayetteville State Teachers College (now Fayetteville State University), Fayetteville, N. C.; Dr. Robert Keith Gordan, first African American physician in Dillon County, S.C.; and Dr. Peter Carlisle Kelly, III, the only African American physician in Georgetown, S. C. signed the original Atlantic Beach Company Charter. This Company was the first governing entity taking legal and financial responsibility for the land contracts, creating the first governance of the Town and ensuring that all subsequent payments were made on time to Mr. Ward and Ms. Bell until the notes were paid in full.
Mr. Tyson’s oceanfront business, the Black Hawk Night Club, became a popular entertainment venue for African Americans and anchored the community. Increasing numbers of visitors and residents made Atlantic Beach a vibrant ocean front community. The storied Atlantic Beach journey includes the booming days of the 1940’s-50’s when African Americans came from all over to enjoy “The Pearl”, including many prominent R&B singers of the time, who performed at the Black Hawk Night Club after completing their gigs at clubs in the neighboring white communities. African American men and women developed a new community - created businesses, built homes, organized governance and invited others to visit them. Atlantic Beach, a fully segregated beach community with physical barriers on its northern and southern borders, grew and flourished becoming one of the most popular vacation destinations for African Americans.
Challenges to these glory days posed new obstacles. In 1954, Hurricane Hazel destroyed the ocean pier, many of the homes and wooden structures along the ocean front, including the Holiday and Gordon Hotels. In the 1960’s, surrounding beaches decided to join under the umbrella of North Myrtle Beach. This was an attempt to incorporate Atlantic Beach into the majority community. Atlantic Beach residents, with much opposition from the neighbors, decided to independently incorporate. On June 15 th , 1966, the original Atlantic Beach and Pearl Beach officially joined and incorporated as the Town of Atlantic Beach, a fully independent municipality in the state of South Carolina. With Emery Gore as the first mayor, this action gave Atlantic Beach its own governance rather than merge with North Myrtle Beach. In the 1970’s, desegregation destroyed the community and individual’s identity with the “Black Pearl”, as it was now called. African Americans left Atlantic Beach for other destinations that they were not allowed to visit earlier. This loss of visitors led to disinvestment in Atlantic Beach. Even with continued challenges of physical barriers between the communities, economic trials and challenges to the independent governing body, Atlantic Beach has been sustained as a historic African American owned and governed community for over 88 years.
Efforts to stimulate tourism have been marginally successful but the history has remained intact and the residents of the Town have remained committed to preserving and communicating the history of Atlantic Beach. Newcomers are joining and investing in the Atlantic Beach community as they seek to connect to and discover this rich historical enclave along the Atlantic Ocean.
In 2022, Atlantic Beach was awarded the Telling the Full History Grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, an Underrepresented Communities Grant from the National Park Service and the Broadening the Narrative Grant from the Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelly Foundation to assist in the preservation, advancement and showcasing of the history of this rich African American community. According to National Geographic Magazine, Atlantic Beach “is the only one (African American beach) in the country to have remained in the hands of African Americans since its founding in the 1930s.”
The Historic
Myrtle Beach Colored School
Historic Myrtle Beach Colored School & Education Center
(843) 918-4900
900 Dunbar Street
OVERVIEW & HISTORY
The Myrtle Beach Colored School served African-American students in the Myrtle Beach area for more than 20 years. Now, the Historic Myrtle Beach Colored School Museum and Education Center provides a window on that past, as well as a door to the future for all. Thanks to leadership from the City of Myrtle Beach, vision from former students and a partnership among public and private entities, the old school has been preserved in spirit and recreated in fact and continues to fulfill an educational mission.
The original four-room, wood-framed Myrtle Beach Colored School opened in 1932 as a product of segregated times. Previously, African-American students were educated in local churches, since they could not attend the official “white” schools. Having a school to call their own was a great advancement and source of pride, and the Myrtle Beach Colored School fulfilled a vital role in the African-American community during that period of transition and growth.
The need for the Myrtle Beach Colored School was eliminated in 1953 with the opening of Carver Training School. No longer in use, the old schoolhouse served as a warehouse for a while, but eventually languished in the heart of the neighborhoods that it once served and fostered. Yet former students never forgot their class time there, even when the building itself, untended and unpainted for two decades, had become an eyesore. They wanted to preserve this tangible piece of Myrtle Beach’s past and, with crystal vision, could see beyond the building’s now-shabby outward appearance to its essential role and function as a cornerstone of the community.
As early as 1978, a group of former students tried to save the school, but the task of buying property and raising restoration funds was too great. In 2001, when the building’s days truly were numbered by an imminent road-widening project, the City of Myrtle Beach answered their call for help. City Council appointed former students, community representatives and other interested parties to a newly created committee charged with the task of saving the school. Council also provided $10,000 in “seed money” to help the committee with fund-raising.
Unfortunately, as everyone discovered when the old school was surveyed, the building itself could not be saved. Time and weather had taken their toll, and the wooden structure had deteriorated beyond salvage. Even if the committee could find the money to restore the original, it was in no condition to be moved from the site. With this option gone, the City of Myrtle Beach contributed $27,000 and the South Carolina Department of Transportation added $10,000 to deconstruct the building and store the pieces in a donated warehouse until funds for a new building could be raised.
With the site of the old school about to be halved by the new road, Burroughs & Chapin Company, Inc., offered to donate a site nearby, less than two blocks away, where a new “old” school could be rebuilt. This land donation, valued at $93,000, along with City Council’s pledge of up to $350,000 in construction money, gave the former students hope that their dream might be realized. Toward that end, the group renamed itself the Historic Myrtle Beach Colored School Museum and Education Center Committee, as proof of its intentions.
The former students were adamant about two things. First, they believed the school should retain its original name. To them, it had always been the Myrtle Beach Colored School, and they were unconcerned with whether that name might be uncomfortable or politically incorrect. Segregation was wrong, but it happened, and changing the name now was an unthinkable act of revisionist history. Second, they strongly believed that the school should continue to serve in an educational capacity. It wasn’t enough to create a museum to the past; the new building also should provide a service to the community.
FUNDING SOURCES
With the city’s help and guidance, the committee’s efforts succeeded. The Horry County School District agreed to contribute $120,000 for the project and to base its Myrtle Beach-area adult education programs in the school. Centex Homes, one of the nation’s largest residential developers, committed nearly $200,000 worth of labor and materials to the project and actually built the structure. The city even received an $11,000 matching grant from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control for an innovative grass paving system to use for the parking area, so that the historic look and feel of the structure would not be compromised by contemporary asphalt. Construction finally began in 2005, and the historic building opened to applause and joyful tears on June 24, 2006.
SCHOOL BEGINS AGAIN
Thanks to the contributions and teamwork of many individuals and organizations, both public and private, the Historic Myrtle Beach Colored School Museum and Education Center is a point of pride for everyone in Myrtle Beach. One of the rooms literally is a museum to the school and its students, now senior citizens, who take turns staffing the museum and welcoming visitors. They are thrilled to tell the story of their old school, as well as the story of their new school. Artifacts from the school and the period are on display, and a reference library of African-American history is available to the public. The museum is open to the public from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., Monday Wednesday and Friday.
Much of the rest of the building is used for educational purposes. The original Myrtle Beach Colored School may not have had computers, but the new one does. Also sharing space in the building is a grassroots non-profit group called “A Father’s Place.” This local organization gives non-custodial fathers access to the resources and tools they need to be good parents.
The former students of the Historic Myrtle Beach Colored School Museum and Education Center Committee contributed to the fundraising, too, thanks to a cookbook of traditional Southern recipes. The city assisted with the design and publishing of the cookbook, which made its debut at the building’s 2006 ribbon-cutting ceremony. The 164-page book has been well received, with more than 1,200 copies sold, and is now in its third printing. Funds from cookbook and notecard sales have helped to furnish the museum, buy reference materials and pay for an official historic marker at the site of the original building.
The Historic Myrtle Beach Colored School Museum and Education Center is a tangible example of how citizens, neighborhoods, businesses and governments can work together to preserve the historic record and create new opportunities. The new old school is a functioning part of the community and a proud addition to the neighborhood. You couldn’t ask for a better recipe for community partnership and public service.
Charlie's Place
(843) 918-1062
1420 Carver Street, Myrtle Beach, SC 29577
From the late 1930s to the early 1960s, Charlie’s Place was a Myrtle Beach nightspot owned by Charlie Fitzgerald and his wife, Sarah. The nightclub was on Carver Street in the Booker T. Washington Neighborhood, next door to their home and a small hotel they operated.
Early Motown performers brought their music to Charlie’s Place in the days before integration. It provided a place for African-American artists of the day to perform, including Dizzy Gillespie, Little Richard, Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington and many others.
PROJECT
The city's goal to preserve the history and musical culture of the former African-American nightclub and adjacent motel came to life when the city honored the community's request by buying the land. When completed, the city seeks to restore the economic contribution the club made to the community.
Phase One of the preservation included reconstruction and remodeling of Fitzgerald’s house for use as a community center and event space. The work involved 1,264 square feet of interior space and 240 square feet of screen porch reconstruction. Crews added space to the rear of the building to include restrooms for visitors attending activities to be held on the site. Phase Two of the renovation included restoration of the first four motel units and reconstruction of eight other units. A few of the rooms will be kept as a museum to the era, showing what “Green Book” travel was like in times of segregation. Other rooms will be reconstructed and used for small shops and community classes or crafts. To see photos of the process, click here.
BUSINESS INCUBATOR UNITS
Charlie's Place offers four incubator units for rent to entrepreneurs! A minimum of a one-year lease agreement is required, with annual renewal for a maximum of three years.
Interested in renting a business incubator unit? Contact the Neighborhood Services Department at 843-918-1062.
