Liberty Colored High School

Liberty Colored High School is a former high school for African-American students in Liberty, South Carolina during the period of racial segregation. It originally was called Liberty Colored Junior High School. The building is now a community center known as the Rosewood Center. It is at East Main Street (South Carolina Highway 93) and Rosewood Street in Liberty. The school was built in 1937 on the site of a Rosenwald school that had burned down. Because of its role in the education of local African-American students, it was named to the National Register of Historic Places on April 18, 2003.HistoryThe first school for African-American students in the Liberty area began in 1899 at the New Hope Baptist Church. A year later, a wooden school was built next to the church. Around 1922, a three-teacher Rosenwald school was built on the site of the current building through funding from the parents, community, and matching funds from The Rosenwald Fund. This school burned in 1935.The current building was built in 1937 on the same site with the assistance of the Works Progress Administration. Additional funds came from the State insurance fund and community contributions. It was named Liberty Colored Junior High School and had grades one through nine. In 1945, grades ten and eleven were added and its name was changed to Liberty Colored High School. Twelfth grade were added in the 1949. It was one of two high schools for African-American students in Pickens County. It served students in Liberty, Norris, Central, Clemson and the adjacent rural areas. In 1955, the two high schools were consolidated into Clearview Colored High School in Easley.