A Historical Perspective in Our Backyard, South Carolina: An Interview with George Wilson

Hopkins Elementary 5th grade students interview George Wilson, one of the first African Americans to serve in the South Carolina House of Representatives. Mr. Wilson provides context for historic events during and after the Civil War and their impact on the Lower Richland area. He highlights how his own family's history survived Reconstruction including how his father helped other local black families by selling them land to build homes.

Students also document the historic Harriet Barber House in Hopkins, South Carolina, which was built by former slaves, Harriet and her husband Samuel. Descendants continue to preserve this home today. Students tour the house with Mary Barber Kirkland while Carrie Barber White narrates a tour in this video, providing a glimpse into African American family life in Lower Richland during the 19th and 20th centuries.

Harriet Barber House and South East Rural Community Outreach supported the production of this story through the Stories: YES program.

Speaker 1 (00:06): Hopkins Elementary 5th Grade Class was part of a special project involving a historical perspective that we found in our backyard. Hopkins Elementary is located in the Lower Richland area in South Carolina. And now we are pleased to share what we found in our backyard.

Speaker 2 (00:27): Thank you for coming, as a fifth grader, we have been learning about 1865 until present day in our social studies class. Today, we are going to ask you a few questions. We want to start by asking you to tell us a little bit about yourself.

George Wilson (00:45): Okay. Well, I'm George Wilson. I'm a lifelong resident of the Lower Richland area that include Hopkins, Eastover and Gaston, South Carolina. I attended schools in Gadsden, it was called Kingville. A little school that's not there anymore. Stony Hill, then from Stoney Hill, I went to Webber Elementary and then Webber High School at the time.

George Wilson (01:14): I also at that time was able to get a scholarship to play football. And I went to Benedict College. Graduated from Benedict College and started to work for the government. And later on I was a little interested in politics. I was one of the first blacks to be elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives to represent the Lower Richland district during that period of time. Served a while in the House of Representatives, then worked very closely with the community, organizing various groups, such as the Kingville Historical Foundation, which is a historical area in the Lower Richland area.

Speaker 4 (02:05): Tell us about your family's contributions to the Lower Richland community.

George Wilson (02:11): Okay. As I've said before, my family are lifelong residents of the Lower Richland area. My father was a big farmer. He owned 365 acres of property in the Lower Richland area. And he was a business man in the area. He was a [inaudible 00:02:37] and he also ran a store in Kingville with the meat plant. And we attended church here in the Lower Richland area all of our lives. And we also allowed other blacks to purchase property from my father's plantation that he had there in order that they might have a place to live. So we always looked for the best interests of the community.

Speaker 4 (03:10): Can you share your family's impact or experience with reconstruction in the Lower Richland community?

George Wilson (03:17): Well, yes, I would say central reconstruction, Lower Richland area is somewhat different from that of many other areas. How it's got its name because of the rich soil that we have in the Lower Richland area. Also have another town, different from that of Kingville, we called it Eastover, and it is a town that had a mayor and councilmen that runs the area.

Speaker 4 (03:48): Can you share your perspective of how Lower Richland and your family dealt with growing pains within the United States to include economic depression and recovery.

George Wilson (04:00): Well, yes, I would imagine that to go back a little bit, as I mentioned, my father was a farmer and he struggled very much to be able to purchase 365 acres of property during his time. And from that, his fore parents probably suffered quite a lot, I would say from the pains of slavery.

George Wilson (04:30): Go back to Kingville a little bit, that was sometime in the 1800s where Kingville was probably the only place in Lower Richland that you could find some employment other than farming. Because they had what they called a sawmill. And this is where they would saw the larger trees to make lumber to build houses with and that sort of thing. And Kingville drew a lot of people into that area because it was a railroad town you might say. It's got its name from being the king of railroads. And there were jobs available there in Kingville until General Sherman.

George Wilson (05:18): You may read about him later on. He was a general and he was in the army. So he traveled south and he destroyed most of that. Most of those folks, he ran them out of town. Slaves were freed at the time and was able to purchase property during that period of time. So there were a lot of pain during that period.

Asset ID: 8656
Themes: Crossroads, small towns, history, Civil War, Reconstruction, farming, African American history, politics
Date recorded: 2019
Length of recording: 5:43 m
Related traveling exhibition: Crossroads: Change in Rural America
Sponsor or affiliated organization: Hopkins Elementary School, Hopkins, South Carolina; Harriet Barber House and South East Rural Community Outreach.
More information: https://museumonmainstreet.org/blog-node/fifth-graders-reveal-roots-their-community-south-carolina