The Mather Museum and Interpretive Center will offer performative tours of the Mather school from February – April 2023, with special educational tours during Black History Month and additional tours for the general public in March and April. The tours will be recorded and archived for promotional efforts. SC Humanities supported this project with a Mini Grant.
The Mather School was founded in 1868 and was one of the earliest boarding schools for black women in the United States. The school closed in 1968, and the location eventually became part of the Technical College of the Lowcountry (TCL). The Mather Museum and Interpretive Center is currently located in the Mather School’s former library on the TCL campus in Beaufort. Four undergraduate students, two from USC Beaufort and two from TCL, will present the history of the Mather school through performative tours.
The Mather School Museum tours will be offered on weekends, starting with the kick-off weekend: Thursday, February 2 – Saturday, February 4, which will include an open house and a storytelling booth. Tours will be offered on Friday and Saturday.
Additionally, the Beaufort County School District is hosting the 2nd Annual African American History Education Conference on February 9 – 11, and the Mather School Museum and Interpretive Center will be open on Friday and Saturday of that weekend for tours. More information and registration is available here: https://www.beaufortschools.net/community/2nd-annual-african-american-history-education-conference.
On February 16 – 18, they will celebrate the Legacy of African American Education of Mather School with a Quilt Pillow Art Activity from 10 – 12 on Thursday and Friday and a book talk by Joshua Parks on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. The student-led tours will be offered on Friday and Saturday. The Mather School Founder’s Day will be celebrated over the weekend of February 23 – 25th with special programming on Saturday, February 25th.
More information about the Mather School and its history can be learned HERE. The Mather School Museum and Interpretive Center is located at: 921 Ribaut Road, Beaufort, SC 29902.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c) 3 organization is governed by a volunteer 20-member Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and/or supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually.
