Hammond School (South Carolina)

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Hammond School
Address
Map
854 Galway Lane

Columbia, South Carolina
29209

United States
Coordinates33°57′49″N 80°57′58″W / 33.963704°N 80.96617°W / 33.963704; -80.96617
Information
TypePrivate school
Established1966 (58 years ago) (1966)
Head of schoolAndrew M. North[1]
GradesPre-K–12
Enrollment999[2]
Campus typeNon-residential
Color(s)Red and royal blue
  
MascotSkyhawk
Endowment$1.93 million[3]
Websitewww.hammondschool.org

Hammond School, originally James H. Hammond Academy, is a pre-K through 12 private school in Columbia, South Carolina. The school, which was founded in 1966 as a segregation academy,[4][5] is known for its athletic and academic accomplishments.[6] The school's namesake, James Henry Hammond – a brutal slaveholder known for his sexual exploitation of enslaved women[7] – has been a source of enduring controversy.[8]

The Hammond School's leader is Andy North[1] and it is accredited by the South Carolina Independent School Association (SAIS) and the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).[9]

History[edit]

We're far better off without Negroes.

—Hammond school administrator in 1976 [4][6][10][11]

The Hammond School campus in 1966. Like many segregation academies, the school flew the Confederate flag.[4][12]

The school was founded in 1966 as a segregation academy in response to the court ordered racial integration of public schools.[13][14][11] It is named for James Henry Hammond, a particularly brutal and outspoken proponent of slavery.[7] Like other segregation academies, the Hammond's name was chosen to buttress the lost cause myth in support of historical revisionism.[15][16] Tom Turnipseed commented Hammond's "name was chosen because his grandson contributed significant money to the school's founding, and Confederate big-wigs were favored as names for white-flight private schools started as part of the backlash to impending racial desegregation of public schools."[5]

The school's enrollment surged in 1968 when details of the public school desegregation busing plan were released.[17] One parent told that Los Angeles Times that she enrolled her children at Hammond Academy because "integration had turned the public schools upside down"[18]

In 1972, Hammond Academy's tax exemption was revoked by the IRS when it refused to document that it had a racially nondiscriminatory admissions policy.[19] In 1976, a school administrator told John Egerton the school did not want the tax exemption because the school was "better off without negroes".[4] The administrator further opined that "segregation is coming back to this country" because it is a "more natural condition."[4]

The school initially eschewed extracurricular activities in order to emphasize education in "basic subjects".[20]

The school quickly grew to 1,200 students, but in the 1980s enrollment dwindled so low that policy changes were required.[21] In the 1980s, under headmaster Nick Hagerman, Hammond Academy moved away from its segregationist roots.[6] The school stopped flying the Confederate flag in 1984 and began recruiting minority students with scholarships.[4] By 1988, the Hammond School had regained its tax-exempt status.[22] By the 1990s, the resulting admission of more than just a token amount of minority students moved Hammond into what Jason Kreutner described as class-based segregation.[21]

In 1989, the board of trustees voted to change the school's name to Hammond School.[6] The school says the name change was "to adopt a global purpose".[8] According to Tom Turnipseed, the name was changed in order to "moderate the shameful sensuality and radical racism of its namesake."[23]

In 2020, although several alumni asked the school to discontinue the use of Hammond's name because of his history of incest, pedophilia and sexual abuse, the board of trustees retained the name. NBA player Alex English, who sent his children to Hammond, said they experienced racism at the school, including from other parents who ostracized white students for dating black classmates.[8] English transferred some of his children out of Hammond.[8]

Demographics[edit]

For the 2018–2019 school year, the Hammond School's student body was 76.9% white and 23.1% minority races. The student/teacher ratio is 8:1. The grades are relatively evenly split with 31% of the student body in high school, 31% in middle school, and 38% in elementary school.[24]

Accreditation[edit]

Hammond School is an accredited school with the South Carolina Independent School Association (SCISA) and the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).[25][26]

Athletics[edit]

In 2018, the school won the SCISA class 3A football championship.[27] As of 2018, the Hammond School has won 16 football championships,[27] including 6 consecutive championships from 2006 to 2012.[28]

The Skyhawks won the boys' basketball SCISA class 3A championship in 2015.[29]

The Skyhawks won the girls' basketball SCISA class 3A championship in 2018, the 11th title but the first since 1993, the last of four consecutive championships.[30]

The Skyhawks won the boys' baseball SCISA class 3A championship in 2021, the 6th title for the school. It was the second title under Coach Braciszewski, who joined the Skyhawks staff in 2016 and was named head coach in 2018.[2]

In 2022, the Skyhawks claimed their sixth-straight SCISA Football championship, with a shut out against Laurence Manning, 52-0. [31]

Campus[edit]

The Hammond School is located in the Woodland Estates neighborhood in eastern Columbia, SC.[32] The campus is 110 acres, including a 112 acres (45 ha) farm.[33] The farm has hosted equestrian competitions.[34]

In 2017, the city of Columbia approved a plan to add 26,000 square feet (2,400 m2) of buildings to the campus, including an enlarged gym and new classroom building.[2]

Notable alumni[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Kennedy, Barbara (July 2021). "Baylor School Magazine". www.baylorschool.org. Archived from the original on 2021-07-30. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  2. ^ a b c Marchant, Bristow (June 13, 2017). "City OK's Columbia private school expansion". The State.
  3. ^ "Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica". ProPublica. 9 May 2013.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Egerton, John (1991-09-01). Archaeology of Louisiana: Dispatches from the Modern South. LSU Press. p. 238. ISBN 9780807117057.
  5. ^ a b Claudia Smith Brinson (January 4, 2005). "'Choice' Debate Not New in S.C.". The State.
  6. ^ a b c d e Wachter, Paul (2015-02-10). "The Seventh Coming". Grantland. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  7. ^ a b Rosellen Brown, "MONSTER OF ALL HE SURVEYED": Review of SECRET AND SACRED The Diaries of James Henry Hammond, a Southern Slaveholder, Edited by Carol Bleser. New York: Oxford University Press, 1989, accessed 7 November 2013
  8. ^ a b c d Daprile, Lucas (August 25, 2020). "Some Hammond alumni want to rename school, distancing it from slave-owning pedophile". The State.
  9. ^ "Hammond School - South Carolina Independent School Association (SCISA)".
  10. ^ Canup, William. The geography of public-private school choice and race: a case study of Sumter, Clarendon, and Lee counties, South Carolina (Thesis). p. 57.
  11. ^ a b Hawes, Jennifer Berry; Adcox, Seanna; Bowers, Paul; Moore, Thad; Smith, Glenn (November 14, 2018). "No accident of history". Post and Courier. Retrieved 2020-02-04.
  12. ^ Coski, John M. (2009-06-30). The Confederate Battle Flag. Harvard University Press. p. 206. ISBN 9780674029866.
  13. ^ Alexander, Gray, Kevin (2008). Waiting for lightning to strike: the fundamentals of black politics. Petrolia, Calif.: CounterPunch. p. 15. ISBN 978-1904859918. OCLC 301565818.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. ^ Shuler, Jack (2013). Blood and Bone: Truth and Reconciliation in a Southern Town. Univ of South Carolina Press. ISBN 9781611174465.
  15. ^ LeMahieu, Michael (2021-09-01). "Post-54: Reconstructing Civil War Memory in American Literature after Brown". American Literary History. 33 (3): 635–656. doi:10.1093/alh/ajab059. ISSN 0896-7148. The private "segregation academies" that began to appear after Brown likewise fashioned themselves as Confederate memorials. Take the example of only South Carolina. [..] in 1966, the James H. Hammond Academy opened in Columbia.
  16. ^ LeMahieu, Michael (2021). "Post-54: Reconstructing Civil War Memory in American Literature after Brown". American Literary History. 33 (3): 649. doi:10.1093/alh/ajab059. ISSN 1468-4365.
  17. ^ "Private schools at Columbia filling in wake of new plan". The Greenwood Index-Journal. July 25, 1968. p. 15.
  18. ^ Marlene, Cimons (March 1, 1982). "White Academies: Dual School Systems in South Thrive". The Los Angeles Times. p. 1. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  19. ^ "Private schools tax break hit". The Times and Democrat (Orangeburg). March 2, 1972. p. 11.
  20. ^ Griffin, Kitty (October 1969). "New Segregation academies are flourishing in the South". South Today: A Digest of Southern Affairs.
  21. ^ a b Campbell, Colin (April 22, 1999). "Sharing lunch with conflicted southerners". Atlanta Journal and Constitution. Retrieved 5 August 2021 – via newspapers.com.
  22. ^ Cumulative list of organizations described in section 170 (c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. 1988. Cumulative list of organizations described in section 170 (C) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. Retrieved 2017-11-29 – via HathiTrust.
  23. ^ Tom Turnipseed (January 19, 2009). ""Cotton is king" no more". The Orangeberg Times and Democrat. p. A6.
  24. ^ https://www.usnews.com/education/k12/south-carolina/the-hammond-school-313077. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  25. ^ "Hammond School - South Carolina Independent School Association (SCISA)". www.scisa.org. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  26. ^ "Hammond School Profile (2021) | Columbia, SC". Private School Review. Retrieved 2021-08-05.
  27. ^ a b "Dominant Hammond program delivers another SCISA football championship". thestate. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
  28. ^ "Hammond's Kimrey could be fastest SC coach to reach 100 victories". thestate. 18 August 2017.
  29. ^ "Hammond boys win SCISA Class 3A basketball state championship". thestate. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  30. ^ "Hammond girls end state title drought".
  31. ^ "HIGHLIGHTS: Hammond Skyhawks claim sixth-straight SCISA Championship". 19 November 2022.
  32. ^ "Google Maps".
  33. ^ "Hammond School | Accreditation, Programs, Fine Arts, Global Education | Hammond School". www.hammondschool.org. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  34. ^ "Hammond hosts first Equestrian state meet". thestate. Retrieved 2017-12-03.
  35. ^ "Hammond student gets big break | www.thecolumbiastar.com | Columbia Star". Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  36. ^ Murray, Ken. "Recruit from S.C. picks Rice over Maryland". tribunedigital-baltimoresun. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  37. ^ "Scott turns dream into reality". Columbia Star. August 11, 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  38. ^ Edwards, Pamela (June 5, 2009). "Prankster causes scenes in Big Apple". Colombia Star.

External links[edit]

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