Hammond School (South Carolina)

Hammond School, originally James H. Hammond Academy, is a pre-K through 12 college preparatory day school in Columbia, South Carolina, founded in 1966. The school was founded as a segregation academy,[4][5] but is now better known for its athletic and academic accomplishments.[6] It is named for slaveholder and child rapist James Henry Hammond.

Hammond School
Location
Columbia, South Carolina
Coordinates33.963704°N 80.96617°W / 33.963704; -80.96617
Information
TypeIndependent, Day School
Established1966
HeadmasterChristopher B. Angel[1]
GradesPre-K through grade 12
Enrollment854[2]
CampusNon-Residential
Color(s)   
Red, Royal blue
MascotSkyHawk
Endowment$1.93 million[3]
Websitehttp://www.hammondschool.org/

History
We're far better off without Negroes.

—Hammond school administrator in 1976 [4][6][7][8]

The Hammond School campus in 1966. Like many segregation academies, the school flew the Confederate flag.[4][9]

The school was founded in 1966 as a segregation academy in response to the court ordered racial integration of public schools.[10][11][8] It is named for James Henry Hammond, who was a particularly brutal and outspoken proponent of slavery.[12] According to Tom Turnipseed, the first executive director of the South Carolina Independent School Association, 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.[13] One parent told that Los Angeles Times that she enrolled her children at Hammond Academy because "integration had turned the public schools upside down"[14]

In 1972, Hammond Academy's tax exemption was revoked by the IRS when it refused to document that it had a racially nondiscriminatory admissions policy.[15] In 1976, a school administrator told John Egerton the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 to focus on basic education[16]

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 was attempting to recruit minority students with scholarships.[4] By 1988, the Hammond School had regained its tax-exempt status.[17]

In 1989, the board of trustees voted to change the school's name to Hammond School.[6] According to Turnipseed, the name was changed in order to "moderate the shameful sensuality and radical racism of its namesake."[18]

In 2020, several alumni asked the school to discontinue the use of Hammond's name because of his history of incest, pedophilia and sexual abuse.[19]

Demographics

For the 2015–2016 school year, the Hammond School's student body was 82.2% white, 9.2% black and 4.5% Asian, with 3.3% of students being of two or more races.[2] In contrast, in the city of Columbia, 40.3% of children under 18 were white, 52.6% were black, and 1.4% were Asian, with 2.9% being of two or more races.[20]

Athletics

In 2018, the school won the SCISA class 3A football championship.[21] As of 2018, the Hammond School has won 16 football championships,[21] including 6 consecutive championships from 2006 to 2012.[22]

The Skyhawks won the boys basketball SCISA class 3A championship in 2015.[23]

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.[24]

Campus

The Hammond School is located in the Woodland Estates neighborhood in eastern Columbia, SC.[25] The campus is 219 acres (89 ha), including a 112 acres (45 ha) farm.[26] The farm has hosted equestrian competitions.[27]

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.[28]

Notable alumni

References
  1. "Hammond School | Search Faculty and Staff by Department and Grade | Hammond School". www.hammondschool.org. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  2. "Search for Private Schools - School Detail for Hammond School". nces.ed.gov. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  3. "Nonprofit Explorer - ProPublica". ProPublica.
  4. Egerton, John (1991-09-01). Archaeology of Louisiana: Dispatches from the Modern South. LSU Press. p. 238. ISBN 9780807117057.
  5. Claudia Smith Brinson (January 4, 2005). "'Choice' Debate Not New in S.C.". The State.
  6. Wachter, Paul (2015-02-10). "The Seventh Coming". Grantland. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. Coski, John M. (2009-06-30). The Confederate Battle Flag. Harvard University Press. p. 206. ISBN 9780674029866.
  10. Alexander, Gray, Kevin (2008). Waiting for lightning to strike : the fundamentals of black politics. Petrolia, Calif.: CounterPunch. p. 15. ISBN 978-1904859918. OCLC 301565818.
  11. Shuler, Jack (2013). Blood and Bone: Truth and Reconciliation in a Southern Town. Univ of South Carolina Press. ISBN 9781611174465.
  12. 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
  13. "Private schools at Columbia filling in wake of new plan". The Greenwood Index-Journal. July 25, 1968. p. 15.
  14. Marlene, Cimons (March 1, 1982). "White Academies: Dual School Systems in South Thrive". The Los Angeles Times. p. 1. Retrieved 2017-10-31.
  15. "Private schools tax break hit". The Times and Democrat (Orangeburg). March 2, 1972. p. 11.
  16. Griffin, Kitty (October 1969). "New Segregation academies are flourishing in the South". South Today: A Digest of Southern Affairs.
  17. "Cumulative list of organizations described in section 170 (c) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954. 1988". HathiTrust. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  18. Tom Turnipseed (January 19, 2009). ""Cotton is king" no more". The Orangeberg Times and Democrat. p. A6.
  19. Daprile, Lucas (August 25, 2020). "Some Hammond alumni want to rename school, distancing it from slave-owning pedophile". The State.
  20. Bureau, U.S. Census. "American FactFinder - Results". factfinder.census.gov. Archived from the original on 2020-02-13. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  21. "Dominant Hammond program delivers another SCISA football championship". thestate. Retrieved 2018-11-17.
  22. "Hammond's Kimrey could be fastest SC coach to reach 100 victories". thestate. 18 August 2017.
  23. "Hammond boys win SCISA Class 3A basketball state championship". thestate. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  24. "Hammond girls end state title drought".
  25. "Google Maps".
  26. "Hammond School | Accreditation, Programs, Fine Arts, Global Education | Hammond School". www.hammondschool.org. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  27. "Hammond hosts first Equestrian state meet". thestate. Retrieved 2017-12-03.
  28. "City OK's Columbia private school expansion". thestate. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
  29. "Hammond student gets big break | www.thecolumbiastar.com | Columbia Star". Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  30. Murray, Ken. "Recruit from S.C. picks Rice over Maryland". tribunedigital-baltimoresun. Retrieved 2017-11-29.
  31. "Scott turns dream into reality". Columbia Star. August 11, 2017. Retrieved 2017-11-28.
  32. Edwards, Pamela (June 5, 2009). "Prankster causes scenes in Big Apple". Colombia Star.
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