North of Main: Spartanburg's Historic Black Neighborhoods of North Dean Street, Gas Bottom, and Back of the College

by Brenda Lee Pryce, Jim Neighbors, Betsy Wakefield Teter

New neighborhoods began emerging north of Main Street in Spartanburg, South Carolina in the 1870s as emancipated Black men and women spent their hard-won post-slavery wages to purchase lots and build homes. As the decades rolled by, they and their descendants established a string of neighborhoods encompassing hundreds of houses, stretching from modern day Barnet Park to the edge of Spartanburg Regional Medical Center.

North of Main is the story of how this district rose and how it disappeared. In its pages, meet the pioneering Black men and women who lived and worked in these early clergymen, educators, newsmen, artisans, attorneys, physicians, activists, musicians, caregivers, and more. In the face of frequent oppression, they laid a strong foundation for those who followed them. The history of the place they built is extraordinary in its demonstration of the heroism, courage, determination, and pride of Black citizens of Spartanburg who built dynamic and historically significant neighborhoods in treacherous times.

250 pages, Hardcover

Published October 22, 2024

Reviews

[Beverlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Spartanburg native, a Social Studies teacher, and a Black woman-of course I’m going to read North of Main. This book is much needed and I appreciate the authors, the interviewers, the residents who shared their memories, and the sponsors of North of Main for this book.
The first question that came to mind as I was reading was “what is the price of progress?” North of Main begins with the establishment of African American communities during Reconstruction, the years immediately following the end of the Civil War. Spartanburg, like most Southern cities & towns was not welcoming to African Americans being citizens with equal rights as white citizens. But North of Main doesn’t just focus on injustices inflicted on African Americans by the KKK & white society; it’s also an account of how African Americans survived and in many instances, thrived during a period of legalized segregation. I think North of Main’s greatest strength is when the reader gets a chance to connect with the residents of Back of the College (reference to Wofford College), Gas Bottom, and N.Dean Street via reading their memories and seeing primary sources from multiple sources to add context to the story. The community created was one that provided safety to its residents and affirmed their humanity in a society that attempted to keep African Americans in a less-than position.
So what happened to the communities African Americans had to fight to establish? Multiple reasons can be given for the slow and methodical erasure of these historic neighborhoods. With school integration, attendance at Cumming Street School lessened and schools were closed and/or reorganized as middle schools or junior highs ( former African American high schools). With the law no longer allowing racial covenants restrict where African Americans could live, some left their neighborhoods voluntarily and chose to rent out their property. Not everyone left, several families chose to stay in their homes and the ugliness known as urban renewal, growth, and gentrification crept into Spartanburg, especially having a negative impact north and south of Main St. The question of cost becomes especially heavy as properties are purchased by Wofford College to further its expansion goals, particularly after the Carolina Panthers decide to hold summer camp at Wofford. The land in the school’s eyes is needed for practice fields, a new stadium, student housing, etc. Can a dollar amount be placed on legacy? Ultimately a system designed to maintain & keep power was able to get what it desired, the land that the first African American communities stood on. There’s a lot of movement that occurs between 1865 and 2024. There’s a small portion that remains and I hope it stays put.
It was an honor to read about Mary H. Wright, Tobe Hartwell, Louvenia Barksdale, Nina Littlejohn, Wynona Douglas, the founding of Silver Hill United Methodist, Trinity AME, Cummings St Baptist, Muckenfuss Broom Factory, Dean St School, Kiddie Kollege, Cumming St School, and so much more. There’s a lot of history in Spartanburg that isn’t widely known and North of Main shines a light on a community that thrived and resisted second class status until it couldn’t. It is my hope that with the addition of North of Main to the record, inclusion and equity become the norm not the exception.