The disparity between the quality of education that Summerton provides its black and white children is apparent. Clarendon One traditionally has been one of the state's worst school districts in terms of student test scores and other measures. This doesn't mean gifted students and teachers haven't been there; nor does it mean some programs in the schools haven't been successful. Overall results tell a dismal story, however: Nearly half the ninth graders in Summerton do not graduate four years later, according to state data. Last year's average SAT score at Scott's Branch High School was 761--the lowest average of any high school in South Carolina and hundreds of points lower than state and national averages.

Still, there are a few signs of progress. Earlier this school year, the town's public elementary school, St. Paul Primary School, saw major gains in test scores. Scott's Branch High last year saw double-digit gains in the percentage of students passing the state's high school exit exam on their first try. School leaders believe that with better motivation, increased training for teachers and help from state-sponsored academic coaches, scores will continue to rise. St. Paul has made distinct aesthetic improvements, and local officials want to replace the school's cramped, aging building with a new campus.

In general, though, the largely African-American public school system has little ability to raise extra money to improve itself. The school district must rely on local property taxes to supplement state funding for schools, which is currently under court challenge from rural school districts, including Clarendon One. That court case is being heard this year, just six miles from Summerton in the county seat of Manning, where the schools are far more integrated. Since few businesses exist in the Summerton area, there is little to tax beyond the property owners, who pay some of the state's highest tax rates (although several years ago the town did pass its first-ever tax increase for school buildings, with the support of some white taxpayers, which helped fund the construction of Scott's Branch High School).

Clarendon Hall, the private school, offers more of its students a chance to attend college or pursue professional careers, but its test scores don't compare well with more reputable preparatory academies, even ones in South Carolina. The average SAT score, for example,is substantially better than the average at Scott's Branch, but still has rated below the national average. While administrators say most of Clarendon Hall's graduates proceed directly to college, and while parents may be attracted by more substantial music and art programs that the public schools cannot always match, the private school's students miss out on interaction with students and teachers of different backgrounds. The small size of the campus helps more students participate in athletics and other activities, but Clarendon Hall's size and limited budget keep teacher salaries around $17,000 a year, and there are no health benefits, making teacher recruitment and retention a serious issue. Even the struggling public schools in Summerton pay teachers more.

Segregation in the town reaches beyond the schools. Of course, many US cities and suburbs have problems with residential and educational segregation. But while settings in education, commerce and houses of worship are becoming more integrated in some South Carolina communities and in suburban and urban areas of the American South, people in Summerton remain racially separated, and some close observers strongly suggest that this is rooted in the tension around the school desegregation case.

Joseph Elliott, a grandson of R.M. Elliott, the white school board chairman in Summerton who was the lead defendant in the Supreme Court case, says he can't even talk about the ordeal with some of his neighbors and friends because of his more moderate views. After a career in public schools in more integrated parts of the state, he became headmaster at Clarendon Hall. He recalls that before his retirement three years ago, he was stunned when some white parents objected to the all-white school playing its first-ever basketball game against Scott's Branch High, just up the road.

As the fiftieth anniversary of the Brown decision arrives, Summerton is gaining notoriety. There is evidence South Carolinians are more willing to reflect on the school desegregation case and its meaning, and on issues of race and ethnicity. Universities are holding symposiums and lectures about the case. Newspapers that have reflected little on the case in the past are publishing special sections on Summerton. A play about the Summerton struggle and some of its key figures, The Seat of Justice, debuted in February at Charleston's historic Dock Street Theatre, featuring a remarkably blunt portrayal of white town leaders in Summerton and state officials from the era, including lawyer Robert Figg, once an aide to Strom Thurmond.

Yet visitors to Summerton without prior knowledge of the Briggs case would find little evidence of it in the community today. While a historical museum would be an appropriate memorial to the families involved in the case--not to mention a valuable educational resource and tourist draw for those traveling nearby Interstate 95--the town has no such exhibit or even substantial monument marking the case. The only signs that Summerton is where the Brown cases began are a state historical marker in disrepair at Liberty Hill African Methodist Episcopal Church outside Summerton (where De Laine's father was a longtime minister and several plaintiffs were members and are buried), and a brick-and-concrete marker in front of the old Scott's Branch High School, now the town's public middle school, across from the lot where the De Laine home stood before the fire.

This spring, some of Summerton's residents will celebrate the legacy of the Rev. De Laine and others who were part of Briggs v. Elliott. There will be a parade, guest speakers and the annual fundraising banquet for the Briggs-De Laine-Pearson Foundation, a group that hopes to raise money for a visitor center and parenting classes.

Once this year's events have passed, Summerton will return to its struggle with history. How the residents decide to proceed--with regard to politics, social life and the dual education system that helps define life in the town--will define more clearly the legacy of the Briggs case. The Rev. De Laine and his followers somehow had more clarity in the 1940s, pressed into service by the tension of the times and bolstered by the courage that Summerton would do well to remember today.

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Alan Richard writes about the South and rural America for Education Week, the leading national K-12 education newspaper. A South Carolina native and former journalist there, he is writing a book about Summerton's role in the Brown v. Board cases, marking the fiftieth anniversary of the court decision.

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