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Historic Black Haven
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After the Civil War, one of the biggest challenges for African Americans was getting an education. One school, deep in the South, shaped black history by becoming a haven and refuge for children seeking a better life. Today, Sager-Brown continues its long tradition of making a difference. |
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SCRIPT:
Evelyn Lewis is a living history book. For seven decades, she has lived near Bayou Teche in Baldwin, La., seeing ripples of change in her community.
Evelyn Lewis: “Hey, how you doing?”
Today she spends time at the United Methodist-supported Sager-Brown Center handing out food to seniors. Since the Civil War, Sager-Brown has been a haven from racial prejudice in the South. It was in this very place Lewis attended school as a child – a school that started when it was illegal to teach African Americans to read and write. What she learned helped her graduate from college at 19, and become a teacher.
Evelyn Lewis: “We had subjects here that the public schools didn't have then. In the 10th grade, I had chemistry and French.”
Sager-Brown gave Evelyn a life of opportunities as the nation struggled with segregation.
Evelyn Lewis: “I didn’t feel all of that prejudice and all because of being here.”
The school closed in 1978. It became a distribution center for relief supplies, after Hurricane Andrew battered Louisiana in 1992. It was almost like a resurrection that Sager-Brown was open again. Today, it is a depot for shipping disaster-relief supplies around the world.
Evelyn Lewis: “Now they are helping everybody, worldwide.”
Three generations of Evelyn Lewis’ family gained new opportunities here. Sager-Brown’s tradition of helping goes on, now reaching families far beyond this Louisiana bayou.
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Sager-Brown is now sending school kits to Afghanistan, where bombs damaged many schools. Last year, more than 2,700 volunteers came to the center to help put together relief kits.