Honoring Sumter's history

On Wednesday, May 13, a state historical marker was unveiled on Stamey Livestock Road near Frierson Road and Dalzell at the site of the former Dalzell School for Sumter Turks. About 20 people whose parents and older relatives had attended the school were on hand, and City of Sumter Mayor Pro Tem James Blassingame read a proclamation to the attendees.

The Turks were a dark-skinned farming community who settled in the High Hills section of Sumter County by the early 1800s. For an extensive period, Turk students did not attend school with white or Black children in Sumter County.

About 1930, all Turk students attended Dalzell School. In 1935-36, a new three-classroom school building was constructed on Stamey Livestock with support from the federal New Deal and staffed by white teachers. In 1950, Turk families successfully sued to gain admission to local white high schools. Later, through challenges, white elementary schools began to allow Turk students in 1961. Soon after, Dalzell School closed.

The Sumter Tribe of the Cheraw Indians sponsored the marker, according to Vice Chief Tammy Ray Stevens.