It was a blistering hot day in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Hot as day of 2006, I call it in June.

A crowd of people had gathered outside the front door of an old four-room school house.

The air was thick with humidity and anticipation.

A stretch limousine pulled up, and eight individuals got out.

They were in their 70s and 80s, but they were wearing bright blue graduation gowns.

This was their school.

Their community had built it for them back in the early 1930s.

Before they were allowed to attend the local schools where white kids went.

It was called the Myrtle Beach Colored School.

And on this day, the students were back to collect the diplomas they'd earned decades earlier.

And it was not a jot-eye in that crowd.

It was absolutely beautiful.

At that moment, we forgot that it felt like 200 degrees.

You know, it was absolutely beautiful.

I'm Sarah Weiman, and this is Atlas Obscura, a celebration of the world's strange, incredible, and wondrous places.

Today, the story of a community that came together in the 1930s to build this school house.

And then came together again in the early 2000s to build it a second time to preserve its legacy.

The historic Myrtle Beach Colored School Museum and Education Center.

After this.

My name is Mary Cookie, Kanti Goans, and the name Cookie was given to me by my great-grandfather, our mama's granddaddy.

I am a daughter of Myrtle Beach.

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