COLUMBIA, S.C. — Back in 1948, a community was planned in North Columbia for African American veterans returning to the Jim Crow era South from World War II.
These veterans were looking to exercise the freedoms they'd fought for and were able to buy homes for their families and create a new way of life for themselves, despite the racial tensions around them.
When you talk to the people who called Greenview home, they speak with pride about their community richly rooted in history.
"We were a community,” said Ida Thompson. “Everyone knew everyone else, and we loved each other, we respected each other, and we supported one another."
Ida Thompson is working to make sure her beloved community of Greenview is remembered and celebrated. A librarian by trade, Thompson is a member of the Greenview Reunion Foundation and the North Columbia Civic Club. Two groups that are instrumental in the success of this community.
"I think our history is always important,” says Thompson. “We have to know our roots and we have to know from where we came so that we have a good perspective on how to move forward."
History that’s near and dear to people like Bernetha Lorick Moultrie and Harned Gaitor.
"I was born in North, South Carolina,” said Lorick Moultrie. “My father being a GI veteran, of course he wanted to move away from the farmland, so he brought my mom, his wife, high school sweetheart to Columbia with his three little girls."
Moultrie’s family were some of the first to move into a new planned development in North Columbia, formed in 1948 as a result of the provisions of the GI Bill, also known as the Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944.
"Daddy learned about Greenview and he being a veteran with the honorable discharge, he was eligible for to buy a home here in the Greenview community."
Black families seized the opportunity to own their own home and to live the American dream.
"It was a great opportunity and every home in the community was exactly the same,” says Thompson. “There may have been a different color, but in terms of what was in the house, it was the same."
"I think the heart of any community obviously are the people who live there,” says Thompson. “Our parents seized the opportunity to become homeowners for the first time. That was a big, big step for these young families."
"I think the going price that their mortgage was about $54 a month at that time with little or no down payment,” says Lorick Moulrie. “Dad qualified, moved us into a house that had shiny floors, running water and an indoor bathroom."
Lorick-Moultrie’s school classmate Harned Gaitor has fond memories of growing up in a simpler time, where doors were always open.
"I remember it was a joyous time. All of us kids, we played together,” said Gaitor. “The parents knew us. If you got hungry, there's no problem. You know, you could eat at what whoever's house you were at, and they made sure of that. There was a lot of pride in growing up in this community."
The community was self-sustaining and according to Historic Columbia, by the 1970’s had nearly 3000 residents.
"If you need anything done, if it was some specialty work, carpentry, painting, wallpapering, flooring or anything like that, all you had to do is put the word out and there was someone in the community who specialized in that,” said Gaitor.
"Every business was right here in the community,” said Thompson. “Dry cleaners and dress shops, and a grocery store. Everything was right here. It was just a beautiful community to grow up in."
The adults in Greenview did a good job of creating a haven within the community, but there were growing pains and struggles residents had to face.
"There was discrimination against that community,” said Eric Friendly with Historic Columbia. “The developers who built Greenview, while they did build quality homes, they didn't necessarily put in the proper infrastructure to make that community stable."
"They had a lot of drainage problems and a lot of people there relied on septic tanks and so every time you would have like a really bad rain, it, it would just flood, and septic tanks would overflow,” said Friendly.
Residents say community leaders stepped up and led when needed, like Reverend CJ Whitaker and former educator Mr. Norman Pendergrass.
"They worked to make sure that we got electricity, that the sewage issues were addressed and that roads were paved,” said Thompson. “All of those amenities that you would expect to have in a community, but it was through their diligence, their hard work, and their commitment that those things happened."
"Wherever you go, you carry your name,” said Lorick Moulrie. “And we in Greenview grew up that way."
The Greenview Reunion Foundation was established in the Spring of 2003 by former residents committed to giving back to their community.
The foundations’ objective is to enhance the community and to provide academic scholarships to deserving high school students who are residents or descendants of residents of the Greenview community.