{"nrhp_refnum":"86001371","name":"Dorchester Academy Boys' Dormitory","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"8787 East Oglethorpe Highway (US 84)","address_restricted":false,"city":"Midway","county":"Liberty County","state":"GA","lat":31.800799951000045,"lon":-81.46527873499997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-06-23","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"2006-09-20","areas_of_significance":["Black","Education","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick Georgian Revival dormitory building at 8787 East Oglethorpe Highway (U.S. 84) in Midway, Liberty County, Georgia, built in 1934 to replace an 1890s boys' dormitory destroyed by fire in 1932. It is the only surviving building of the Dorchester Academy boarding school campus.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building was the main training site of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Citizenship Education Program between 1961 and 1970, which taught thousands of Southern Black residents the skills to pass voter registration tests. It also hosted a January 1963 SCLC leadership retreat that planned the Birmingham Campaign, and it is tied to educator Septima Poinsette Clark. It is nominated under Criteria 1 and 2 with Exception 8 because the events occurred less than fifty years earlier.","narrative":"Dorchester Academy Boys' Dormitory in Midway, Georgia, is a brick, two-story Georgian Revival building completed in 1934 after fire destroyed an earlier dormitory. It is the only structure left from a boarding school founded by the American Missionary Association for African American children after the Civil War. Architect George Awsumb is credited with the design, which included steam heat, a living room and library, and student bedrooms upstairs. After the school closed in 1940, the building became a community center. Its national importance comes from the 1960s, when the Southern Christian Leadership Conference used it as the main training site for the Citizenship Education Program. Led by Septima Poinsette Clark, the program helped establish 897 citizenship schools across the South and prepared people to pass voter registration tests. In January 1963, top SCLC officials also met there to plan the Birmingham Campaign. The building keeps much of its 1960s appearance, including the sitting room and auditorium used for workshops.","period_of_significance":"1961-1970","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Georgian Revival","criteria":["A","B"],"status_note":"Used as a community center; described as highly intact with minor changes, and a restoration project began in 1997.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.982422-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/86001371_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001371/4ea77ac4aa-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86001371/4ea77ac4aa-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Ebyabe","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_Midway_Dorchester_Academy_Boys_Dorm01.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Ebyabe</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GA_Midway_Dorchester_Academy_Boys_Dorm01.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206779","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dorchester_Academy","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5297594"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/liberty-county/dorchester-academy-boys-dormitory-86001371/"}