Midlands Technical College continued to celebrate Black History Month with its ninth annual Harbison History Day.

On Feb. 21, several alumni of the Harbison Institute gathered at Midlands Technical College’s Harbison campus for a luncheon and ceremonial bell ringing.

The Harbison campus sits on the former grounds of the Harbison Institute. According to a release, the Institute was originally founded in Abbeville in 1882 and was relocated to Harbison in 1911 and operated until 1958.

“During those years, higher education opportunities were very limited for African Americans, but Harbison Institute graduates went on to become teachers, lawyers, and civic leaders,” the release notes.

Ronald Rhames, Midlands Tech’s president, said the event started when they recognized that they need to celebrate the history of the Midlands Tech campus, adding that part of that acknowledgement is for the alumni who graduated and what the institution meant to its community.

The bell tower, located behind the Harbison Theater, holds a replica of a class bell, something Rhames discovered roughly 25 years ago when he was touring the campus.

“I discovered the bell was on the outside in the weather zone to stand, but it wasn't protected. It was not in a place worthy of something as historic as this.”

Rhames said he then started working with the Board of Trustees and administration to build for the bell tower the replica it holds today.

During the event the bell was rung by Randall Jackson, Midlands Tech’s commissioner, Sandra Jackson, chair of  the Midland Tech Commision, and former students of the Harbison Institute Lorraine Murray and Leon Smith.

“It's personally gratifying to get to know these people and have spent some time with them,” Rhames said. “It's just an amazing feeling when I think about what they did, what they sacrificed to get an education when it was difficult during a time for African Americans, period.:

“To me, it demonstrates what I call the power of education.”

Sandra Jackson touched on the sacrifices made by African-Americans who pursued their education at a time when that was far more difficult than it is today, adding that she is the first commision chair of Midlands Tech that is an alumni of the school.

“To be a woman of color, to serve in this capacity, but for the roads that they have traveled to get me to this point today,” she said. “It is all worth it.”