GEORGETOWN — Georgetown County and the county council face a lawsuit in federal court over the 2021 denial of a rezoning request for an affordable housing proposal near Wedgefield Plantation.
The complaint alleges the motivation in denying the rezoning included “racism and classism,” and that denial of the rezoning will cause “substantial and disproportionate harm to Black households” in Georgetown County.
The complaint was filed Nov. 16 in U.S. District Court in Charleston.
The complaint names as plaintiffs the South Carolina and Georgetown County chapters of the NAACP, FourSix Development and We Do Good Work.
FourSix is a Lexington-based housing developer while We Do Good Work is a limited liability company founded by FourSix for the purpose of the affordable housing proposal in question. It entails a 90-unit multifamily housing development on 16 acres of land north of Georgetown near the intersection of U.S. Highway 701 and Wedgefield Road.
“This denial of safe, decent affordable housing will increase housing insecurity among Black residents and contribute to a litany of harms including increased housing cost burden, continued exposure to unsafe housing conditions in dilapidated structures, and reduced access to the jobs and community amenities near the proposed location of Porter’s Landing,” the complaint reads.
The project, dubbed Porter’s Landing, succeeded on a second reading vote before county council in May 2021 but failed on its final third reading vote two weeks later. It had previously met unanimous conditional approval by the Georgetown County Planning Commission.
“Georgetown County’s recent housing needs assessment recognized the severe shortage of affordable housing in the County and found that this shortage was limiting economic growth. And the County’s own planning documents have long identified affordable housing as a priority,” litigation attorney Adam Protheroe of the S.C. Appleseed Legal Justice Center said in a Nov. 16 press release from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
GEORGETOWN — Elizabeth Humphrey’s passion for mentoring students in Orangeburg County recently earned her a trip to not only Washington, D.C., but also to the White House.
Since graduating from Claflin University in 2005, the Georgetown County native has dedicated her career to serving others through education or by just simply lending a hand. Those are two values the 41-year-old received from her parents growing up in rural Plantersville.
Georgetown Times
“They instilled in me the value of education, helping people, being humble and keeping God first,” Humphrey said. “Those are the biggest things I can say my parents did in shaping my life to where I am today.”
Humphrey grew up amid oak trees on 30 acres of land in Plantersville. One of her fondest memories is of her father cutting grass surrounded by chickens and the family’s dog.
“My dad is a pastor, so every Sunday we were in church no matter what,” Humphrey said. “But sitting out there in the summertime with a glass of sweet tea, or just running up and down the yard. Me and my sister used to ride bikes until it was dark. It was just the experience of just being at peace out there surrounded by open land. Just beautiful.”
Yet the Georgetown High School graduate never had an inkling that one day she would walk through the doors of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. that has been the official residence and workplace of every U.S. president since John Adams.
Currently an instructional coach at Robert E. Howard Middle School, Humphrey was invited along with other women from across the United States to the White House for the “Know Your Value Event” with First Lady Dr. Jill Biden and MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski. She was recognized for her dedication to mentoring students in the Orangeburg County School District.
“I did an interview with the National Education Association maybe six months ago, but I never heard back from them,” Humphrey said. “They asked me how I mentored students in my current role as a teacher; as an instructional coach, and that was it. I never heard anything else.”
But one day — out of the blue — Humphrey received a phone call from her friend Sherry East, president of The South Carolina Education Association.
“She was like, ‘Liz, you are going to the White House.’ I was like, ‘No way, not me,’” Humphrey said. “So about two days after the call, I got the invite. I was like ‘Is this real?’”
Reality set in Jan. 10 when Humphrey stepped inside the doors of the White House and was greeted with a tea party before going into the East Room where Brzezinski interviewed Biden and answered questions from the invitees.
“Just being inside the White House and the East Room was amazing,” Humphrey said. “All of the people greeted us with a smile, even the security guards and security detail.”
Humphrey said the White House is bigger than it looks on television, describing it as pristine, bright and very neat. She was able to observe the portraits of all of the past presidents.
East said she was not surprised that Humphrey was invited to the White House event.
“She is a very dedicated educator,” East said. “She goes above and beyond for her students and her community. I first came across Liz when she was the district teacher of the year. I met with her and worked with her on a project to create a clothes closet for students in her school. She sees a need and she goes for it.
“If a student’s computer breaks down, she goes to their house. She worries about her students. She becomes part of their lives.”
Humphrey, who will graduate in May with a specialist degree in principalship, said her love for service started years ago when she came to Orangeburg County as a science teacher.
“My most impactful experience was helping one of my students that lost their home and everything,” she said. “Me and a couple of teachers here were able to provide clothing, toiletries, kitchen appliances —whatever they needed. It helped to make them comfortable until the government could kick in assistance to help them recover.”
Every year during Christmas, Humphrey’s class of 30 students would adopt a family, providing gifts and clothing. That effort inspired others and soon the entire school participated.
Humphrey has a long list of honors in her career including teacher of the year, 40 under 40 recognition from Claflin University, NAACP Educator of the Year award and many others.
She credits her parents, Ben and Willie Mae Grate; husband Albert and two of her elementary school teachers, Angela Prioleau and Hermenia Bell, for being role models in her life.
“They (Prioleau and Bell) came to work every day, always dressed professionally and had a great mindset to teach students how to learn,” she said. “They were amazing.”
These days Humphrey continues to mentor students as well as recruit more young women to become teachers in South Carolina. She also strives to instill the same values into her 7-year-old daughter Ashley.
“She was excited to see her mom on TV,” Humphrey said. “She was like, ‘I want to be next.’ Hopefully I will rub off on her that one day her and other girls that I impact can sit in that White House seat and just be amazed.’”
Humphrey also has advice for the youth of Georgetown County.
“Know your why,” Humphrey said. “That’s instilled in my students here. Love yourself and always be willing to help others because you never know what somebody is going through.”
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