S.L. Finley Restoration Association

08/20/2026

NOTICE: Photo ID session SATURDAY 10am Finley High School - Caldwell Street.

Join us as we work our way through the Nichols Collection and help identify the people in this expansive and important collection. Class of 1950 shown

07/15/2026

Come and get it! Best hash around. Come and support the SLFRA!

02/18/2026

https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenation.com%2Farticle%2Fpolitics%2Fdemocratic-party-populism-jesse-jackson%2F%3Ffbclid%3DIwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAYnJpZBEydDhyb2k4TUw1b0x1ZnRWSnNydGMGYXBwX2lkEDIyMjAzOTE3ODgyMDA4OTIAAR6m2PJ8N5dw1yxSekG2zXe5x1H-20ds2mZL1ze9KbS7nHXbf1neeZY71fW_-w_aem_fsaFKBswjfRzo1GbxeOFww&h=AT3xgbm4H7S2Wjj3BMl0zYKgvLSj339rJwnTlteDfWxJUl2lXVhpooURddfdQExF7PG7017UDKptpWY4gqGkFx2io60XgXPR88o4PqhSX-_2wW_FeKPbgwl3K7bn-Pivtvt4VFkdz2mrVvaa&__tn__=H-R&c[0]=AT1CFuU3edeNUtvNqd3UQcpUv0nQxL-Gw-70riHY-FUauIQ4pJwUXXeZCHFdn1VaGwmdori-EHEoG2XZP9ObHT_S7A1GQ2Ep1B3zuuIgOX_TDM585ZmTflcX7Zx0uJH4WhiFCJeJgSKjT0yhQTzPPRUXq-NjCVGTL5IZK9X8Eepxv6UNvw

Rest in Peace

In the face of Reagan’s right-wing presidency, he offered a vision, strategy, and agenda that would have led Democrats and the country in a very different direction.

02/12/2026

Every Sunday Morning for years the Southern Harmoneers played gospel music on WGCD for our listening enjoyment.

We have several members named but not all! Can you help fill in the blanks?

Left to Right, First Row: John McCoy, William Kennedy, Jesee McCollough

2nd Row: James Spense "Dub", Frank "Junior" Gaston, Harrison Dye, Chalmus "Sack" Kennedy, JT Caldwell.

Correct?

02/12/2026

There will also be PHOTO IDENTIFICATION sessions! We still have thousands of people unidentified.

02/12/2026

Notice! Do you recognize anyone in this photo? If so, please contact us! This image was chosen by filmmakers of the Scribe Video Center to be included in a video display/film.

If you know anyone, or if you are IN the photo, please contact the SLFRA or send us a message here. We are happy that these images are available and add substance to the story they are telling.

02/05/2026

Have you ever heard the story of Jack Potts? Jack Potts was enslaved by Thomas Potts, who in his will left an 8 year-old boy (the same age as Jack would have been) to his son John.

This tombstone stands today on private property. It is the only tombstone in what is obviously a graveyard with approximately another 30 or so graves as far as we know.

The image is of a rubbing taken from the actual tombstone over 38 years ago. We did not edit it or add to it in any way. It reads:

To the Memory of old Jack, His soul was white, though His skin was black.
Here he lies beneath the soil, An honest man, the noblest
Work of God.
The faithful servant of Capt. Thos. Potts, And late his son JOHN,

Who saved all his property from the plunder of the enemy in the war of the Revolution.

Died Feb. 1824. Aged 76 Years

02/04/2026

Ida R. Massey was Chesters first African-American photographer, trained by Henry Nichols. She had her own studio on Gadsden Street. She photographed the 1927 Finley High graduating class and that image is one of the few known to exist. She published "Ida Massey's Cook Book" when she was in her 80's.

From the book "Partners with the Sun" South Carolina Photographers in South Carolina 1840-1940:
..Eighteen of the twenty-seven African-American photographers practiced their profession between 1909 and 1932. Only Charles Spears in Sumter for the year 1934, Ida R. Massey in the mid thirties, Richard Samuel Roberts for the years 1933-36 and Cornelius Glover in Charleston for the year 1940 are documented as having practiced photography...