Hammond School

Hammond School, originally James H. Hammond Academy, is a pre-K through 12 college preparatory private school in Columbia, South Carolina, founded in 1966. The school is an accredited day school with the South Carolina Independent School Association (SAIS) and the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS). The choir is known for its performance for Pope Francis at the 2017 New Years Day Mass at St. Peter's Basilica. The school, which was founded as a segregation academy, is known for its athletic and academic accomplishments. The school's namesake, James Henry Hammond, – a brutal slaveholder known for raping his brother's four daughters as well as his sexual exploitation of enslaved women – has been a source of enduring controversy. The current Hammond School head is Andy North. History The school was founded in 1966 as a segregation academy in response to the court ordered racial integration of public schools. It is named for James Henry Hammond, a particularly brutal and outspoken proponent of slavery. Like other segregation academies, the Hammond's name was chosen to buttress the lost cause myth in support of historical revisionism. Tom Turnipseed commented Hammond's "name was chosen because his grandson contributed significant money to the school's founding, and Confederate big-wigs were favored as names for white-flight private schools started as part of the backlash to impending racial desegregation of public schools." The school's enrollment surged in 1968 when details of the public school desegregation busing plan were released. One parent told that Los Angeles Times that she enrolled her children at Hammond Academy because "integration had turned the public schools upside down"