Sunlight blankets the tall, unkempt grass and speckles through the dense tree canopy. Underneath it rests a modest, single-room building, weathered with red and white paint. The schoolhouse has no current function — just a building to behold and remember.
There is no sign informing visitors what they are looking at. There are no visitors, save for the symphony of chirping birds and rustling trees. A wooden bar across the front door weakly dissuades intruders. It is not necessary. The residents of Rutledge and Liberty Hill, in Alachua County, already know what is inside.
While the schoolhouse remains silent, the building in front of it erupts in people making noise every Sunday. The Greater Liberty Hill Methodist Church is one of the last remaining nuclei of the community for its Black residents, who have seen the area they grew up in succumb to growing developments and fading historical awareness…