Located in Edwards, MS, Southern Christian Institute was a private boarding school for black students during the Jim Crow era, when public schools for black students only went through the 8th or 11th grades. It was founded after Reconstruction, in 1882, by the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), and closed in 1953. It merged with Tougaloo College, but the campus in Edwards was quiet until it was used as a site of voter registration training during the civil rights movement and then housed the Bonner-Campbell School of Religion, of the A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) denomination, for a period beginning in 1971. In subsequent years, it has been used as a retreat center, Head Start school, and community center.
Sources:
Preservation in Mississippi website: https://misspreservation.com/2010/12/01/abandoned-mississippi-southern-christian-institute/
https://worldofdecay.blogspot.com/2010/12/bonner-campbell-institute-edwards.html
Oral history of Erma Sias Bien-Aimé, July 29, 2017