Penn Community Services and Martin Luther King, Jr.

As regular readers of this blog know, Beaufort District is a uniquely historic place with a broad, multifaceted story to tell and share. You may have visited the Beaufort County sites in the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park. Some historians refer to Reconstruction as the "first Civil Rights Movement" because of its ideals and the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments to the United States Constitution. Not only did Beaufort District play a key role during the "First Civil Rights Movement" during Reconstruction, it played a role in the Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century too. 

For 13 years, one man had the most recognized face and most resounding voice advocating for equal rights for all United States citizens. From the age of 26 until his assassination in 1968 at age 39 years old, Martin Luther King Jr. advocated for fair and equal application of all US laws and full benefits of citizenship for minorities. 

Many residents are unaware that Martin Luther King, Jr. and other members of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference  (SCLC) used to visit Penn Center (then called Penn Community Services) for respite from their public political activities campaigning for Civil Rights during the 1960s. It is said that he wrote much of his "I Have a Dream" speech at Penn on St. Helena Island. On 28 August 1963 during the "March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom," King was the final speaker of the day - because no one else wanted to go last. It is ironic that arguably his most famous speech "I Have a Dream" does not include those words in his prepared text. King went off script and spoke extemporaneously when the "I Have a Dream" cadence in the speech begins. Researchers are fortunate that many of the country's television stations broadcast King's speech live. 

https://www.history.com/articles/i-have-a-dream-speech

In the vast universe of resources about the life and legacy of Martin Luther King, Jr. (January 15, 1929 - April 4, 1968), there are 4 gems in the BDC's holdings that I want to highlight for you:  

1. I Will Not Be Silent and I will be Heard:" Martin Luther King, Jr. by J. Tracy Power (Columbia, SC: South Carolina Dept. of Archives & History, Public Programs Division, c1993) is available in the BDC Research Room as well as from the Local History sections at your favorite Beaufort County Branch Library.
2. Chapter 4 of Penn Center: A History Preserved by Orville Vernon Burton is dedicated to the discussion of Penn Center's role in the Civil Rights Movement. This book is also available in the BDC Research Room as well as from the Local History sections at your favorite Beaufort County Branch Library. If you prefer an e-book, Hoopla has got you covered.
3. VF KING, MARTIN LUTHER, JR. (1929-1968) consists of newspaper and magazine articles about his time in Beaufort County during the 1960s.
4. In 2009, Beaufort County Broadcast Services filmed Rosa Cummings, now retired, but then head of the BCL's Technical Services department, performing King's "I Have a Dream" speech on DVD at Penn Center in front of Gantt Cottage where King stayed while planning the March on Washington. The speech is approximately 6 minutes long. We have equipment in the BDC Research Room for you to watch the short video.

For other materials about Dr. King, the SCLENDS catalog includes more than 1000 items about this important American, and Hoopla has a suggested list of more than 250 books, movies and audiobooks about him for kids, teens, and adults. The Library has a Martin Luther King, Jr. Pinterest style page of books and articles posted on our website, too. 

Sometimes we forget how national figures touch -- and are touched by -- places we drive by on a daily basis.  

Reminder: The Library system will be closed tomorrow Monday, January 19, 2026 in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr.'s legacy. 

SOURCES:

Reconstruction Era National Historical Park https://www.nps.gov/reer/learn/index.htm

"The Constitution: Amendments 11 -27," America's Founding Documents, National Archives,  https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/amendments-11-27

"The Southern Christian Leadership Conference History," https://nationalsclc.org/legacy/

"The 1963 March on Washington," NAACP website, https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/1963-march-washington 

"I Have a Dream Speech," History.com website https://www.history.com/articles/i-have-a-dream-speech 

Registration Opens Today: Shrimp Tales with Beverly Jennings

Registration opens today for the third lecture in Season 6 of the joint Beaufort History Museum- Beaufort County Library local history series coordinated by the Beaufort District Collection. We turn our attention to the history of one of our local seafood industries, commercial shrimping. 

Shrimping is a tough, messy business full of physical risks and economic hardships. Beverly Jennings interviewed over 65 fishermen, marine biologists and others to explore the commercial shrimping life along the southeastern coast to create an exhibit for the Sharon and Dick Stewart Maritime Center - which in turn led to the publication of her book Shrimp Tales: Small Bites of History in 2020.  

The book explores the trade that started in Florida and eventually found its way up to Georgetown, SC. There are lots of photographs, illustrations, quotes from shrimpers and even some recipes you can cook at home after the program.

Beverly Bowers Jennings has loved the sea since age 6 when her father built a white rowboat named Little Fish for her. A Master Naturalist, Jennings has designed exhibits for the Port Royal Sound Maritime Center and Coastal Discovery Museum.  She has been featured on Walter Edgar’s Journal,  Local Life magazine, and SCETV’s By The River series.

Registration is required. Space is limited. Reservations will close when room capacity is reached.  Please note that this BHM/BCL local history program coordinated by the BDC will be held at the St. Helena Branch Library located at 6355 Jonathan Francis, Sr. Road. 

Just a reminder: We learned by trial and error that the 2 weeks window for registration resulted in getting the most butts in seats. We are pleased that our programs have been quite popular in the past, often "selling out" all seats. However, even with the shorter registration period, we may have no-shows. Therefore, we decided that a reservation holds a seat for you up to 1:54 pm the day of the program. Any seats vacant at 1:55 pm are offered to others on stand-by to enter the session until room capacity is reached. So don't be late! 

Season 6 of the BHM-BCL Local History Series Roster

With the cooperation of the Beaufort History Museum, I am proud to announce the roster for Season 6 of our joint Local History series. Programs will be in-person only and registration is required. Our roster covers the 17th - early 21st centuries: Proprietary period, Civil War era, a local seafood industry, and drug smuggling. In other words, there is something for everyone! Please take particular note of the location in which program will be held. Sometimes we will be at Beaufort Branch Library and sometimes we will be at St. Helena Branch Library.

1. Tuesday, October 4, 2022 @ Beaufort Branch Library | 2 PM – Jackson Canady re: 11^th South Carolina Volunteers CSA | Registration opens: September 20th on the BHM website

Learn about the history of Beaufort’s Civil War era 11th South Carolina Volunteers Confederate regiment.. Canady will cover  the local men who served, the battles they fought, and the struggles they encountered.                  

Jackson Canaday is a resident of the city of Beaufort. He grew up in Beaufort learning about his many local Confederate ancestors, which instilled a fascination for historical research-primarily of the 11th South Carolina Volunteers.  In these efforts, he has read many soldiers' personal letters and records, tracked their individual journeys throughout the war, and located and cleaned numerous final resting places of men within his ancestors' unit.

Registration opens September 20, 2022 at https://beauforthistorymuseum.wildapricot.org/event-4884467. 

2. Tuesday, December 6, 2022 @ St. Helena Branch Library | 2 PM – John Warley re: Tuscarora Jack Barnwell | Registration opens: November 22^nd on the BHM website 

Learn about Colonel John “Tuscarora Jack” Barnwell (1671-1724) whose contribution to the survival of Beaufort and the other English settlements in both North and South Carolina has not been fully appreciated.  Both the Yamasee and Tuscarora Indians made concerted efforts to drive the colonists into the Atlantic, and both failed largely due to Tuscarora Jack’s courage, skill and determination. And when it came time for South Carolina to free itself from the clutches of the Lords Proprietors, there was only one man to send to London to make the case: Colonel Barnwell.

The lecturer, John Warley, is the grandson of Colonel Barnwell seven generations removed and is currently at work on a biography of his famous ancestor.  He is the author of five works of fiction and one history of his undergraduate alma mater: Stand Forever, Yielding Never, The Citadel in the 21st Century. John lives in Beaufort and currently serves as vice-president of the Beaufort History Museum. 

Registration will open for this local history program on November 22, 2022 at https://beauforthistorymuseum.wildapricot.org/event-4884890. 

3. Tuesday, March 21, 2023 @ St. Helena Branch Library | 2 PM – Beverly Jennings about her book Shrimp Tales: Small Bites of History | Registration opens: March 7^th on the BHM website 

Shrimping is a tough, messy business full of physical risks and economic hardships. Beverly Jennings interviewed over 65 fishermen, marine biologists and others to explore the commercial shrimping life along the southeastern coast to create an exhibit for the Sharon and Dick Stewart Maritime Center - which in turn led to the publication of her book Shrimp Tales: Small Bites of History in 2020.  

The book explores the trade that started in Florida and eventually found its way up to Georgetown, SC. There are lots of photographs, illustrations, quotes from shrimpers and even some recipes you can cook at home after the program.

Beverly Bowers Jennings has loved the sea since age 6 when her father built a white rowboat named Little Fish for her. A Master Naturalist, Jennings has designed exhibits for the Port Royal Sound Maritime Center and Coastal Discovery Museum.  She has been featured on Walter Edgar’s Journal,  Local Life magazine, and SCETV’s By The River series. 

Registration will open for this local history program on March 7, 2023 at https://beauforthistorymuseum.wildapricot.org/event-4962919.

4. Tuesday, May 2, 2023 @ Beaufort Branch Library | 2 PM – Jason Ryan about his book Jackpot: High Times, High Seas and the Sting that Launched the War on Drugs  | Registration opens: April 18^th on the BHM website | 

Topographically speaking, if smuggling is on your mind, then our county's waterways are just about perfect! 

For centuries a variety of outlaws have used the twisting waterways of the South Carolina Lowcountry to conceal illegal activity. Pirates found refuge in Carolina creeks, Civil War blockade runners sneaked supplies past a naval blockade, and rumrunners imported alcohol in the midst of Prohibition. 

But perhaps more exciting than all of those historic misdeeds are the escapades of South Carolina’s “gentlemen” marijuana smugglers, who sailed nearly $1 billion worth of pot into Southern marshes during the 1970s and ‘80s. Come learn how a group of fun-loving college dropouts from the Palmetto State made it big in the world of marijuana trafficking before losing it all at the hands of federal investigation Operation Jackpot.

Jason Ryan is a nonfiction author and journalist in Charleston. His books include the marijuana smuggling tale Jackpot: High Times, High Seas and the Sting that Launched the War on Drugs, the true crime thriller Hell-Bent: One Man’s Crusade to Crush the Hawaiian Mob, and the early aviation account Race to Hawaii: The 1927 Dole Derby and the Thrilling First Flights That Opened the Pacific. He is a former reporter for The Beaufort Gazette and The State newspaper and is currently at work on a book about the Murdaugh family of South Carolina.

Registration for this local history program will open on April 18, 2023 at https://beauforthistorymuseum.wildapricot.org/event-4962913. 

A word about registration: When we opened registration a month ahead of program date, we had a lot of no-shows. We learned by trial and error that the 2 weeks window for registration resulted in getting the most butts in seats. We are pleased that our programs have been quite popular in the past, often "selling out" all seats. However, even with the shorter registration period, we may have no-shows. Therefore, we decided that a reservation holds a seat for you up to 1:54 pm the day of the program. Any seats vacant at 1:55 pm are offered to others on stand-by to enter the session until room capacity is reached. 

Tips: 

1. Don't be late if you have a reservation. 

2. It's best not to rely on showing up at the last minute in hopes that a seat might be empty. Oftentimes there isn't one left at 1:55 pm the day of.

Brief History of Library Services on St. Helena Island, 1956 - present

The St. Helena Branch Library is hosting a 9th birthday party on 9 October 2021. The current building may be 9 years old but library books have been circulating on the island for a lot longer than that! How did library service for Island residents evolve through time? Here's a brief timeline of providing library services on St. Helena. 

1956 The First Book Delivery Service

Operating out of the independent Laura Towne Library at Penn Community Center, Mrs. Wilhelmina Barnwell and Mrs. Ethel Bailey delivered books in their personal vehicles to African-American children on St. Helena Island and Lady’s Island.

1958 Bookmobile Service

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Two years later, Mrs. Barnwell and Mrs. Bailey had more demand than their vehicles could accommodate. The AKA Sorority at S.C. State College awarded a $400 grant towards the purchase of a bookmobile. A used bookmobile from Richland County Public Library was acquired by the Laura Towne Library for $450 (including taxes, a new paint job, and repairs). Mrs. Barnwell drove this bookmobile around St. Helena Island and Lady’s Island for 8 years. Approximately 1,000 books circulated each month through her 15 “Book Outposts”.

1962 The "Beaufort County Library" is established

By act of the General Assembly in 1962, the Beaufort Township Library was transformed into the Beaufort County Library.

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Also in this same year, the Beaufort County Library provides services to all area residents. The Beaufort County Library is a fully integrated public library system and the Beaufort County Library Board of Trustees begins the process of closing the J.I. Washington Colored Library.

1962 First Branch Library Established

The Laura Towne Library at Penn Center becomes the first branch location of the Beaufort County Library system. 

1973 The Laura Towne Library on St. Helena Library closes.

 

1993 St. Helena Elementary Joint Use Facility

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The Beaufort County Library and the Beaufort County School District open a joint use facility at St. Helena Elementary School at 1025 Sea Island Pkwy on Highway 21. 

The St. Helena Branch Library at St. Helena Elementary School closes on September 8, 2012.

2011-2012 The New St. Helena Branch Library

In 2011, a groundbreaking ceremony is held in October for a new St. Helena Branch Library to be built on land donated by Penn Center.

 

The new St. Helena Branch Library opens at 6355 Jonathan Francis, Sr. Road on October 17, 2012. The 22,000 sq.ft. facility cost $11 million to build. It was funded with Community Development Block Grant and US Department of Agriculture Rural Development grants and loans and built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Standards. Liollio Architecture of Charleston, SC was the designer. The building continues to win multiple design awards.

There's a lot more details to be found in the Beaufort County Library Records and in the "Beaufort County Library - St. Helena Branch" vertical file inside the Research Room. Please make an appointment at least a few days in advance of your preferred date and time to visit, Mondays through Fridays: gracec@bcgov.net or 843-255-6468. 

Sporting Plantations Local History Program with Dr. Vivian

During the first four decades of the twentieth century, wealthy sportsmen and sportswomen from northern cities created more than 70 large sporting estates in the lowcountry. Although this "Second Yankee Invasion" is familiar to many lowcountry residents, the making of these estates has received limited study. 

"Making Sporting Plantations: Rich Yankees and the Transformation of the Rural Lowcountry, 1900 - 1940" 

with Dr. Daniel Vivian 

Monday, March 12, 2019 - 11 AM

BDC@ BDC - 2nd floor lobby, 311 Scott Street

First come; first seated

Room for 40 people

In this presentation co-sponsored by the BDC and the Coastal Discovery Museum based upon his book, Dr. Vivian surveys their origins, the ideas that shaped their form and use, and their influence on popular views of the lowcountry. 

Daniel Vivian is a historian of the American South. He earned his PhD at the Johns Hopkins University and is currently chair of the Department of Historic Preservation at the University of Kentucky. 

His research concentrates on historical memory of slavery during the era of Jim Crow. He is the author of A New Plantation World: Sporting Estates in the Carolina Lowcountry, 1900-1940 (Cambridge University Press, 2018), co-editor of and a contributor to Leisure, Plantations, and the Making of the New South: The Sporting Plantations of the South Carolina Lowcountry and Red Hills Region, 1900-1940 (Lexington Books, 2015), and essays in Winterthur Portfolio, Ohio Valley History, Historic Preservation Forum, and the South Carolina Historical Magazine. He lives in Lexington, Kentucky.

His books A New Plantation World and Making of the New South are available in the BDC Research Room and for check out from the SCLENDS consortium of libraries to which Beaufort County Library belongs.  

Please note: No seats remain for the reprise of this presentation being held at Coastal Discovery Museum on Tuesday, March 12.  

An added dividend: The Sea Island Quilters exhibit is on display in the 2nd floor lobby. Not only will program attendees learn about how the sporting plantations transformed lowcountry culture in the early 20th century, they will be surrounded by beautiful 21st century hand-crafted quilts as they learn! 

Nancy Head Thode

Don't forget to register for "Remembering Ann Head: Beaufort's Forgotten Author & Mentor to Pat Conroy" with her daughter, Nancy Thode on March 27, 2019, Beaufort Branch Meeting Room, at 5:30 pm. This local history program is brought to you by the Pat Conroy Literary Center, Beaufort District Collection and the Beaufort County Library. 

Go ahead and mark your calendars for the return of "The Freedmen's Bureau Records" workshop with Toni Carrier on Saturday, April 13, 2019. Each session can accomodate up to 20 people. We will hold both sessions in the St. Helena Branch Library's Computer Lab: 

Session 1: 11 AM - 1 PM. Please register: Call 843-818-4587 or e-mail: info@gullahgeecheecorridor.org.

Session 2: First come, first seated 2 PM - 4 PM