{"id":63,"featured":0,"modified":"2025-01-24 20:14:47","latitude":32.78428439250598103171796537935733795166015625,"longitude":-79.9417444756740138700479292310774326324462890625,"title":"Leadership : Septima Clark's Faith Helps Change the Lowcountry, 1954-1964","address":"222 Calhoun St., Charleston, SC 29403","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/536c7a1273a5f38fc93a857c07796eec.jpg","creator":["Julia Eichelberger","Committee on Commemoration and Landscapes"],"description":"In 1956 Septima Clark began working full-time at Highlander Folk School, and in 1961, took a job with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. During these years she maintained her membership at Old Bethel United Methodist Church, a few steps from the College of Charleston. Clark regarded her activism as an extension of her Christian faith. As she stated in a 1964 essay, \u201cWhere there is obedience to the gospel, there will be concern for the less fortunate. . . The Christian can never be content with token progress by a fortunate few.\u201d
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\r\nWhile her activism now extended across the South, Clark continued to support her Charleston congregation. A 1964 letter to Bernice Robinson closes, \u201cPlease put this contribution in church for me next Sunday.\u201d The rest of Clark\u2019s letter reported on the progress of an innovative program teaching Black adults to read, write, and register to vote. \u201cI\u2019m enjoying the work. It\u2019s challenging,\u201d Clark wrote Robinson.
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\r\nThe work was a \u201cCitizenship School\u201d program that changed the Lowcountry and eventually, the South. It was begun in the 1950s by Clark, Robinson, and Johns Island native Esau Jenkins. The school was an outgrowth of the Progressive Club, a Black mutual aid society that provided community support, including legal aid for victims of racial violence. Throughout the South, white violence against Blacks often went unpunished, as in the notorious case of Emmett Till\u2019s murder in Mississippi in August 1956: an all-white jury swiftly acquitted his killers, who later confessed to Look magazine. Violence also occurred in the Lowcountry; on Johns Island in the 1930s, a white man, after shooting a Black man for accidentally running over his dog, was not held accountable. The Progressive Club formed in response to this incident and other inequities on Johns Island. Government services available to whites, such as school bus transportation or access to a local high school, were not available to Black Johns Islanders. Those who could not read and write could not tell whether they were being cheated while making purchases or paying their taxes or insurance premiums.
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\r\nEsau Jenkins was determined to change things for his community. Few Black residents could vote and influence public policy; white officials controlled the voter registration process and would not let Black citizens register if they could not read or explain the state constitution. Jenkins and his wife Janie Jenkins ran a service transporting people to downtown Charleston, and as he drove, he conducted informal classes for his passengers, helping them learn what they\u2019d need to know to register. On his VW van was the Progressive Club\u2019s motto: \u201cLove is progress. Hate is expensive.\u201d
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\r\nIn 1955, Clark, who had first met Mr. Jenkins when teaching on Johns Island in the 1920s, recruited him to attend a summer workshop she was directing at Highlander Folk School. They began developing plans for a citizenship school for Johns Island. Clark, Bernice Robinson and Jenkins recruited participants for their first classes, taught by Robinson, in January 1957. Highlander advanced Jenkins the funds to purchase an old school building, and the new school was soon underway.
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\r\nBy 1958, other citizenship schools were formed, in North Charleston and on Wadmalaw and Edisto Islands. Two more soon opened on St. Helena and Daufuskie Islands. At these schools, adult students learned to read letters from relatives, fill out a money order form, determine how much tax they owed and pay it themselves. Hundreds of Black citizens were now able to register to vote. Some got Social Security benefits and developed skills needed to run their own businesses. In addition to classes, schools held meetings where people discussed current events, community needs, and how to address these needs.
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\r\nThe school on Johns Island initially operated quietly--a grocery store at the front of the Progressive Club partly concealed the classes being held in the back room, which might have attracted more suspicion. Eventually, though, word of the schools spread, and the Charleston News and Courier began to write about them, noting that this form of citizenship might affect political leaders. A 1959 editorial warned, \u201cShould a Negro bloc vote develop in the South. . . . white Southern politicians would seek it. The kind of politicians who court the Negro vote will not provide the best government for either race.\u201d The editorial also suggested that the citizenship school might be a Communist organization. \u201cWhite civilization. . . is in peril,\u201d the editorial stated. It closed with a quotation intended to raise concern among white readers: \u201cAs Esau Jenkins said of integration, \u2018It\u2019s a revolution.\u2019\u201d
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\r\nThe newspaper\u2019s response was not uncommon. Many white in the Souths who wished to keep their society segregated believed proponents of integration were dangerous, anti-American Communists. Segregationists distrusted organizations like Highlander, whose workshops were integrated. In 1959, Tennessee officials, accompanied by photographers, staged a raid on Highlander while Clark was running a workshop there. Clark and several others were taken to jail and charged with possessing and selling whiskey. Photographs of Clark under arrest were published in newspapers, although she was later cleared of all charges.
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\r\nHighlander was forced to close temporarily in 1961, but soon reopened. The Southern Christian Leadership Conference decided to expand the citizenship schools program and hired Clark. In the Lowcountry, citizenship schools continued serving local people, but also expanded their mission. People from other areas hoping to implement schools and empower citizens in their own communities came to Johns Island to be trained. The Lowcountry\u2019s program had become a model for the rest of the country.","sponsor":null,"subtitle":null,"accessinfo":null,"lede":"Inspired by her faith, Clark worked with Bernice Robinson and Esau Jenkins to develop a \u201ccitizenship school,\u201d teaching Black adults on Johns Island to read, register to vote, and become active citizens. The program spread across the Lowcountry. ","website":null,"related_resources":["Carawan, Guy and Candie,\u00a0Ain\u2019t You Got a Right to the Tree of Life? The People of Johns Island, SC\u2014Their Faces, Their Words, and Their Songs.<\/em> 1966. University of Georgia, 1994.","Eliot Wigginton, Refuse to Stand Silently By: An Oral History of Grass Roots Social Activism in America, 1921-1964.<\/em> Doubleday, 1992.","

\u201cFour Are Arrested at Highlander School, Quantity of Liquor Also Seized at Integrated Tennessee Place.\u201d Charleston News and Courier, August 2, 1959.<\/span><\/p>","

Herb Frazier, \u201cEsau Jenkins,\u201d <\/span>South Carolina Encyclopedia.<\/span><\/a><\/p>","

\u201cHighlander School\u2019s Influence Felt Among Charleston County Negroes.\u201d Charleston News and Courier, March 12, 1959, page 17.<\/span><\/p>","

Katherine Mellon Charron, <\/span>Freedom\u2019s Teacher: The Life of Septima Clark.<\/span><\/i> University of North Carolina Press, 2009.<\/span><\/p>","

Massie Phenix, Lucy, et al, <\/span>You Got to Move<\/span><\/a>. Kino Lorber, 2021.<\/span><\/p>","

Robinson, Bernice, and Clark. \u201c Letter from Septima P. Clark and Bernice Robinson to \"Freedom Fighters,\" September 22, 1969\u201d Lowcountry Digital Library, Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston, 1969-09-22.<\/span><\/p>","

Septima Clark with Cynthia Stokes Brown, Ready From Within: Septima Clark and the Civil Rights Movement, a First-Person Narrative.<\/span><\/i> Africa World Press, 1990.<\/span><\/p>","

Septima Clark with Jacqueline Dowd Hall, July 25, 1976. <\/span>Interview G-0016<\/span><\/a>. Southern Oral History Program Collection, University of North Carolina.<\/span><\/p>","

Septima Poinsette Clark, 1898-1987. \u201c \"Citizenship and the Gospel\"\u201d Lowcountry Digital Library, Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston.<\/span><\/p>","

Septima Poinsette Clark, 1898-1987. \u201c Letter from Septima P. Clark to Bernice Robinson, January 29, 1964\u201d Lowcountry Digital Library, Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston, 1964-01-29.<\/span><\/p>","

Septima Poinsette Clark, 1898-1987. \u201c \"Success of SCLC Citizenship School Seen In 50,000 New Registered Voters\"\u201d Lowcountry Digital Library, Avery Research Center at the College of Charleston, 1963-09.<\/span><\/p>","

Septima Poinsette Clark, <\/span>Echo in My Soul<\/span><\/i>. Dutton, 1963.<\/span><\/p>","

Septima Poinsette Clark, \u201cLiteracy and Liberation,\u201d Freedomways, Winter 1964 (reprinted at <\/span>https:\/\/www.crmvet.org\/info\/cs.htm<\/span><\/a>).<\/span><\/p>","

Southern Christian Leadership Conference. \u201cCitizenship Education Program.\u201d SPC papers.<\/span><\/p>"],"factoids":[],"files":{"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/536c7a1273a5f38fc93a857c07796eec.jpg":{"id":614,"mime-type":"image\/png","title":"Old Bethel United Methodist Church","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/536c7a1273a5f38fc93a857c07796eec.jpg","description":"Old Bethel United Methodist Church, 222 Calhoun Street, a few steps from the College of Charleston, was the home congregation of Septima Poinsette Clark, her mother, Victoria Poinsette, and her cousin, Bernice Robinson. | Bradlee Howard"},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/6edb92cdb1b193d6b0fce26b4dff0e71.jpg":{"id":605,"mime-type":"image\/png","title":"Church pew in memory of Victoria Anderson Poinsette ","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/6edb92cdb1b193d6b0fce26b4dff0e71.jpg","description":"Church pew, Old Bethel United Methodist Church, Charleston, SC, 2022. This pew commemorates Victoria Anderson Poinsette, the mother of Septima Poinsette Clark. | Photo by Bradlee Howard. "},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/1ea308b63771f51d94e8aff6b8fcafa1.jpg":{"id":537,"mime-type":"image\/png","title":"Image of 1964 letter from SPC to Bernice Robinson on SCLC letterhead ","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/1ea308b63771f51d94e8aff6b8fcafa1.jpg","description":"Letter from Septima Clark to her cousin, Bernice Robinson, discussimg new citizenship schools Robinson is leading in the Lowcountry. Clark asks Robinson to place Clark\u2019s contribution in the offering plate on Sunday at their church, \u201cOld Bethel\u201d United Methodist Church. \u201cI\u2019m enjoying the work. It\u2019s challenging,\u201d Clark said of her position as supervisor of teacher training for the Citizenship School program for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). | Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC. "},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/987ba0294940f53cfcc1209c3bb59270.jpg":{"id":534,"mime-type":"image\/png","title":"Highlander Reports cover with SPC 1957, in Septima P. Clark Scrapbook. ","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/987ba0294940f53cfcc1209c3bb59270.jpg","description":"Septima Clark began working full-time for the Highlander Folk Center shortly after she was fired by the Charleston school system for refusing to disavow her NAACP membership. Highlander publicized Clark\u2019s leadership role on the cover of its 1957 Highlander Report. | Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC. "},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/f269183234ecc4fd47334d8fa7c31979.jpg":{"id":533,"mime-type":"image\/png","title":"Black and white photograph of Esau Jenkins gathering with kids, John's Island 1960s. ","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/f269183234ecc4fd47334d8fa7c31979.jpg","description":"Esau Jenkins and local children, Johns Island, 1960s. | Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC. "},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/9b492bd64d9c1232b0de8b48a026ec4a.jpg":{"id":541,"mime-type":"image\/png","title":"Bernice Robinson","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/9b492bd64d9c1232b0de8b48a026ec4a.jpg","description":"Bernice Robinson teaches adult students in a Citizenship School class. | Bernice Robinson Papers
\r\nAvery Research Center "},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/8285e7dc50c9884d739ab633e6735040.jpg":{"id":535,"mime-type":"image\/png","title":"Clipping from Freedomways article by Septima Clark ","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/8285e7dc50c9884d739ab633e6735040.jpg","description":"Beginning of an article in Freedomways magazine. After explaining the principles of Citizenship Schools, Clark\u2019s essay concludes, \u201cLiteracy means liberation.\u201d | Freedomways. 1964, p. 113."},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/87444233e67803c22d635fb8175bfca5.jpg":{"id":536,"mime-type":"image\/png","title":"\u201cFormer Charleston Teacher Held\u201d ","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/87444233e67803c22d635fb8175bfca5.jpg","description":"Septima Clark appears in court to face charges of selling whiskey illegally. The charges against Clark, a teetotaler, were eventually dropped, but the state had succeeded in temporarily closing Highlander School and causing distress and embarrassment to Clark and others who were arrested. | Charleston News and Courier, August 9, 1959, page 30. "},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/ed0deb2c0e2e2a44705b48f0303b7bbd.jpg":{"id":604,"mime-type":"image\/png","title":"Headline re Highlander raid \u201cFour Are Arrested At Highlander School\u201d ","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/ed0deb2c0e2e2a44705b48f0303b7bbd.jpg","description":"The State of Tennessee staged a raid on Highlander Folk School late at night on Jul 31, 1959. Claiming the teetotaling Clark was selling whiskey illegally, they arrested Parks and others at Highlander and held them in jail until the next morning. This story was front-page news in the Charleston News and Courier. | Charleston News and Courier, Two Star ed., 2 Aug. 1959, p. 1. NewsBank. "},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/a14caf781463d01f6475438bf177495f.jpg":{"id":538,"mime-type":"image\/png","title":"Quote from Southern Christian Leadership Conference Department of Citizenship Education document, ","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/a14caf781463d01f6475438bf177495f.jpg","description":"Following the model of the citizenship schools developed in the Lowcountry by Septima Clark, Bernice Robinson, and Esau Jenkins, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference ran a citizenship schools program throughout the South as it helped Black citizens exercise their voting rights and become more active citizens. As supervisor of teacher training, Septima Clark recruited local people, many of whom had no experience as teachers and limited years in school. A longtime teacher of both children and adults, Clark was able to detect leadership potential in many who had not had opportunities to lead. | Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC. "},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/26e802753f48a75a8f59a0568eb657c1.jpg":{"id":540,"mime-type":"image\/png","title":"News and Courier article on Progressive Club ","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/26e802753f48a75a8f59a0568eb657c1.jpg","description":"Esau Jenkins stands alongside his bus for a News and Courier photographer. | News and Courier, August 19, 1964, p. 3-B "},"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/fullsize\/ab102738345680c842276deba36e1283.jpg":{"id":542,"mime-type":"image\/png","title":"Article about influence of Highlander on Lowcountry. ","thumbnail":"https:\/\/discovering.cofc.edu\/redirect\/files\/square_thumbnails\/ab102738345680c842276deba36e1283.jpg","description":"In this editorial on Highlander Folk School\u2019s influence on the Johns Island Citizenship School, the News and Courier wrote, \u201cThe kind of politicians who court the Negro vote will not provide the best kind of government for either race.\u201d It warned that \u201cWhite civilization, which brought order and prosperity to undeveloped lands, is in peril,\u201d and closed by quoting Esau Jenkins as saying of his citizenship schools program, \u201cIt\u2019s a revolution.\u201d | Charleston News and Courier, March 12, 1959, page 17. "}}}