Mamie Garvin Fields

Black History Month

An educator, activist, and community leader, Mamie Garvin Fields grew up in Charleston and spent many of her adult years here as a teacher. In 1916, she joined the City of Charleston Federation of Colored Women’s Clubs, a group that united clubs around Charleston together in cultural and charitable activities, and was a lifelong clubwoman, expanding her role when she retired. As an educator, her work went beyond the traditional classroom – she helped with adult education classes on John’s and James Islands in the 1920s and created the first Vacation Bible School for migrant workers during the Depression. After her retirement from teaching in the 1940s, she led the Marion Wilkinson Home for Girls for two years, working with girls who needed a home, and she helped to establish Charleston’s first public daycare center. Her life was one of service - to the Black people of Charleston, to the community as a whole, and to the next generation of Charlestonians.

Throughout February, we’ve been highlighting Black members of the Lowcountry community, discussing the lives they led, the work they did and the impact they made.

Edmund Thornton Jenkins

Black History Month

Edmund Thornton Jenkins grew up surrounded by music. He was the son of the Reverend Daniel Jenkins, who founded Jenkins Orphanage and the world-famous band of children who lived there. He eventually attended Morehouse College and later served as Director of Bands for the children’s home, until he was invited to attend London’s Royal Academy of Music in 1914. He continued to study under musicians in London and Paris, but eventually composed a tribute to his native city. Charlestonia honored the city that Edmund grew up in but chose not to make his home, possibly because of how many more opportunities he had outside of the American South at the time. The composition was performed in London and Belgium, but not in Charleston – until 1996, when performed by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra as a part of “Edmund Jenkins Homecoming Month.” Edmund composed many other pieces, including an operetta, called Afram. He died in 1926 in Paris after an illness.

Throughout February, we’re highlighting Black members of the Lowcountry community, discussing the lives they led, the work they did and the impact they made.

Esau Jenkins

Black History Month

Esau Jenkins was born in 1910 on Johns Island and left school in the fourth grade to work the fields with his family. But he would go on to ensure the children and adults on the island always had a way to get an education. In 1945, after furthering his schooling through night classes and correspondence courses, Jenkins purchased a bus in order to bring children from John's Island into the city’s public schools. He later offered rides to adults to their jobs, but it wasn’t just transportation. On the rides, Jenkins taught the adults to recite passages from the state constitution, a requirement to vote at the time.

Among his many civil rights efforts over the decades, Jenkins created the Progressive Club, which raised money to open a grocery store and gas station on the island. He helped to found a Citizenship School that taught people to read so that they could pass voting tests and he encouraged the City of Charleston to hire their first Black bus drivers. In the 1960s, he extended his efforts to the Hispanic migrant labor force that came to the area. Jenkins died in 1972 and was inducted in the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame in 2003.

Throughout February, we’re highlighting Black members of the Lowcountry community, discussing the lives they led, the work they did and the impact they made.

Denmark Vesey

Black History Month

Throughout this month, we’re highlighting Black members of the Lowcountry community – the lives they led, the work they did, and the impact they made. Some of the people in our posts are connected to the story of Second Presbyterian Church, others are leaders or activists who shaped movements of their time.

Denmark Vesey was probably born in St. Thomas and brought as an enslaved person to Bermuda and then Charleston. He was able to purchase his freedom when he was 32 years old and worked as a carpenter. He was an active member of Second Presbyterian Church, where he became a communicant in April of 1817 – a member entitled to take communion, which was a big commitment at the time. He may have eventually helped found the church that became Emanuel AME. But in 1822, Vesey was accused of leading a plot to liberate enslaved people and rise up against their enslavers. Before the alleged plot could be executed, Vesey was arrested in June and he was hanged in July, along with 35 other men who were accused of being involved. In the aftermath, enslavers took many more precautions, and the Negro Seaman Act was passed, requiring Black sailors on ships docked in Charleston to be imprisoned while the ships were in port. The act was ruled unconstitutional, and this became one of the states’ rights issues that ultimately led to the Civil War.

Intergenerational Women's Bible Study: Celebrating Sabbath

Please fill out the form if you’d like more information:

 

Celebrating Sabbath: Accepting God’s Gift of Rest and Delight

Come for a time of Bible study and fellowship where women of all ages are invited to get together from 6:00-7:30 p.m. at Robbie Staubes’ house in Mount Pleasant.

September through May we will get together to consider Sabbath

  • as a celebration, not a day of dreary formality

  • as God’s intent for all of creation and that includes busy women too

  • as one day of the week, perhaps a Sunday

  • as a time to surrender unhealthy striving and frantic busyness, and instead trust God will provide

  • as a reminder that life is precious and working too much is against God’s plans for our precious lives

  • as a day devoted to community and justice and not exclusively to self-care

Ultimately, Sabbath reminds us to honor God who
honors us by giving us a day each week to reset our pace, our priorities, and our lives. Friends and visitors are welcome.

Extra copies of the lesson are made available in the narthex ahead of each meeting.

Lesson One: Sabbath and Celebration
Monday, September 19th

Lesson Two: Sabbath and Creation
Monday, October 17th

Lesson Four*: Sabbath and Surrender
Monday, November 14th

Lesson Three*: Sabbath and Sunday
Monday, December 12th

Lesson Five: Sabbath and Servitude
Monday, January 23rd

Lesson Six: Sabbath and Hospitality
Monday, February 20th

*meeting at the church upstairs in the conference room

Lesson Seven: Sabbath and Self-Care
Monday, March 20th

Lesson Eight: Sabbath and Justice
Monday, April 17th

Lesson Nine: Sabbath and Community
Monday, May 15th

Contact: Lucie Medbery, Sarah Mitchell, or Robbie Staubes

Faith and Climate Change Event

The Interfaith Speaker Series Keynote Address “The Integration of Ecospirituality and Ecojustice”

Second Presbyterian Church

Thursday, March 3 at 6:30 p.m.

Drs. Mary Evelyn Tucker and John Grim, senior Lecturers and Research Scholars at Yale University and co-directors of the Forum on Religion, will focus on the intersections of religion and the environmental crisis.

The call for environmental justice for communities adversely affected by pollution and climate change is rising. At the same time ecospirituality is showing us how we are part of a living Earth community. This talk explores these growing movements in religion and ecology.

A light meal will be offered following the keynote by Ragina Scott Saunders, Soul Food Chef and founder of Destiny Community Café. Registration is required.

Monthly Community Small Group

This community small group meets the first Tuesday of each month at 6:00 p.m. at Edmund’s Oast to discuss LGBTQIA issues and the Church.

Join a group to walk in the Charleston Pride parade Saturday, June 25th. All are welcome to join to “plant seeds of love” in the community. We will meet in the church parking lot at 8:30 a.m. (the parade starts at 9 a.m.). Sign up soon! Email aledpritchard@gmail.com for more information.

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Inclusive Bible Study in the Park

LGBTQ+ folks, allies, and those who support the inclusivity of PC(USA) churches are invited for a new small group hosted by Second Presbyterian and open to churches across Charleston. We will enjoy fellowship, support, and studies. Meet us the first Tuesday of every month from 6-7:30p.m. in the park in front of Second Pres, with rain location under the portico on the church steps.

Everyone is welcome.

CONTACT: Jordyn Pritchard or Sarah Harbin

 

Please fill out the form if you’d like more information:

Second Church Provides Audition Recording Venue for International Harp Contestant

You can hear Abby's video, recorded at Second, this Saturday, September 4th starting at 1PM, at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYJSsXiJFTA

Abigail Kent, harpist, has been recording in our sanctuary recently to audition for the International Harp Contest in Israel. In addition to being a doctoral student at the Juilliard School in NYC, she is a harpist with the Charleston Symphony, and she comes from right here, from Mount Pleasant. Second Church supports this rising star by providing the venue for her audition recordings, and Ken Carrington is her sound engineer. We'll hear Abby in our service later this fall. A few words from her about the competition:

"The International Harp Contest in Israel is the oldest and most prestigious solo harp competition in the world. Established in 1959, most of the contest's winners have gone on to continue established solo harp careers or have acquired coveted orchestra positions like the Berlin Philharmonic and New York Philharmonic. The competition is organized into four stages, where the first two contain solo works, the third is chamber music, and the final stage is a concerto with orchestra. Both the structure and the prestige of the contest make this the harp equivalent of the famous Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Because of the COVID situation around the world, the Israel competition has decided that the first two rounds will be virtual, and the final two shall be in person in Israel. The First Stage is premiering the pre-recorded videos of contestants from September 1-5."

The First Stage has 49 contestants from 22 countries, and 25 of these contestants will pass on to the Second Stage, which will also be premiered on Youtube. If Abby passes the first stage, her video will be shown September 12-14, and more information will follow if that happens. Of those in the Second Stage, only 9 will move on to the semifinal stage, and finally 3 will be chosen for the finals. Let's keep Abby in our thoughts and prayers as she continues to represent the Lowcountry on the world stage.

Julia Harlow, Director of Music

You can hear Abby's video, recorded at Second, Saturday, September 4 starting at 1PM