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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Meetings at the Penn Center in South Carolina
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Meetings at the Penn Center in South Carolina and the Local Impact
By Heather Gray
This article is about Martin Luther King, Jr.’s meetings at ‘The Penn Center’ in the St. Helena area of South Carolina in the 1960’s and a reflection of the local impact in South Carolina. It includes commentary from three individuals, who I interviewed in 2021, and who were working at the Penn Center when Dr. King held meetings there. In fact, between 1964 and 1967 Dr. King visited the St. Helena area five times. The meetings were generally organized by Dr. King’s organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
About the Penn Center
SCLC was just one of many groups to use the quiet campus of older buildings to plot radical strategies. At the time, it was one of the few places blacks and whites could meet or spend the night together. (The Penn Center – Island Packet)
It is noted that the most distinct African community in the United States is in South Carolina in the Sea Islands south of Charleston. This remarkable area is populated by the Gullah who were slaves from West Africa. While engaged in agriculture for the South Carolina slave owners, they were largely isolated and, importantly, maintained much of their African language, culture and skills.
In 1862, just before the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation, The Penn School, now ‘The Penn Center’, was created in Beaufort, South Carolina by abolitionist activists from Pennsylvania to educate freed slaves. The Penn Center name is derived from the Quaker William Penn (1644-1718) who was the founder of the State of Pennsylvania. Penn “was an early advocate of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful treaties with the Lenape Native Americans. Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed”. (Wikipedia)
In the 1960s, the Penn Center was one of the few places in the South where you could, safely, hold an integrated meeting. It was, at the time, under the direction of the late Courtney and Elizabeth Siceloff.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Visiting ‘The Penn Center’
The meetings at the Penn Center were held to explore movement discussions and plans for action. Given that civil rights organizing meetings in the 1960’s in the South were dangerous, the meetings at the Penn Center were held and conducted secretly. Some of the meetings included renowned civil rights activists such as Andrew Young, Jesse Jackson, Joan Baez, Hosea Williams, Bernard Lafayette and others.
Comments from Thomas Barnwell (Penn Center – former Director of Community Development)
Thomas Barnwell worked at The Penn Center when Dr. King held meetings at the Center. He, in fact, was generally the one who drove Dr. King from the Savannah area in Georgia, to the Penn Center for the SCLC meetings.
When I was driving Dr. King we talked about voter registration and voter education. We talked about the process of recruiting people for training to prepare persons to become eligible voters. Beyond voting, we discussed housing ownership; about individual landowners; and the potential of developing land, as through housing, etc. We talked quite a bit about the need for health care and the affordability of health care.
For the discussions in the planning sessions at the Penn Center, I was not there for all of them, as some were not open to the general public or our staff. Those that I was able to attend, however, were inspirational. It’s hard to find the adjectives to describe how being in that environment made you feel. It was like feeling you must do something, you must not fail. It made you feel that you must do something to help to make life and things better, not just for you and your individual family, but the broader community.
In the larger SCLC group, concerns were regarding education and training of African American doctors, nurses, lab technicians and other health care professionals. And in my lifetime, I was able to help develop a comprehensive health program for 25,000 people in Buford in Jasper County that’s still in existence today.
Comments from Joe McDomick (Penn Center - former Project Supervisor and Director of the Land Program)
Joseph McDomick worked at the Penn Center when Dr. King visited – he helped organize the events and was inspired to make changes and challenges for justice in the St. Helena’s community after these SCLC meetings.
When King came to the Penn Center, in the 1960s, he was kind of quietly sneaking in and out because we didn’t want to make too much noise about him being here because it was so dangerous back in those days. And you never knew who was around. We were very careful at the Penn Center when King came because we were afraid that something might happen, and if it did, we would feel like we might be responsible.
He would usually have an open session with the community the last night. But most of the time that he was here, it was just him and his group working to strategize and plans for big things across the country.
We had to be very careful while he was with us and we would exhale when he was finally out of the state.
So, the Penn Center director, Courtney Siceloff, who was white, was there, of course. But the gatherings at the Penn Center were largely of black folks from all over the place.
Once we found out what the overall strategy of the SCLC meeting was, we would often try to use the plans in our area such as in businesses for folks to get better jobs. We did it on a local level. For example, we organized a group of older people to boycott the welfare department. We boycotted a lot of the businesses that didn’t have black clerks, and we saw some big changes. So again, we worked in conjunction with the staff of Dr. King.
Comments from Dave Duffin (Penn Center – Volunteer Photographer)
Dave Duffin was a photographer with the Marine Corps and, in the 1960’s was in Paris Island close to the Penn Center. He wanted to explore the Penn Center and met the director, Courtenay Siceloff, that began an on-going association.
I ended up doing some photography with the Penn Center. And I went out on some tours, observed some of the work they did with organizations and churches and so forth. And then I photographed some of the work they were doing and helped with brochures, etc. Courtenay Siceloff asked “Do you think you could help do some brochures?” and I said, “Oh, boy, sign me up”.
One afternoon, I had a call from Courtney. And he said, “Dave, we’d like you to come out tonight for a sort of a special meeting we’re having out here”. And he said, “I can’t necessarily explain what it is over the phone. But I could say that it would be a very unusual experience for you. I want you to meet someone.” So, I went the Penn Center and sitting in the inside of the porch was Dr. Martin Luther King. And I said, “Oh, my goodness”. So, we all sat down. Then Courtney said, “Tonight we’re having a little get together over at the meeting room. Maybe you could stay around for that”. I said, “That’d be an honor.”
The meeting and dinner that night resulted in the photo, above, by Duffin, of Martin Luther King along with the Siceloff family in 1963, that is now renowned.
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Residential segregation is choking the very life out of us.
Because of structural racism and discrimination in our housing markets, residential segregation has gotten worse. The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery, Rev. C. T. Vivian, and Congressmen John Lewis gave voice to this issue with courage, conviction, and devotion. To honor their legacy, we must continue the fight for freedom and equality. We cannot rest until all Black Americans have access to fair housing, fair and impartial policing, healthcare, clean environments, well-resourced schools, healthy food options, living wage jobs, quality credit, transit, and opportunities to build wealth.
