Penn Center community sing celebrates Martin Luther King’s work, mission

Nearly 47 years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s voice last boomed over the Penn Center campus on St. Helena Island, his words filled the corners of Frissell Community House on Sunday night.

“With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day,” read the Rev. Edward Johnson, pastor of Union Baptist Church in Port Royal, from King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech.

From the rows of packed chairs before him, a man echoed back the words “one day” in a strong, clear voice, reminding the more than 150 people at Sunday’s Community Sing that there is still work to be done.

The Community Sing was a night of gospel and praise music with the theme of “Honoring the Legend and the Dream,” before Monday’s Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

As Johnson remarked before reading from the civil rights activist’s famous speech, King visited Penn Center repeatedly, using the center that began in 1862 as a school for freed slaves as a retreat. Part of the speech may have even been written there, Johnson said.

King’s last visit was just months before he was killed on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn. The Retreat House on campus was built for King but completed after his death.

Members of the Voices of Victory choir from Bethesda Christian Fellowship and the Orange Grove Baptist Church Youth Choice on St. Helena performed songs that brought the audience to their feet, stomping, clapping and swaying, filling the hall with music.

Interim executive director Linda Jenkins asked the audience to lend support, financially or otherwise, to help keep the 153-year-old center open for another 153 years.

Jenkins celebrated the youth choir’s performance, saying children need to be encouraged and supported so they are prepared to handle the world as it continues to change.

As everyone in attendance stood a final time and lifted their voices with the strains of “We Shall Overcome,” hands reached for neighbors’ hands, across chairs, aisles and rows.

Reta Kennedy said she grew up seeing segregation in many forms, from her first day at Beaufort High School as one of nine black students, to her father’s battles as president of the NAACP branch on St. Helena. While the music moved her, the service was a reminder of much more.

“This all means freedom, because that’s what we fought for,” Kennedy said.

Follow reporter Erin Moody at twitter.com/IPBG_Erin.

This story was originally published January 18, 2015 at 10:42 PM with the headline "Penn Center community sing celebrates Martin Luther King’s work, mission."