Mount Pleasant Magazine Jan/Feb2016

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Deborah Jenkins-Lewis
never met her great-grandfather, but
she’s made it her life’s mission that he
be remembered for breaking through
racial barriers in a tumultuous time
in South Carolina’s history.
Jenkins-Lewis, 58, grew up
hearing the stories about her grandfather’s father, Edmund
Jenkins, an African-American veteran of the Civil War who
was elected as Mount Pleasant’s first black town marshal.
Jenkins, who, according to his family, was born a slave in
McClellanville, served the town of Mount Pleasant from the
1890s until the late 1920s, according to the Mount Pleasant
Historical Commission. His tenure during the age of Jim
Crow laws was rare, according to Jenkins-Lewis.
“My great-grandfather was an ordinary man who led an
extraordinary life by virtue of the times he lived,” she said.
Damon L. Fordham, a South Carolina historian who
wrote about Jenkins in his book, “True Stories of Black South
Carolina,” said that based on the interviews he conducted,
Jenkins kept order largely among the black community at
that time.
“He was so well thought of that when he died in 1930,
the newspaper published his obituary and referred to him as
Mr. Jenkins, when such titles were not given to blacks during
those days or even obituaries were written about them,” he
said. “During that time, that was miraculous.”
Details about his life, however, are hard to come by
nowadays. Little else has been written about Jenkins, who
died on Dec. 26, 1930.
“There’s a lot of people not aware of it,” said Jenkins-Lewis.
People in the Lowcountry are surprised when they hear
about Edmund Jenkins, according to Fordham.
“There are a lot of great heroes from that period that
people are shocked to learn about,” he said. “Almost without
exception, they are shocked to learn there were educated
black people in those days. Students are always shocked to
“Change has to come one day, and I’m not
sure when the change comes if I’ll be living.
Hopefully, I’ll be able to help with the
change while I’m on this Earth.”
~Deborah Jenkins-Lewis
learn that.”
The town of Mount Pleasant erected a historical marker for
Jenkins in 2006, while a public housing facility built in 1952
was also named the Edmund Jenkins Homes in his memory.
Jenkins-Lewis is grateful for the recognition, but she’s
hungry for more. She wants her great-grandfather’s legacy
ingrained in the state’s history. She is currently advocating for
street signage in honor of Edmund Jenkins and is determined
to keep the memory of him alive.
“I’m not going to give up,” she said. “It’s very important
for me to continue this move for the legacy of my family.”
Jenkins-Lewis lives in Chicago, where a movement to
end racial injustice has recently taken center stage. She said
Deborah Jenkins-
Lewis gives a
goody bag to
a child after a
ceremony at the
Edmund Jenkins
Home in 2002.