Esau Jenkins

Background

He was born on Johns Island on Legareville Road on July 3rd, 1910. His mother was Mrs. Eva Jenkins and she died when he was nine years old. His father was Mr. Peter Jenkins . His play mother was Mrs. Sarah Richardson who took care of him.

He was only able to go to the fourth grade for formal learning. Hi father needed him on the farm. Mr. Jenkins said"school was not encouraging to go to." So he went to Charleston and started to work on a boat.

One day it was storming and he decided not to go out on the boat. He stayed in Charleston at the market. There was a lady standing in market with a bushel of plums. She had a doctor appointment and had to leave. Mr. Jenkins brought the plums for $2.00. He sold the plums and made more money than he would have made for a full days of work on the boat. So he never returned to the boat. He did later returned to school .

He started to "hustle in the market."

Mr. Jenkins married Janie E. Jones in 1926. He was seventeen years old. From this marriage they had thirteen children. They had eight girls and five boys.

Mr. Jenkins noticed that most of the sellers at the market were Greeks. He felt it would benefit him if he would learn to communicate with them. So he took a class to learn to the language. He studied it for about a year to a year and a half. The word went around town "the colored Greek is in town."

He did that until he got enough people to believe  in him that they would give him a deposit and he brought a “little F-Ford truck.”  “He started to using people from the country and brought from ‘em and take it to the market and sell it.”

This helped his business tremendously and it helped him to educate his children.

Mr. Jenkins's vegetable trucking business grew and he decided to invest in other businesses.

A fruit store on President Street.

J & P Motel on Spring Street.

His wife, Janie operated the cafe.

Later, around 1950 he opened Jenkins Place in Atlantic Beach, S.C. It was a small motel and restaurant.

Justice and Motivation

Mr. Jenkins as he began to prosper he reached out into his community. He was motivated by two incidences on Johns Island. In 1938 when a dog ran out into road and the dog was accidentally killed. This dog belonged to a white man and this man ran the black man down. The guy in the truck with the driver tried to convince the man that his friend did not into kill his dog. He pleaded with the man but he shot the man that was pleading for his and he died. The family was able to get a lawyer and try the case but the case is yet to be heard.

Then in 1940's a white man named, Mr. Malone, 60 years old from Mississippi, moved to Johns Island wife 20 year old wife. There dog went across street to Mr. Sammy Gantt's house. Mrs. Malone could hear the dog hollering because she was in heat. She asked Mr. Gantt if he put his dog on her dog. He said he did not. She felt he did. She went home and told her husband something. The next morning time Mr. Gantt normally gets pick up by a truck to go to work Mr. Malone shot him. The driver of the truck rushed him to the hospital. The doctor told him the Mr. Malone had to have blood. The truck driver rushed to market place to tell his mother the need to get him some blood. She had no money for blood. So Mr. Jenkins along with his two brother-in- laws rushed to hospital and donated their blood. They were able to save his life. Then Mr. Jenkins got him a lawyer. He kind of threatened the lawyer he hired for the young man because he was taking too long to resolve the case. The other man lawyer called shortly thereafter and wanted to meet with the young man family that was killed. Mr. Jenkins was able to speak with the lawyer and the family that did the killing and was able to come up with an amicable decision. So they decided to pay Sammy what he had lost. They agreed.

These types of problems made him to decide to organize a progressive movement in 1949. To help the people become better citizens, give them a better education and learn how to negotiate for themselves and finally to take an active part in government.

 Mr. Jenkins started the Progressive Club in 1948.  The Progressive Club was created to improve conditions and provide opportunities for Black Residents of Johns Island(Progressive Club, 2021).

The Progressive Club would later operate a grocery store, the only gym on Johns Island, and serve as a center for adult education and voter registration (Carawan, 1989) page 49

Please note # 3 on this Sample Voter Registration Application.

Another one as Ms. Georgette Mayo stated in her article entitle "Voteless People Are Hopeless People": Understanding the Importance and Power of Voting and she said another question often used is "How many bubbles are in a bar of soap?"

The great Judge J. Waites Waring gave the blacks a chance to vote in the primaries in South Carolina. Mr Jenkins saw the need for a way to educate the blacks in his community. So he and his wife decided when they were commuting people from John Island to Charleston to go to work daily that they would use this time to teach them how to pass the literacy test.

Ms. Septima Clark taught strategies used by the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee to the blacks how to read and write. They taught them how to pass the literacy test as well. They would also teach them how to fill out forms, such as a money order and write a check.