- Collection:
- Southern Journey Oral History Collection
- Title:
- South Carolina - Charleston: William Saunders Interviewee
- Contributor to Resource:
- Dent, Thomas C.
- Date of Original:
- 1991-04-19
- Subject:
- African Americans
Civil rights
Strikes and lockouts
Civil rights demonstrations
Segregation
Medical personnel
Hospitals
Education
Religion - Location:
- United States, South Carolina, Charleston County, Charleston, 32.77657, -79.93092
- Medium:
- sound recordings
- Type:
- Sound
- Format:
- audio/mpeg
- Description:
- Tom Dent interviews William Saunders in Charleston, South Carolina. Saunders talks about the history of organizing among slaves in the Charleston area in 1821-1822, including the Sea Islands where he is from. Organizers were hung. Bernice Reagon traced the history of "We Shall Overcome" to the region, where it was sung in a tobacco factory strike in the 1940s. He talks about how Esau Jenkins organized the Progressive Club in 1948 following the shooting of a black man by a white man on Johns Island. The community based credit union is one of the good things that came out of the organization. Saunders talks about what he gained coming from the Sea Islands. James, Johns, Wadmalaw, [Youngs?], and Edisto all had a black majority population. The culture is different from the city of Charleston. Saunders talks about the African tradition and response to leadership. His grandmother passed along wisdom to him. He talks about a particular policeman who had killed over fifteen black men. When Saunders was young, he said he wanted to kill him. His grandmother told him never to say that and that he would see the people he killed again and suffer on this earth. He ended up leading a sad life. His grandmother told him that he has to be like the "Angel Oak" on Johns Island, saying that if you cannot bend you will break. They made traditional West African foods, such as benne candy made from sesame. Saunders wears different wardrobes on the island and in the city. He did not realize how different the cultures of the islands and the city of Charleston were until he was bused to the city in high school (at the arrangement of Esau Jenkins). People would laugh at him when he got angry because his accent got stronger. Dent talks about a Gambian friend. Saunders talks more about his early life on Johns Island. He talks about religion on the island, which is very African, and African American practice of religion. Church leadership used to have a more prominent role. Saunders believed that anything he wanted to do in life, he could do in the region. He did not leave town. He talks about some of the things he has written. They discuss activism in Charleston, and compare the level of activism to other cities, such as Columbia. Saunders says that people in Charleston take the changes that occur for granted and they do not think about why the changes have happened. He discusses Jenkins' school board run in 1956 and starting the Citizenship School together. The raid of Highlander Folk School in 1959 caused Saunders to leave the nonviolent movement. He says he could not "turn the other cheek. It felt like I only had one cheek."
- Metadata URL:
- https://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/islandora/object/tulane:54127
- Contributing Institution:
- Amistad Research Center
- Rights:
-
