The Jenkins Orphanage, now officially known as the Jenkins Institute For Children, was established in 1891 by Rev. Daniel Joseph Jenkins in Charleston, South Carolina. Jenkins was a businessman and Baptist minister who encountered street children and decided to organize an orphanage for young

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

s. The original site of the orphanage was 660 King Street, but the number of orphans quickly outpaced the facilities. In 1893, the orphanage moved to the Old Marine Hospital at 20 Franklin Street. This

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

, designed by Robert Mills, served as home of the orphanage until 1937. Its present-day location is in

North Charleston, South Carolina North Charleston is the third-largest city in the state of South Carolina.City Planning Department (2008-07)City of North Charleston boundary map. City of North Charleston. Retrieved January 21, 2011. On June 12, 1972, the city of North Charlest ...

Jenkins Orphanage Bands

The orphanage took in donations of musical instruments and Jenkins hired two local Charleston musicians — P.M. "Hatsie" Logan and Francis Eugene Mikell — to tutor the children in music. Upon its establishment, it became the only black instrumental group organized in South Carolina. The band's debut was on the streets of Charleston with the permission of the mayor, police chief, and Chamber of Commerce. The Jenkins Orphanage Band, wearing discarded

Citadel A citadel is the core fortified area of a town or city. It may be a castle, fortress, or fortified center. The term is a diminutive of "city", meaning "little city", because it is a smaller part of the city of which it is the defensive core. I ...

uniforms, performed throughout the United States and even toured England raising money for the support of the orphanage. It played in inaugural parades of Presidents

Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. ( ; October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), often referred to as Teddy or by his initials, T. R., was an American politician, statesman, soldier, conservationist, naturalist, historian, and writer who served as the 26t ...

and

William Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

. It appeared at the St. Louis Exposition and the Anglo-American Exposition in 1914. It toured the United States from coast to coast, and played in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. As many as five bands were on tour during the 1920s. The band ceased to exist in the 1980s. The orphanage published the ''Charleston Messenger'' newspaper. In 2003, a 10-minute

Fox Movietone News Movietone News is a newsreel that ran from 1928 to 1963 in the United States. Under the name British Movietone News, it also ran in the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1986, in France also produced by Fox-Europa, in Australia and New Zealand until 1970 ...

newsreel feature about the band, filmed on November 22, 1928, was selected for preservation in the

National Film Registry The National Film Registry (NFR) is the United States National Film Preservation Board's (NFPB) collection of films selected for preservation, each selected for its historical, cultural and aesthetic contributions since the NFPB’s inception ...

by the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library ...

, being deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". William "Cat" Anderson,

Jabbo Smith Jabbo Smith (born Cladys Smith; December 24, 1908 – January 16, 1991) was an American jazz musician, known for his virtuoso playing on the trumpet. Biography Smith was born in Pembroke, Georgia, United States. At the age of six he went into ...

, Tom Delaney, and

Freddie Green Frederick William Green (March 31, 1911 – March 1, 1987) was an American swing jazz guitarist who played rhythm guitar with the Count Basie Orchestra for almost fifty years. Early life and education Green was born in Charleston, South Car ...

are notable alumni.

References

Bibliography

John Chilton John James Chilton (16 July 1932 – 25 February 2016) was a British jazz trumpeter and writer. During the 1960s, he also worked with pop bands, including The Swinging Blue Jeans and The Escorts. He won a Grammy Award for Best Album Notes in 1 ...

(1980) ''A Jazz Nursery: The Story of the Jenkins' Orphanage Bands of Charleston, South Carolina'', 60 p., London, U.K.: Bloomsbury, .

External links

*''Fox Movietone News: Jenkins Orphanage Band'' essay by Julie Hubbert at

br>
*''Fox Movietone News: Jenkins Orphanage Band'' essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 , pages 153-15
Jenkins Institute For ChildrenAvery Research CenterThe Charleston Jazz InitiativeSouth Carolina Music Hall of FameCharleston Jazz by Jack McCray
*

at the South Carolina University Libraries Moving Image Research Collections {{Authority control African-American history in Charleston, South Carolina Orphanages in the United States Buildings and structures in Charleston, South Carolina