Historic island church finds joy, hope in Obama presidency

Inside the wood-paneled worship hall Sunday at Hilton Head Island's First

African Baptist Church, calls to follow God's word elicited the loudest "amen" from the clapping, swaying and stomping

congregation.

But a close second at the island's first black church were prayers that President-elect Barack Obama be blessed with wisdom when he takes office in January.

First African Baptist Church was a fitting place for church-goers to celebrate the election of the nation's first black president because of the history witnessed by parishioners past and present.

It was here where Sea Islands slaves became the first Southern blacks freed by the Union army 147 years ago as federal troops sought to secure a deep-water port on Nov. 7, 1861.

Native islanders attended the nation's first school for freed slaves, Penn School on St. Helena Island, which brought "encouragement and enlightenment" to the people of the Sea Islands, said Rosa G. Simmons, a 1949 graduate of the Penn School.

It was here that the government conducted its first experiment of freedom, which gave blacks land and jobs, but not equality.

Those first families formed Mitchelville, America's first village for freed slaves.

Although the cottages and churches of Mitchelville no longer stand, the tight-knit community endures to this day, as direct descendants preserve Gullah traditions amid the pressures of modern development throughout the Lowcountry.

But progress has not come easily.

It was also here where painful and divisive Jim Crow laws endured well into the 20th century, and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. brought civil-rights leaders together to fight for basic human rights and dignity.

"We've come a long way," Simmons said Sunday.

There were few mentions of Obama by name during the 2-hour service Sunday, but he was clearly on the congregants' minds as the Rev. Alvin L. Petty spoke of blessings, victories and the goodness of God.

"We are celebrating not only history, but we're celebrating life," Petty said after his sermon, as children stood close by eyeing a tray of cupcakes on a nearby table. "We've come together not just as blacks, but as a people united, which made the difference in this election.

"It shows and it proves you can be whatever you want to be in life."

Progress has come on the backs of previous generations that had a lot in terms of valuable land and strong families, but wanted much more, Petty said.

"What we're doing is standing on the shoulders of those old patriarchs who started this church 146 years ago," he

said.

As the congregants, dressed in suits, dresses and elaborate hats, filed out of the church into the golden sunlight of the warm autumn day, associate pastor and choir singer Thelma Jenkins wished them well.

This wasn't a day for personal or political victories, according to Jenkins.

"It's not what he means to me," she said. "It's what he means to the world."