Beaufort County pastor, activist receives award as part of MLK celebration in Hilton Head
The Rev. Jon R. Black, former pastor of Campbell Chapel A.M.E. Church in Bluffton, was presented the 2025 Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award on Hilton Head Island Monday.
Black also was the keynote speaker at the MLK Community Memorial Celebration held at Hilton Head Island High School by the Hilton Head MLK Committee for Justice.
Black addressed the committee’s theme for this year: “Hope in Action. A Path Forward.”
“Hope is a discipline,” Black said. “It is an active stance.”
The hope needed to move from despair to purpose reminded Black of a saying in the U.S. Navy he heard during his career as a chaplain: “All it takes is all you’ve got. All you’ve got is all it takes.”
He said faith and hope require self-growth.
“Change doesn’t come from outside in,” he said. “It comes from inside out.”
And he said, “Hope in action is communal. It is a shared resource.”
Black was pastor at the historic Campbell Chapel church from 2015 until last August, when he became presiding elder of the Beaufort District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, supervising 30 congregations and 29 pastors.
He is a native of Sumter, where he was among the first to integrate the public school system, said the Rev. Nannettte Pierson in introducing Black.
“There are many meaningful and life-changing words spoken by Martin Luther King Jr.,” Pierson said. “This one in particular reflects the Jon Black I know and love: ‘Let us be dissatisfied until integration is not seen as a problem but as an opportunity to participate in the beauty of diversity.’ ”
She said that in Bluffton, Black was deeply engaged in spiritual activism and social justice ministries.
The day’s activities began with the annual MLK Memorial March from the high school to William Hilton Parkway and back on Main Street. And it closed with a free community lunch in the school cafeteria.
Among other speakers was Town Council member Alex Brown, who cited examples of the town taking action to address issues of Ward 1, which he represents.
He said the town is addressing the danger to pedestrians on William Hilton Parkway in the vicinity of The Oaks apartments by lowering the speed limit, installing safety lighting, and landscaping medians to encourage people to use the crosswalks.
He said the town is involved in neighborhood clean-ups rather than writing citations for unkempt property; the town now has a safety repair program to address unsafe conditions at homes where occupants may not be able to afford that work; and the town is helping landowners plan the highest and best use for their land through its Gullah Geechee Historic Neighborhoods Community Development Corporation.
A community choir performed, led by Lavon Stevens, and the Mount Calvary Church Praise Dancers performed. The emcee was middle school student Journee Elisabeth Orage, and the welcome was given by Hilton Head High student Victoria Guess.
Galen Miller is chairman of the MLK Committee for Justice, which has events planned throughout the month.
