The Process of Preserving History: Stabilizing the Jenkins Volkswagen
Esau Jenkins, an early civil rights pioneer in South Carolina, used this VW as his iconic daily drive during his efforts to provide opportunities, and hope to marginalized communities throughout the American south.
In Esau’s and Janie B. Jenkins’ lifetimes, they purchased buses to transport children to school and workers to jobs, taught adult passengers how to read in order to pass literacy exams to become registered voters, and founded the Community Owned Federal Credit Union to further the economic advancement of their community through low-interest loans to purchase homes and business.
The most notable of Esau & Janie B. Jenkins accomplishments was their founding of the Progressive Club, a co-op started in 1948 that housed a grocery store, gas station, day care and classroom space for community workshops which Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. attended, and served as the model for citizenship schools established throughout the south to teach literacy and political education.
The Jenkins Bus was preserved by the Historic Vehicle Association.