Goosebumps rose on Shana Robinson’s arms as she recalled her childhood memories of Sunday morning services at Hebron Presbyterian Church, which was built by formerly enslaved people on Johns Island.

She recalled sitting on the front pew in the two-story wooden church with her family as churchgoers vigorously fanned themselves with paper fans bearing a funeral home ad and a picture of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

For added relief from the summer heat, ushers raised the windows to let in a cool ocean breeze, Robinson remembers. Through the windows, a jubilant chorus of songs, foot-stomping and clapping wafted along Bohicket Road.

Robinson’s recollections from the early 1980s are typical for many churchgoers in sea island communities. Her experience and those of her fellow church member

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