Were there any Black owned hotels in Charleston, SC?
Answer
Yes, there were a few Black-owned/operated hotels in the city, including
- Jehu Jones
- Saint James Hotel
- Hametic Hotel
- Esau Jenkins Shop and Hotel
- Other Accommodation Options
Jehu Jones
Saint James Hotel
Resources at the Avery Research Center
- Vertical File: James Hotel
- George Washington papers, 1955-1989, Avery Research Center, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC, USA. https://findingaids.library.cofc.edu/repositories/3/resources/1043 Accessed February 25, 2026.
External Resources
- Smyth, William D. "Segregation in Charleston in the 1950s: A Decade of Transition." The South Carolina Historical Magazine 92, no. 2 (1991): 99-123. Accessed July 31, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/27568213.
Hametic Hotel
Archival Resources at the Avery Research Center
- Photo within the Avery Photograph Collection
External Resources
Books
- A Gullah Guide to Charleston by Alphonso Brown, with an image and background information on the hotel on page 132.
- Black Imagination and the Middle Passage
Esau Jenkins Shop and Hotel
- Image of Hotel: http://lcdl.library.cofc.edu/lcdl/catalog/lcdl:100265
Other Accommodation Options
If particularly prominent African Americans visited Charleston, they often stayed in people’s homes, as noted in this article about Booker T. Washington's visit to Charleston and how he stayed at the home of Dr. William Crum, who was a graduate of the Avery Normal Institute.
Find out more here: Jackson, David H. "Booker T. Washington in South Carolina, March 1909." The South Carolina Historical Magazine 113, no. 3 (2012): 192-220. Accessed July 31, 2020. www.jstor.org/stable/41698114.
Additional Resources about Southern Culture/Tourism/Recreation
Rankin, Tom. "Beaches." In The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Volume 16: Sports and Recreation, edited by Harvey H. Jackson. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011. https://pascal-cofc.library.cofc.edu/permalink/01PASCAL_COFC/bkrgbh/alma9911252967805611 (you will need access to EBSCO ebooks provided either via CofC credentials or another institution)
Kahrl, Andrew W. "Beaches, Black, Jim Crow Era." In The New Encyclopedia of Southern Culture, Volume 16: Sports and Recreation, edited by Harvey H. Jackson. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2011. https://pascal-cofc.library.cofc.edu/permalink/01PASCAL_COFC/bkrgbh/alma9911252967805611 (you will need access to EBSCO ebooks provided either via CofC credentials or another institution)
Smyth, William D. "Segregation in Charleston in the 1950s: A Decade of Transition." South Carolina Historical Magazine 92, no. 2 (April 1991): 99–123.
