Reverend John T. Enwright papers

Reverend John Thomas Enwright (1904-1975), an African American minister, was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He received a Bachelor of Science from Clark College in 1925 and a Bachelor of Divinity from Gammon Theological Seminary in 1932, both in Atlanta, Georgia. In 1929, he married Eula Chatfield. The couple had one child, Florence Enwright Miller. Enwright served the pastorate at the First Congregational Church at the Dorchester Center in McIntosh, Georgia; the First Congregational Church in Greensboro, North Carolina; Beecher Memorial Congregational Church in New Orleans, Louisiana; and Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Charleston, South Carolina.

In 1949, Rev. John Enwright was called to the pastorate at Plymouth Congregational Church (now known as Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ), where he served until retirement. One of Enwright's largest endeavors was to move the church from its location on Pitt Street northwest in order to attract more members. The new building at 124 Spring Street was dedicated on April 6, 1958.

In 1957, the Congregational Christian Churches and Evangelical and Reformed Church merged to form the United Church of Christ. Enwright was active in both the Congregational Christian Churches and the United Church of Christ, attending conferences and maintaining regular correspondence with professionals from many regions of the United States. In the early 1950s, Enwright served as president of the Convention of the South of the Congregational Christian Churches (known later as the Southeast Conference of the United Church of Christ).

Enwright was heavily involved in the community, and his work especially focused on improving the lives of the least privileged families in Charleston. He was involved in a number of youth-oriented community organizations, including the Shaw Community Center, of which he was director, and the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), and worked to address issues of juvenile delinquency within the city. He was also involved in a number of social justice organizations, including the Concerned Clergy Committee (especially in response to the 1969 Hospital Workers' Strike), the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance, the Political Action Committee, and the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Interested in economic security, he was an active member of the Economic Opportunity Commission and co-founder of Community Organization Federal Credit Union. He also was involved with the South Carolina Council on Human Relations and South Carolina Commission for Farm Workers, Inc.

In 1974, after 25 years of service to Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ, Reverend John T. Enwright retired. He died the following November.

In 1861, shortly after the commencement of the Civil War, the Circular Congregational Church in Charleston, South Carolina was destroyed by fire. Frustrated by lack of voting rights within the church, the African American portion of the congregation did not return to worship after the structure was rebuilt. In 1867, these African Americans established the Plymouth Congregational Church, which was originally comprised of former members of the Circular Congregational Church.

In 1868, Plymouth Congregational Church held its first service in the chapel of the Avery Normal Institute, and in 1872, the congregation dedicated its first building at 41 Pitt Street. Plymouth Congregational Church had close ties to the Avery Normal Institute: many of its ministers were principals of Avery, and sometimes services were conducted in Avery's chapel when the regular church building was unavailable.

In 1957, when the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches of the United States merged to form the United Church of Christ, Plymouth's name changed to Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ. In 1958, under the direction of Reverend John Thomas Enwright, a new structure was erected at 124 Spring Street, where, as of 2011, the congregation continues to meet.