Award-winning author Margaret Seidler delivered the keynote address at Seneca’s 14th annual Black History Luncheon on Friday, organized by the city’s Arts, History & Culture Department. She detailed her book Payne-ful Business: Charleston’s Journey to Truth, revealing her ancestors’ extensive involvement in Charleston’s slave trade. Her fourth great-grandfather William Payne operated the city’s largest auction house for enslaved people, personally auctioning over 9,000 individuals, with family activities spanning roughly 100 years and making her an eighth-generation Charlestonian linked to prominent slave-trading figures who built wealth before losing it after the Civil War. Seidler expressed surprise at uncovering this history despite her family’s east-side Charleston roots.
Mayor Ronnie O’Kelley, who looks forward to the event every year, said:
Joseph Alewine, Seneca City Museums Manager, also spoke during the event. City Administrator Scott Moulder and Rev. WC Honeycutt, a city council member, provided additional remarks, with Rev. Honeycutt delivering the invocation. Lynn Mosby, of Seneca City Museums, served as the emcee…