2 weeks Ago
Ron McKnight Ronnie L. McKnight was given a key to the city last month for his continuous support and ongoing contributions of the community of Kingstree. McKnight grew up in Kingstree and continues his involvement as a commercial property owner and supporter of a number of community organizations.
McKnight regularly contributes to the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Kingstree Chapter and organizes Back to School, Thanksgiving and Christmas events to give back to those in need in his hometown. “I’ve done over 100 plus interviews and podcasts, TV shows, radio shows, and I always talk about Kingstree,” says McKnight. “I need to let people know that where you come from is important.
” McKnight says his fourth great-grandfather was one of the first 10 slaves signed off the boat in Charleston from Nigeria. He married into his slave master’s family, the McKnights, who were from Scotland. The family relocated to the White Oak area of Williamsburg County when Kingstree was first being organized and settled.
His father’s mother was a Black Foot Indian from Camden. Her name was Lily McKnight, but people called her Sugaloot. She had blue eyes and jet black, silky hair that flowed down past her hips.
Sugaloot was instrumental to McKnight’s upbringing. McKnight, now 52, felt safe growing up in Kingstree. Kids played outside all day and knew when the street lights came on, it was time to go home.
“It was a bustling town,” he remembers. People shopped at Marcus and C. Tuckers Department stores.
When Ron McKnight was a child, he would sit at the kitchen table, where he talked to imaginary people, and pretend he owned his own business. “I didn’t know what I was doing, but my mother allowed me to dream the impossible,” he says. “Racism was truly still at its highest peak, and I was a young black boy.
My mom told me as long as you don’t hurt anybody be yourself. That is the gift.” McKnight attended Kingstree Elementary School, Kingstree Junior High and spent two years at Kingstree High School before his family moved him to Clinton Preparatory School in Rock Hill.
He wasn’t happy about going to a prep school, but admits if he had stayed in Kingstree, he wouldn’t be the person he is today. “I take it as a blessing from God, the Angels and the Universe,” he says. “I would have ended up going to the military or working in the factory and that wasn’t me.
” McKnight enrolled in Winthrop University, then transferred to Norfolk State University, a historically black university in Norfolk, Virginia. He earned an undergraduate degree in History World Diplomacy and a Masters in Media and Communications. He has a Doctorate in Education from Capella University Harvard Extension.
As an educator, he taught at Benedict College and Voorhees University. McKnight has a talent for educating and building community. He taught for 12 years, then became the Human Resources Vice President for Blue Apron.
With the help of application developers, Bhaval Patel and Aksha Patel, McKnight created the transportation on demand app, HOP-In-Go Technologies, Corp, a competitor of Uber and Lift in major cities across the United States. The company has plans to expand worldwide in the next two years. “Thank God for my education,” he says.
“Out of all of that teaching, and experience in HR, I became the CEO of a software firm,” he says. He just purchased Hiacora Gaming Solutions, which has 15 games under the brand. McKnight shares his time between Manhattan and Columbia, SC where he is a member of the Jewish Tree of Life Synagogue.
He serves as the Dean of the Divinity School in Columbia and just had a graduation ceremony for graduates of Kingstree. McKnight says he is happy to see Kingstree is coming back to where it is supposed to be. “Property values are on the rise,” he reports.
He dabbles in real estate. He established the Ron L. McKnight Endowment Scholarship at Winthrop University.
He has two fiction books and three non-fiction books centered around the importance of education. His latest book is about the importance of education at PWI’s and HBCU’s. McKnight is proud to have received the key to the city.
“Tears came to my eyes,” he says. “He puts us out there,” says Kingstree Mayor Darren Tisdale. “If anything new is going on in Kingstree, he advertises it.
He continues to support his hometown, even if he isn’t around here.”.
