Several generations of the St. Helena community attended the historic Penn School, established as one of the first schools for freed slaves. In the 1950s and 1960s, the site served as a safe retreat for those involved in the Civil Rights Movement. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and other activists used the quiet refuge to plan the March on Washington, an event that helped pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The Penn Center now serves as a resource center for those studying and protecting Sea Island communities.
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This program tells the story of the Penn Center’s inception in 1862 as a school for freed slaves to its involvement in the Gullah community today. Today the center collects, documents, preserves, and...
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Penn Center is one of the most significant African American historical and cultural institutions in existence today. The historic campus is located on St. Helena Island, one of the most beautiful and...
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The Penn Center, founded officially as the Penn School in 1865, is a campus of buildings dedicated to African American education in St. Helena Island, South Carolina. The original school grew out of...
Interactive
Penn Center is one of the most significant African American historical and cultural institutions in existence today. The historic campus is located on St. Helena Island, one of the most beautiful and...
Interactive
After becoming Penn Community Center in 1953, the institution began to focus on social issues affecting the well-being of the native islanders. This expanded to African Americans as a whole in the...
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Emory Campbell is a community leader on Saint Helena's Island, SC. This is his full interview from the SCETV documentary "Sea Change." Questions addressed in this video include: What would the effect...
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An important event at the Penn School was the annual Baby Fair, sponsored by the school as a way to encourage good nutrition and other health practices for children of St. Helena's Island. This...
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The children from Pollawana Island in this 1910 photograph came to the Penn School by boat. From the Penn School Collection. Permission granted by Penn Center, Inc., St. Helena Island, SC.
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This one-room school on Coosaw Island was taught by a Penn School graduate in the 1920s. A Penn School faculty member wrote a note on the back of the photograph, "It is to such conditions that our...
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The original building of the Penn School photographed around 1890. The Penn School, located on St. Helena's Island, was the first school for freed African-Americans opened by northerners in the South...
