Penn Center

The Penn Center is located on St. Helena Island, one of the most beautiful and historically distinct of the South Carolina Sea Islands, and at the heart of Gullah culture.

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.

Lamar High School Overview | Let's Go!

Video

Grades: 5 8 11

Lamar High School in Darlington County, South Carolina, was the site of an attack on school buses carrying African American students to the campus on March 3, 1970. In January 1970, the 4th Circuit...

Penn Center: A Legacy of Change Learning Activity

Document

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

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...

Penn Center Overview | Let's Go!

Video

Grades: 4 5 8 11

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...

Penn Center Photo Gallery | Let's Go!

Photo

Grades: 4 5 8 11

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...

3D VR - Penn Center: Brick Church | Let's Go!

Interactive

Grades: 4 5 8 11

3D VR - Penn Center: Frissell Community House | Let's Go

Interactive

Grades: 4 5 8 11

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...

Emory Campbell

Video

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Higher Education

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...

The Annual Baby Fair At The Penn Center | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 17

Photo

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

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...

Children Traveling To The Penn School By Boat | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 6

Photo

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

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.

School on Coosaw Island | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 18

Photo

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

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...

Original Building of the Penn School | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 3

Photo

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

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...

Granny Midwives in Penn School | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 14

Photo

Grades: 4 8

African herbal medicine traditions remained an important part of health care practices in the slave communities. Even after the war, when the Freedman's Bureau and northern educators tried to teach...

Uncle Sam Polite | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 11

Photo

Grades: 8

The crafts that Africans brought with them in their heads and hands to the new world were crafts that were important to carrying out everyday life--whether it be making baskets and pots, or keeping...

Group of Penn School Baskets | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 8

Photo

Grades: 4 8

A group of Penn School baskets, illustrating their many forms, as well as the beauty that made them an important craft that Sea Island residents could sell as the tourist industry began to expand in...

Basket Teacher at Penn School with Class | History Of SC Slide Collection

Episode 7

Photo

Grades: 8

The first basket teacher at the Penn School worked to revive and perpetuate the African basket making skills among the children of the Sea Islands. The baskets made had a wide range of utilitarian...

Winnowing Rice with a Fanner Basket | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 8

Photo

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Winnowing rice with a fanner basket near Beaufort, in 1907. The sweet grass baskets now sold as decorative items in Charleston area open air markets were originally essential pieces of home and field...

Ellen Murray | History of SC Slide Collection

Episode 105

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Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Ellen Murray (1834-1908), with two young women from the Penn School. In 1862, Ellen Murray and Laura Towne (1825-1901), members of the Port Royal Experiment, established the first school for African...

Penn Center: A Legacy: Social Injustice | Carolina Stories

Episode 2

Video

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Higher Education

Penn School closed its doors in the late 1940s and redirected its efforts to address social injustice. 1964 was the height of the civil rights movement. Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. and his group were...

Penn Center: A Legacy: Heritage Days | Carolina Stories

Episode 3

Video

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Another way that Penn helps to remember the culture is through the Heritage Days Celebration. The event was rekindled in 1981 but has its roots in the old harvest day celebration. Heritage Days are...

Penn Center: A Legacy | Carolina Stories

Episode 1

Video

Grades: 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Located on St. Helena Island, some may remember it as Penn School, while others know it as Penn Center. St. Helena is one of the few places where you will see a living Gullah community. The history...

First Baskets at Penn School | Digital Traditions

Episode 3

Audio

Grades: Higher Education

Researcher Dale Rosengarten reads a passage from a Penn School program dating the first year that basketmaking was taught at the school.

Baskets at Penn School | Digital Traditions

Episode 2

Audio

Grades: Higher Education

Resident of St. Helena Island, SC (Beaufort County). His father, George Brown, taught basketmaking at the Penn School on St. Helena Island in the early 20th Century. The school was founded in the...

Penn Center History | Road Trip

Video

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8

Joseph McDomick, Jr., former Penn Center project supervisor for over thirty years, talks about the history of the Penn Center. A history that began with the Port Royal Experiment in 1862 and the...

Mary Long Talks About Penn Center | Road Trip

Video

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8

Mary Long talks about how far the Penn Center has come in establishing freedom for African Americans. It was at the Penn Center where many African Americans were given a chance to learn. CREDIT: Mary...

Penn Center

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