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.
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Researcher Dale Rosengarten reads a passage from a Penn School program dating the first year that basketmaking was taught at the school.
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Joseph McDomick, Jr., former Penn Center project supervisor for over thirty years, tells how Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his inner circle worked at Penn to plan events like the March on Washington...
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Joseph McDomick, Jr., former Penn Center project supervisor for over thirty years, talks about Dr. King's many visits to Penn Center and how the visits had to be kept quiet because of the threats on...
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Joseph McDomick, Jr, civil rights activist and former Penn Center employee, talks about why Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. chose to visit the Penn Center on many occasions during the civil rights...
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Robert Middleton left St. Helena at age 18, returning 45 years later after serving in the army, studying at Howard University, and a career of social work in Washington, D.C. and on an Apache Indian...
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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...
