History of Penn School / Penn Center of the Sea Islands: Penn Center Records

Records document the administrative operations and cultural heritage activities of Penn Community Services and Penn Center of the Sea Islands. Topics include organizational policies and development; fund-raising and other finances; rural community development; ownership and retention of land by African Americans; health, education, and social services programming; Peace Corps training; the United States Commission on Civil Rights and state advisory committees that reported on discrimination practices; the Orangeburg Massacre; land use and environmental, cultural, and historic preservation; collaboration among South Carolina low country cultural heritage organizations and education agencies; the development of the "Education for Freedom" exhibit on Penn School and Penn Center history; Gullah and Sea Island history and culture; and special events, such as Heritage Days, Black History Month, Emancipation Proclamation celebrations, Labor Day programs, Community Sings, the Mystery Play, Miss Black Pearl pageants, and Civil War reenactments. Photographic materials depict special events; campus buildings; Sea Island rural and coastal scenery; employees and visitors; midwives; residents of St. Helena Island and other islanders; folk art exhibits and artists; visits by A. Phillip Randolph, Martin Luther King Jr., and others; travel by a Penn Center group to Sierra Leone; and Hurricane Gracie (1959). Audiovisual materials include oral histories, other interviews, and recordings of campus events on topics that include Gullah history and culture, ownership and retention of land by African Americans, and cultural heritage and historical tourism.