Taija Williams

taija

The Penn Center is a National Historic Landmark District that was established 150 years ago on St. Helena Island in Beaufort, South Carolina. It started with the Port Royal Experiment, which was an experiment lead to detect if Negro slaves were capable of learning and could be educated. The Port Royal Experiment would then turn into the first school for enslaved people and then to freedmen. Penn School was founded in 1862; the first educators of the institution would be Laura M. Towne and Ellen Murray, later companied by Charlotte Forten.

On February 26, 2013 I had the chance to walk the grounds of Penn Center which was an amazingly, overwhelming feeling. Prior to this trip I was not aware of the existence of the institution. My mother would always tell me, such as the great Frederick Douglas would agree, “you have to understand your history to deal with the present.” As I walked the grounds of the campus I could only imagine what it would have been like. Of course it had to have been exciting, a joyous institution, maybe an intimidating project at first for both the educators and students. However, you have to wonder what it took to make such a successful institution. When I looked at architecture of the buildings, the crafts, the trophies, the tools used, and most importantly the photos; I then realized why I was so overwhelmed, I had had a piece of the past uncovered for me, in order for me to now know more about the future, my future, our future.

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