Penn Center, St Helena Island, South Carolina, USA

The campus of the former Penn School, one of the nation’s first schools for formerly enslaved people, is one of the most significant African American institutions in existence today.

Penn Center: 16 Penn Center Cir E, St Helena Island, South Carolina, USA

This historic and cultural institution is a National Historic Landmark District and comprises two of the four sites in Reconstruction Era National Park.

This building is significant because it was one of the nation’s first schools for formerly enslaved people.

The building originally looked this way when it was first constructed, but it was later destroyed in a fire. It was then reconstructed as a one-story building.

Charlotte Forten, a free-born Philadelphian, was one of the first black teachers to come south.  The center is called Penn Center because it was Pennsylvania State that sponsored her.

Walking back