Prominent Lowcountry civil rights ‘eyewitnesses’ returning to St. Helena’s Penn Center
Four civil rights veterans will return to the Penn Center for a free public program, “Eyewitnesses to the Movement: The Low Country and the Civil Rights Movement,” from 4-6 p.m. Saturday in Frissell Hall at the Penn Center with a reception following.
The veterans either trained at the Penn Center in interracial gatherings of students or were instrumental in civil rights in the Lowcountry, said Dr. Bobby Donaldson, executive director of the University of South Carolina’s Center for Civil Rights History and Research.
Panelists include Dr. Millicent Brown and Oveta Glover, who were two of the first eleven students to desegregate Charleston public schools sixty years ago this month. Rodney Hurst trained at the Penn Center for student direct action in Jacksonville, Fla., including the infamous “Ax Handle Saturday,” and Dr. Dan T. Carter attended the Penn Center as a student activist at the University of South Carolina. Admission is free.
The program is part of “Justice for All,” a traveling exhibition that tells the story of South Carolina’s essential role in the American Civil Rights Movement. An open house at the exhibition will be held, 11 a.m.- 2 p.m., before the “Eyewitnesses” program.
Penn Center is a former school for freed slaves on St. Helena Island dedicated to promoting Gullah-Geechee history and culture. It’s located at 16 Penn Center Circle West on St. Helena Island. Designated as a National Historic Landmark District in 1974, today the not-for-profit works in the areas of education, community development and social justice.
