Juneteenth celebrated at historic Penn Center on St. Helena Island

ST. HELENA ISLAND, S.C. (WTOC) - Even with the threat of storms, hundreds of people gathered Friday at the historic Penn Center on St. Helena Island to celebrate Juneteenth with a day centered on history, music, and community.

The event marked the third year the Penn Center, recognized as the first school in the South for formerly enslaved West Africans, has served as the home for the Juneteenth celebration.

Organizers said the goal is to make sure what’s shared there is carried forward to the next generation.

For Michael Moore, celebrating Juneteenth with hundreds of people at the historic Penn Center was special.

Moore, a descendant of Robert Smalls, said the celebration is also a reminder of how the country’s strength comes from the diverse people who helped build it.

“We are a nation of lots of different people from lots of different places, but together I think we create this beautiful tapestry, and if we can acknowledge the breadth of this country, I think it makes us stronger,” Moore said.

Smalls was born into slavery in Beaufort County and later escaped by commandeering a Confederate ship in Charleston Harbor, steering it to a Union-controlled area. He later became a politician and played a significant role in the early development of the Penn Center.

“To see young people out here engaging with the history, engaging with this place, it’s heartening and just gives me hope for the future,” Moore said.

Over the decades, the Penn Center became a place of lasting influence in the Lowcountry, with generations learning there, and it even served as a space where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote parts of his “I Have a Dream” speech.

Now, during Juneteenth events like Friday’s celebration, organizers say the campus continues to serve as a living classroom.

“History and information that our children need to know,” St. Helena/Lady’s Island Legacy Keepers member, Mildred Glover said. “Lest we forget, we take the risk of going back and repeating some of the same things that we don’t want to happen.”

This year’s celebration included music, history lessons, and performances, along with a fashion show and other activities designed to involve children and teens more directly, not just as audience members, but as participants.

Organizers said young people helped bring lessons to life by taking part in a fashion show, skits, and presentations, including sharing the story of Harriet Tubman and the impact she made during the Civil War.

“The youth is our future; without them, we have no future,” Glover said. “We want to give it to them first-hand, fresh from their grandparents and their great grandparents, so that they can know what really happened and hopefully those stories will never die with them.”

Robert Adams, executive director of the Historic Penn Center, said the work of preserving history and culture requires persistence.

“We are climbing the stairs, and they may not be the best stairs and they’re not carpeted everywhere, but we must continue determined,” Adams said. “We must continue to climb because if we stop climbing, we are doing a disservice to all our ancestors.”

The Penn Center offers tours at its museum throughout the week. Organizers also announced the site plans to host a Heritage Days celebration in mid-November.