Penn Center’s 42nd Heritage Days celebration puts focus on teaching, empowering the next generation

ST. HELENA ISLAND, S.C. (WTOC) - Food, activities, and time spent together at the historic Penn Center are bringing people together for the 42nd annual Heritage Days celebration, with a focus on passing on Gullah Geechee and African American history and culture to younger generations.

Students from across Beaufort County visited the center on St. Helena Island for activities ranging from face painting and crochet to a Gullah Geechee-themed game.

Organizers hope the lessons will carry on to the next generation.

The Penn Center was founded as a school in 1862 and now serves as a place to learn about Gullah Geechee and African American culture and history.

Executive Director Robert Adams said educating young people remains central to its mission.

“The youth have always been the key element of that. You know, because when it started as a school, it started with the youth, educating the youth for the future that was coming,” Adams said. “That’s what Penn Center stands for, and that’s what we have to keep striving for.”

For vendor Johnnie Simmons, the grounds hold a personal connection. He has attended Heritage Days for more than 20 years, returning to the place where his mother went to school.

“This is the ground that mom played on in school, and it kind of gives you a sense of belonging,” Simmons said.

The Vietnam veteran brings artwork inspired by Gullah Geechee stories and his own life, using it to help teach younger visitors.

“If you don’t know, you don’t know, but you come around, you get bits and pieces here, bits and pieces there, bits and pieces there, and apply it to your life,” he said.

Adams said the goal is not only to share history, but also to invite young people to take part in how it is understood and passed along.

“We have to be intentional and active in sharing this history and at the same time, not just sharing the history, opening the door for them to become active participants in reshaping our understanding of that history,” he said.

Friday and Saturday events

The celebration continues Friday, Nov. 13, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Saturday, Nov. 14, from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., according to the event’s press release.

Friday, Nov. 13

• 10 a.m.: Opening festivities and Center Stage entertainment, including Daa Geeche Gal, Poetic Storyteller, saxophonist Gregory Whitaker, and Soul Line Dancing.
• 11 a.m.: Screening of Daughters of the Dust at Frissell Community House.
• 2:30 p.m.: “Here Today, Gone Tomorrow” with Ron Daise at Frissell Community House. The St. Helena Island native, author and former star of Nick Jr.’s Gullah Gullah Island presents a reader’s theater piece about Reconstruction-era figure Prince Rivers, woven with poetry, spirituals, and Civil War-era songs.
• 5 p.m.: Evening fish fry and music on the Penn Center grounds.
• All day: Artists and Authors Row and the Vendors Market on the grounds.

Saturday, Nov. 14

• 8 a.m.: Heritage Days Parade lineup begins; the parade starts at 9 a.m. and travels to the Penn Center.
• 10 a.m.–noon: Free admission to the York W. Bailey Museum, featuring the Bruce Ingram art exhibit.
• 10:15 a.m.: Opening festivities at Center Stage.
• All day: Vendors Market, Artists and Authors Row, food and Center Stage entertainment on the grounds.

Saturday’s scheduled Center Stage performers include the Whale Branch Middle School Choir, GyeNyame Dance Ensemble, Natasha Robinson, Gullah Geechee Spirituals Project, Darryl Anderson, Sydney Passmore, Claflin University Concert Chorus, Dani’s Dance Dynamic, Keondra Grant, Gullah Geechee Ring Shouters, Kelly Burns, Bruce Ingram, and Michael Broddie.