Penn School
[front text]
One of the first schools for blacks in the South, Penn School, was reorganized as Penn Normal, Industrial and Agricultural School in 1901. As a
result of this change, incorporating principals of education found at both Tuskegee and Hampton Institutes, Penn became an international model. Its
program was removed to the Beaufort County school system in 1948.
[back text]
After Union occupation of the sea islands in 1861, two northerners, Laura Towne and Ellen Murray, came to assist the freed blacks of the area establishing Penn School here in 1862. The earliest known black teacher was Charlotte Forten, who traveled all the way from Massachusetts to help her
people.
Marker is on Dr. Martin Luther King Drive (State Highway S-7-45), on the right when traveling south.
Courtesy hmdb.org
