| task, tracing the religious life of the slaves from colonial times through the Civil War.2 But what happened to these islanders after the war? |
| In 1861 two religious traditions collided on Saint Helena Island. Already firmly entrenched on the island, the slaves' religion represented a mixture of Southern evangelicalism and African practices. The other, newer, tradition would be an imported faith found primarily at the Penn School established for the islanders by Northern missionaries whose Protestantism emphasized citizenship, character development, service, and self-discipline. |
| Saint Helena Island and the Penn School are historically important because they served as a stage on which a "rehearsal for reconstruction" transpired when the area around Beaufort, South Carolina, fell into Union army hands in November, 1861.3 Seeking to prove to a skeptical AmericaNorth and Souththat former slaves could be good, responsible citizens, Northern missionaries funded by the federal government traveled to South Carolina to labor among the newly freed African Americans. |
| Although the Port Royal Experiment collapsed, the Penn School survived into the twentieth century. In 1900, when the school faced financial and leadership problems, the famed Hampton Institute in Virginia began to direct the island school. Again Northern white missionaries arrived to conduct an "experiment" in educational salvation. Focusing on "character development" among the African-American islanders, the Penn School linked hands with a worldwide network of Christian organizations, progressive educators, and government agencies. Changing circumstances brought new crises to Saint Helena after World War II, and the Penn Center became one of the most important focal points of the civil rights movement. To this tiny island, time and again, Martin Luther King, Jr. retreated with his staff to hammer out their hopes for the future. |
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