Everything Co-op With Vernon Oakes

Emory Shaw Campbell, author, historian, and CEO of the Cultural Heritage Consulting, discusses the importance of preserving cultural heritage. Campbell formerly served as the Director of the Penn Center on St. Helena Island from 1980 - 2002. The historic Penn Center, which opened in the 1800s to educate freed slaves was previously used as a training center and meeting place for civil rights leaders. Today it serves as a center to preserve the history and heritage of the Sea Island and Gullah culture. When Penn School first opened in 1862, it was an experimental program to educate Sea Island slaves freed at the beginning of the Civil War. Over the years, it served many functions within the community. The school’s mission was to teach freed slaves trades and how to read in an effort to help them transition into an economically stable lifestyle. By the 1900s, the Penn Center had adopted Booker T. Washington’s model of industrial training, and in the early stages of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960’s the ce