I 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5358 

To establish Penn School – Reconstruction Era National Monument in the 

State of South Carolina as a unit of the National Park System, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 26, 2016 

Mr. CLYBURN (for himself and Mr. SANFORD) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Natural Resources 

A BILL 

To establish Penn School – Reconstruction Era National 

Monument in the State of South Carolina as a unit 

of the National Park System, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Penn School – Recon5 struction Era National Monument Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Penn Center on St. Helena Island in South 

9 Carolina is a unique historical and cultural resource 


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1 for the understanding and interpretation of the Re2 construction era. 

3 (2) Penn Center is the site of Penn School, 

4 founded in 1862 by Laura M. Towne and Ellen 

5 Murray, missionaries from Pennsylvania. It was one 

6 of the first schools in the South for formerly 

7 enslaved African Americans. The school held classes 

8 at Oaks Plantation and Brick Church on St. Helena 

9 before moving to its permanent location. 

10 (3) In 1864, with assistance from the Freed11 man’s Aid Society of Pennsylvania, Penn School 

12 purchased 50 acres of land across from Brick 

13 Church from Hastings Gantt and erected a school14 house shipped from Philadelphia as its first building. 

15 Penn School opened in its permanent location in 

16 January 1865, and the campus has continuously op17 erated in various forms to the present day. 

18 (4) At its founding, Penn School was a central 

19 component of the Port Royal Experiment, the effort 

20 begun by the Lincoln Administration during the 

21 Civil War to help former slaves in the Sea Islands 

22 of the South Carolina Lowcountry become self-suffi23 cient. 

24 (5) Penn School lasted much longer than the 

25 Port Royal Experiment, thriving for the duration of 


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1 the Civil War and through the Reconstruction era, 

2 helping thousands transition to freedom. 

3 (6) After the Civil War ended, Laura Towne 

4 advocated for public funding of schools for African 

5 Americans in the Sea Islands, knowing that the phil6 anthropic missionary organizations in Pennsylvania 

7 which supported Penn School could not meet the 

8 need. 

9 (7) In 1868, Robert Smalls, whose daughter at10 tended Penn School during the Civil War, won pas11 sage of a provision at the South Carolina constitu12 tional convention requiring compulsory education for 

13 all children ages seven to fourteen that would be fi14 nancially supported by the government and free of 

15 charge to attend. 

16 (8) The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruc17 tion in the South, withdrawing Federal military pro18 tection of African Americans’ rights. The effects on 

19 education of African Americans were immediate. 

20 South Carolina quickly stripped communities of their 

21 power to democratically elect school board members. 

22 By June 1877, the people of St. Helena were forbid23 den to raise money for educational purposes, effec24 tively ending their nascent public school system. 


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1 (9) Penn School, privately funded by Northern 

2 charities, continued, and as Reconstruction ended 

3 and the Jim Crow era took hold, Penn School be4 came a sanctuary for former slaves and their de5 scendants, developing a class of rural Black land6 owners who built communities and preserved African 

7 traditions. This adaptation of old traditions to a new 

8 land forged a unique culture, which would become 

9 known as Gullah. 

10 (10) In 1901, upon the death of co-founder 

11 Laura Towne, who had led the school for 40 years, 

12 the Penn School reorganized as the Penn Normal, 

13 Agricultural and Industrial School. Led by new 

14 chairman, Horace Burke Frissell, then President of 

15 Hampton Institute, it adopted the industrial arts 

16 curriculum taught at Hampton and Tuskegee Insti17 tutes. 

18 (11) By 1948, Beaufort County was operating 

19 public schools on St. Helena and the other sea is20 lands. Penn Normal, Agricultural and Industrial 

21 School ended its academic mission and reorganized 

22 as Penn Community Services, Inc. (known as Penn 

23 Center), dedicated to civil rights and social justice, 

24 the preservation of Gullah history and culture, and 


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1 providing critical services and resources to the com2 munity on St. Helena. 

3 (12) In the 1950s and 60s, Penn Center was 

4 one of the few places in the South that Whites and 

5 Blacks could gather together, and as a result many 

6 social and political organizations used the campus to 

7 plan activities as part of the Civil Rights Movement. 

8 (13) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., used Penn 

9 Center for Southern Christian Leadership Con10 ference staff retreats and to plan other activities. 

11 Much of SCLC’s planning for the great ‘‘March on 

12 Washington’’ and the ‘‘Poor People’s Campaign’’ 

13 took place at Penn Center as did several of King’s 

14 iconic speeches. 

15 (14) The Penn Center campus was designated 

16 a National Historic Landmark District by the Sec17 retary of the Interior in 1974. 

18 (15) Penn Center began to offer legal services, 

19 particularly those involving heirs’ property issues, to 

20 preserve African-American family land ownership in 

21 St. Helena and the surrounding area where property 

22 had passed from generation to generation without 

23 the benefit of wills or estate plans as a result of 

24 Blacks’ lack of access to the legal system. 


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1 (16) In 2000, Congress instructed the National 

2 Park Service to execute the Low Country Gullah 

3 Culture Special Resource Study, which was com4 pleted in 2005. Building on those findings, in 2006 

5 Congress authorized the Gullah/Geechee Cultural 

6 Heritage Corridor, dedicating an entity to the pres7 ervation and interpretation of African-American cul8 ture on the Southeast coast, known as Gullah in 

9 North Carolina and South Carolina and Geechee in 

10 Georgia and Florida. Penn Center is at the heart of 

11 this corridor, helping preserve Gullah culture on St. 

12 Helena and throughout the Sea Islands. 

13 (17) The National Park Service’s Special Re14 source Study stated that, ‘‘Penn School is one of the 

15 most historically significant educational and cultural 

16 institutions in the United States.’’. 

17 (18) No unit of the National Park Service is 

18 dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of 

19 the Reconstruction Era, and establishing such a unit 

20 at Penn Center will be an important step in ensur21 ing that the National Park Service offers a complete 

22 version of American history. 


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1 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PENN SCHOOL – RECONSTRUC2 TION ERA NATIONAL MONUMENT. 

3 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is hereby established 

4 Penn School – Reconstruction Era National Monument in 

5 the State of South Carolina, which shall become a unit 

6 of the National Park System when the Secretary has— 

7 (1) acquired sufficient land or an interest in 

8 land within the boundary of the National Monument 

9 to constitute a manageable unit, as determined by 

10 the Secretary; and 

11 (2) entered into a written agreement with Penn 

12 Center, under subsection (d). 

13 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of the National Monu14 ment are— 

15 (1) preserving and interpreting for the benefit 

16 of future generations the significant educational, so17 cial, and cultural history in the National Monument 

18 and providing a unit of the National Park Service 

19 dedicated to the history of the Reconstruction Era; 

20 (2) coordinating preservation, protection, and 

21 interpretation efforts by Federal, State, and local 

22 governmental entities, and private and nonprofit or23 ganizations; and 

24 (3) coordinating appropriate management op25 tions needed to ensure the protection, preservation, 


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1 and interpretation of the many significant aspects of 

2 the National Monument. 

3 (c) BOUNDARIES.—The boundaries of the National 

4 Monument are the same as the boundaries of the Penn 

5 Center National Historic Landmark District as depicted 

6 on the map. 

7 (d) AGREEMENT.—The Secretary is authorized to 

8 enter into an agreement with Penn Center— 

9 (1) regarding the transfer of land or interests 

10 in land; and 

11 (2) delineating the respective roles and respon12 sibilities of the National Park Service and Penn 

13 Center in the operation, maintenance, and interpre14 tation of the National Monument. 

15 (e) PUBLICATION OF NOTICE.—Not later than 60 

16 days after the date on which the conditions in subsection 

17 (a) are satisfied, the Secretary shall publish in the Federal 

18 Register notice of the establishment of the National Monu19 ment as a unit of the National Park System. 

20 (f) LAND ACQUISITION.—The Secretary may acquire 

21 by donation, purchase with donated or appropriated funds 

22 from a willing seller, or exchange— 

23 (1) lands or interests in land within the bound24 ary of the National Monument; and 


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1 (2) lands or interests in land in the vicinity of 

2 the National Monument, as determined by the Sec3 retary. 

4 SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATION. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall administer 

6 the National Monument in accordance with— 

7 (1) this Act; and 

8 (2) the laws generally applicable to units of the 

9 National Park System, including— 

10 (A) section 100101(a), chapter 1003, and 

11 sections 100751(a), 100752, 100753, and 

12 102101 of title 54, United States Code; and 

13 (B) chapter 3201 of title 54, United States 

14 Code. 

15 (b) COOPERATIVE AGREEMENTS.—The Secretary 

16 may enter into cooperative agreements with other public 

17 and nonpublic parties that provide for— 

18 (1) National Park Service operation and main19 tenance of the national historic park; 

20 (2) collaboration and cooperation by the Na21 tional Park Service and Penn Center on manage22 ment and interpretation of the National Monument; 

23 and 

24 (3) the State or other public and nonpublic par25 ties, under which the Secretary may identify, interVerDate Sep 11 2014 23:28 Jun 01, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5358.IH H5358

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1 pret, and provide assistance for the preservation of 

2 non-Federal properties within and adjacent to the 

3 National Monument, including providing for place4 ment of directional and interpretive signage, exhib5 its, and technology-based interpretive devices. 

6 (c) MANAGEMENT PLAN.—Not later than 3 fiscal 

7 years after the date on which funds are first made avail8 able to carry out this Act, the Secretary shall complete 

9 a general management plan for the National Monument 

10 in accordance with— 

11 (1) section 100502 of title 54, United States 

12 Code; and 

13 (2) any other applicable laws. 

14 (d) LEGAL DESCRIPTION AND MAP.—The Secretary 

15 shall prepare a legal description of the land and interests 

16 in land designated as the National Monument. The legal 

17 description and map prepared pursuant to this subsection 

18 shall be on file and available for public inspection in the 

19 appropriate offices. 

20 SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO CARRY OUT FEDERAL LAW. 

21 Nothing in this Act modifies any authority of the 

22 United States to carry out Federal laws on Federal land 

23 located within the National Monument. 

24 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

25 In this Act: 


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1 (1) SECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 

2 the Secretary of the Interior. 

3 (2) MAP.—Except for the purposes of section 

4 4(d), the term ‘‘map’’ means the map titled ‘‘Penn 

5 Center Historic District’’ and received on August 

6 22, 1974, by the Department of the Interior, Na7 tional Register, as part of the National Register 

8 Nomination Form (Form 10–300) for the Penn 

9 Center Historic District. 

10 (3) NATIONAL MONUMENT.—The term ‘‘Na11 tional Monument’’ means the Penn School – Recon12 struction Era National Monument pursuant to this 

13 Act. 

14 (4) PENN CENTER.—The term ‘‘Penn Center’’ 

15 means Penn Community Services, Inc., a South 

16 Carolina corporation recognized under section 

17 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986. 

Æ 


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