Penn School Historic District

The Penn Center, formerly the Penn School, is an African-American cultural and educational center near Frogmore, South Carolina, on Saint Helena Island. Founded in 1862 by missionaries from Pennsylvania, it was the first school founded in the Southern United States specifically for the education of African-Americans. It provided critical educational facilities to Gullah slaves freed after plantation owners fled the island, and continues to fulfill an educational mission. The campus was designated a National Historic Landmark District in 1974. Darrah Hall and Brick Baptist Church on the campus were declared part of Reconstruction Era National Monument in January 2017.