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November Issue
2009
Penn Center
on St. Helena Island, SC, Offers 27th Annual Heritage Days Celebration
- Nov. 12-14, 2009
The historic Penn Center, located on St. Helena Island, SC, will kick off the 27th Annual Heritage Days Celebration on Nov. 12-14, 2009. Organizers are hopeful that attendees will return for this traditional fall celebration, one of the south's oldest cultural festivals. One of the major changes to the Heritage Days Celebration this year will be a charge of $5 per person for guests l7 years of age and older (no charge for children) on Saturday only. Due to increasing operating costs and reduced sponsorships and grant opportunities for the festival, a modest admission fee is necessary; which is much less than most other festivals across the state.
Heritage Days is a time that visitors from all over the country will converge on St. Helena Island to revel in a unique Gullah experience: an exciting three-day event that includes food, music, seminars, arts and crafts, a parade, and the folk traditions of the Gullah descendants of West Africans in an historic setting, formerly known as Penn School.
This year's theme, "An HBCU Reunion Weekend: The Homecoming', will recognize the legacy of our nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities. On Friday, Nov. 13th, the Heritage Symposium & Luncheon will include a panel of distinguished HBCU Presidents and Commissioners from the National Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor who will discuss "The Role of HBCUs in the Development and Preservation of the Gullah/Geechee Heritage Corridor." Recent legislation passed by the US Congress and initiated by Majority Whip James Clyburn has established a contingency of Commissioners from four states to develop a management plan for the Corridor over the next three years. The symposium and luncheon will be held at St. Helena Elementary School from 10am to 1pm; $25 tickets may be purchased from the Penn Center.
To showcase the rich artistic resources of the Gullah/Geechee Heritage Corridor, an art exhibition will be held in the York W. Bailey Museum at Penn Center featuring original artwork from selected artists from the National Alliance of Artists from HBCUs. Art by Lowcountry African American artists will also be on sale in the Frissell Community House over the weekend. Traditional Gullah artisans will also demonstrate crafts, such as net making, boat building, indigo dyeing, and basket making, that link the Gullah people to their West African ancestry.
One highlight of this year's event will be the Growing the Dream traveling exhibit, sponsored by the National Black Arts Festival of Atlanta and the Penn Center. The exhibit is the brainchild of Dr. Colette Hopkins, NBAF's Director of Education and Family Programs. This special multi-media educational exhibit for school children will focus on the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. by featuring a two-thirds scaled replica of Dr. King's boyhood home on Auburn Street in Atlanta, GA. The pre-fabricated house, designed by R. Paul Thomason of Spelman College, will be built on Penn's campus to the exact specifications and furnishings of the actual house in Atlanta. Children will have the unique opportunity to walk through the house, to participate in hands-on learning activities which emphasize the principles of freedom and justice, and to view films on King's life. The exhibit will open on Friday, "Kids Day", and will be featured all weekend.
Food and fun will be served up all day on Friday with entertainment provided by school bands, choirs, step teams and African dancers and drummers. The evening will end with a fantastic Fish Fry, Oyster Roast, Crab Crack and Blues, featuring live music by Doctor Patch Enterprise Band from 6pm-midnight.
Saturday, Nov. 14th, culminates with festivities beginning at 9am with the start of the Annual Heritage Days Parade from St. Helena Elementary School to the Penn Center. Local authorities will post information on road closings for the parade along Sea Island Parkway.
Guest author, Gil L. Robertson, will appear for a booksigning of his latest book, Family Affair: What it Means to be African American Today. The book features essays on the issues facing African Americans by celebrities and leaders, such as Isaiah Washington, Ruby Dee, Beverly Johnson, Bishop Paul S. Morton, the late Isaac Hayes, to name a few. Robertson is a noted journalist, author and co-founder of the African American Film Critics Association.
Center stage performances, the Old Fashion Craft Fair, an Art Expo, a Taste of Gullah, the Martin Luther King, Jr. exhibit, and cultural demonstrations in the Gullah Roots Village continue throughout the day until 5pm.
The Penn Center is one
of the oldest and most historically significant African American
cultural and educational institutions in the United States. Founded
in 1862 as one of the first schools established in the South to
educate newly freed African slaves, today, Penn Center remains
a major educational, historical and cultural resource and service
center for Sea Islanders and offers a wide range of programs and
activities to tens of thousands of visitors annually. The recent
passing of the legislation of the Gullah/Geechee Act has focused
on Penn Center as one of the interpretive sites along the national
Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.
Penn School Historic District is located on Martin Luther King,
Jr. Drive on St. Helena Island, SC, six miles from downtown Beaufort
off Sea Island Parkway.
Festival tickets
are, $5-Adults only (17 and older); children-free. Call for advance
ticket information and group rates: 843/838-2432 or visit (www.penncenter.com).
Carolina Arts is published monthly by Shoestring Publishing Company, a subsidiary of PSMG, Inc. Copyright© 2009 by PSMG, Inc., which published Charleston Arts from July 1987 - Dec. 1994 and South Carolina Arts from Jan. 1995 - Dec. 1996. It also publishes Carolina Arts Online, Copyright© 2009 by PSMG, Inc. All rights reserved by PSMG, Inc. or by the authors of articles. Reproduction or use without written permission is strictly prohibited. Carolina Arts is available throughout North & South Carolina.