Image from the Emancipation Proclamation America's reconstruction: Peoples and Politics After the Civil War
Emancipation Black Soldiers Rehearsal for Reconstruction A New birth of Freedom: Reconstruction During the Civil War

Biographical Sidebar:
Laura M. Towne

Penn School, St. Helena Island, South Carolina

In September 1862, Towne and her friend Ellen Murray established Penn School on St. Helena Island. The school offered a traditional New England curriculum of arithmetic, reading and writing, geography, and classical languages. After 1870, it also trained black teachers. For several decades, it was the Sea Islands' only secondary school for blacks.

 

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Towne, who never married, volunteered her services and supported the school with contributions from Northern supporters.

While many Northerners returned home after the end of Reconstruction, Towne remained, operating the Penn School until her death. It continued in operation until the 1960s, and survives today as a community center.

For more information about the school, see the
Penn Center website.
Copyright 2003
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