[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5358 Introduced in House (IH)]
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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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Penn School - Reconstruction Era
National Monument Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) Penn Center on St. Helena Island in South Carolina is a
unique historical and cultural resource for the understanding
and interpretation of the Reconstruction era.
(2) Penn Center is the site of Penn School, founded in 1862
by Laura M. Towne and Ellen Murray, missionaries from
Pennsylvania. It was one of the first schools in the South for
formerly enslaved African Americans. The school held classes at
Oaks Plantation and Brick Church on St. Helena before moving to
its permanent location.
(3) In 1864, with assistance from the Freedman's Aid
Society of Pennsylvania, Penn School purchased 50 acres of land
across from Brick Church from Hastings Gantt and erected a
schoolhouse shipped from Philadelphia as its first building.
Penn School opened in its permanent location in January 1865,
and the campus has continuously operated in various forms to
the present day.
(4) At its founding, Penn School was a central component of
the Port Royal Experiment, the effort begun by the Lincoln
Administration during the Civil War to help former slaves in
the Sea Islands of the South Carolina Lowcountry become self-
sufficient.
(5) Penn School lasted much longer than the Port Royal
Experiment, thriving for the duration of the Civil War and
through the Reconstruction era, helping thousands transition to
freedom.
(6) After the Civil War ended, Laura Towne advocated for
public funding of schools for African Americans in the Sea
Islands, knowing that the philanthropic missionary
organizations in Pennsylvania which supported Penn School could
not meet the need.
(7) In 1868, Robert Smalls, whose daughter attended Penn
School during the Civil War, won passage of a provision at the
South Carolina constitutional convention requiring compulsory
education for all children ages seven to fourteen that would be
financially supported by the government and free of charge to
attend.
(8) The Compromise of 1877 ended Reconstruction in the
South, withdrawing Federal military protection of African
Americans' rights. The effects on education of African
Americans were immediate. South Carolina quickly stripped
communities of their power to democratically elect school board
members. By June 1877, the people of St. Helena were forbidden
to raise money for educational purposes, effectively ending
their nascent public school system.
(9) Penn School, privately funded by Northern charities,
continued, and as Reconstruction ended and the Jim Crow era
took hold, Penn School became a sanctuary for former slaves and
their descendants, developing a class of rural Black landowners
who built communities and preserved African traditions. This
adaptation of old traditions to a new land forged a unique
culture, which would become known as Gullah.
(10) In 1901, upon the death of co-founder Laura Towne, who
had led the school for 40 years, the Penn School reorganized as
the Penn Normal, Agricultural and Industrial School. Led by new
chairman, Horace Burke Frissell, then President of Hampton
Institute, it adopted the industrial arts curriculum taught at
Hampton and Tuskegee Institutes.
(11) By 1948, Beaufort County was operating public schools
on St. Helena and the other sea islands. Penn Normal,
Agricultural and Industrial School ended its academic mission
and reorganized as Penn Community Services, Inc. (known as Penn
Center), dedicated to civil rights and social justice, the
preservation of Gullah history and culture, and providing
critical services and resources to the community on St. Helena.
(12) In the 1950s and 60s, Penn Center was one of the few
places in the South that Whites and Blacks could gather
together, and as a result many social and political
organizations used the campus to plan activities as part of the
Civil Rights Movement.
(13) Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., used Penn Center for
Southern Christian Leadership Conference staff retreats and to
plan other activities. Much of SCLC's planning for the great
``March on Washington'' and the ``Poor People's Campaign'' took
place at Penn Center as did several of King's iconic speeches.
(14) The Penn Center campus was designated a National
Historic Landmark District by the Secretary of the Interior in
1974.
(15) Penn Center began to offer legal services,
particularly those involving heirs' property issues, to
preserve African-American family land ownership in St. Helena
and the surrounding area where property had passed from
generation to generation without the benefit of wills or estate
plans as a result of Blacks' lack of access to the legal
system.
(16) In 2000, Congress instructed the National Park Service
to execute the Low Country Gullah Culture Special Resource
Study, which was completed in 2005. Building on those findings,
in 2006 Congress authorized the Gullah/Geechee Cultural
Heritage Corridor, dedicating an entity to the preservation and
interpretation of African-American culture on the Southeast
coast, known as Gullah in North Carolina and South Carolina and
Geechee in Georgia and Florida. Penn Center is at the heart of
this corridor, helping preserve Gullah culture on St. Helena
and throughout the Sea Islands.
(17) The National Park Service's Special Resource Study
stated that, ``Penn School is one of the most historically
significant educational and cultural institutions in the United
States.''.
(18) No unit of the National Park Service is dedicated to
the preservation and interpretation of the Reconstruction Era,
and establishing such a unit at Penn Center will be an
important step in ensuring that the National Park Service
offers a complete version of American history.
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PENN SCHOOL - RECONSTRUCTION ERA NATIONAL
MONUMENT.
(a) Establishment.--There is hereby established Penn School -
Reconstruction Era National Monument in the State of South Carolina,
which shall become a unit of the National Park System when the
Secretary has--
(1) acquired sufficient land or an interest in land within
the boundary of the National Monument to constitute a
manageable unit, as determined by the Secretary; and
(2) entered into a written agreement with Penn Center,
under subsection (d).
(b) Purposes.--The purposes of the National Monument are--
(1) preserving and interpreting for the benefit of future
generations the significant educational, social, and cultural
history in the National Monument and providing a unit of the
National Park Service dedicated to the history of the
Reconstruction Era;
(2) coordinating preservation, protection, and
interpretation efforts by Federal, State, and local
governmental entities, and private and nonprofit organizations;
and
(3) coordinating appropriate management options needed to
ensure the protection, preservation, and interpretation of the
many significant aspects of the National Monument.
(c) Boundaries.--The boundaries of the National Monument are the
same as the boundaries of the Penn Center National Historic Landmark
District as depicted on the map.
(d) Agreement.--The Secretary is authorized to enter into an
agreement with Penn Center--
(1) regarding the transfer of land or interests in land;
and
(2) delineating the respective roles and responsibilities
of the National Park Service and Penn Center in the operation,
maintenance, and interpretation of the National Monument.
(e) Publication of Notice.--Not later than 60 days after the date
on which the conditions in subsection (a) are satisfied, the Secretary
shall publish in the Federal Register notice of the establishment of
the National Monument as a unit of the National Park System.
(f) Land Acquisition.--The Secretary may acquire by donation,
purchase with donated or appropriated funds from a willing seller, or
exchange--
(1) lands or interests in land within the boundary of the
National Monument; and
(2) lands or interests in land in the vicinity of the
National Monument, as determined by the Secretary.
SEC. 4. ADMINISTRATION.
(a) In General.--The Secretary shall administer the National
Monument in accordance with--
(1) this Act; and
(2) the laws generally applicable to units of the National
Park System, including--
(A) section 100101(a), chapter 1003, and sections
100751(a), 100752, 100753, and 102101 of title 54,
United States Code; and
(B) chapter 3201 of title 54, United States Code.
(b) Cooperative Agreements.--The Secretary may enter into
cooperative agreements with other public and nonpublic parties that
provide for--
(1) National Park Service operation and maintenance of the
national historic park;
(2) collaboration and cooperation by the National Park
Service and Penn Center on management and interpretation of the
National Monument; and
(3) the State or other public and nonpublic parties, under
which the Secretary may identify, interpret, and provide
assistance for the preservation of non-Federal properties
within and adjacent to the National Monument, including
providing for placement of directional and interpretive
signage, exhibits, and technology-based interpretive devices.
(c) Management Plan.--Not later than 3 fiscal years after the date
on which funds are first made available to carry out this Act, the
Secretary shall complete a general management plan for the National
Monument in accordance with--
(1) section 100502 of title 54, United States Code; and
(2) any other applicable laws.
(d) Legal Description and Map.--The Secretary shall prepare a legal
description of the land and interests in land designated as the
National Monument. The legal description and map prepared pursuant to
this subsection shall be on file and available for public inspection in
the appropriate offices.
SEC. 5. AUTHORITY TO CARRY OUT FEDERAL LAW.
Nothing in this Act modifies any authority of the United States to
carry out Federal laws on Federal land located within the National
Monument.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
In this Act:
(1) Secretary.--The term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary
of the Interior.
(2) Map.--Except for the purposes of section 4(d), the term
``map'' means the map titled ``Penn Center Historic District''
and received on August 22, 1974, by the Department of the
Interior, National Register, as part of the National Register
Nomination Form (Form 10-300) for the Penn Center Historic
District.
(3) National monument.--The term ``National Monument''
means the Penn School - Reconstruction Era National Monument
pursuant to this Act.
(4) Penn center.--The term ``Penn Center'' means Penn
Community Services, Inc., a South Carolina corporation
recognized under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code
of 1986.
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