Abstract
The purpose of the Beaufort District Collection is to acquire, preserve, maintain and make accessible a research collection of permanent value which records the history of our area. The Port Royal Experiment is a critical part of that history. Prepared by staff of the Beaufort District Collection.
Posted: 21 February 2011
I. General Treatments of the Era
SC 975.799 DAB Dabbs, Edith. Sea Island Diary: A History of St. Helena Island (BDC, HHI)
975.799 FOR McCracken, Charles C. The forgotten history: a photographic essay on Civil War Hilton Head Island. (BDC, BLU, HHI)
SC 975.799 MCG McGuire, Mary Jennie. Getting their hands on the land. (BDC)
975.799 POR Porcher, Richard and Sarah Fick. The Story of sea island cotton (BDC, BEA, BLU) Has a very useful appendix about the history of individual cotton plantations on St. Helena and Edisto Islands.
BCHS Paper, 45. “The Great Port Royal Experiment Following the War Between the States,” by W. Brantley Harvey, Jr. (Print available only inside the BDC; on microfilm at BEA, HHI)
BCHS Paper, 53. “Occupation of the Beaufort Area by Northern Forces During the War,” by Roger Pinckney, 10th. (Print available only inside the BDC; on microfilm at BEA, HHI)
BCHS Paper, 62. “William Henry Brisbane: South Carolina Slaveholder and Abolitionist,” by Blake McNulty. (Print available only inside the BDC; on microfilm at BEA, HHI)
BDC Vertical Files
- Port Royal Experiment
- Reconstruction Heritage Partnership
- History—Reconstruction, 1865-1898
- Emancipation Oak
- See Oaks (tree)
- See also Emancipation Proclamation – Commemoration
- Emancipation Proclamation
- Emancipation Proclamation – Commemoration
A careful search of the South Carolina Historical and Genealogical Magazine indexes, 1900-2000 is always recommended.
II. “Smith’s Plantation” [aka "Old Fort" Plantation, J.J. Smith Plantation]
SC 929.2 HOW In Charles Howard Family Domestic History, pp. 105-106 discussion of Emancipation Day ceremony at Smith’s Plantation; his experiences as Sea islands teacher for the newly freedmen, pp. 83-112.
Maps
Map #283 Smiths Plantation 26 May 1864 [section of the map is shown as a digital image on our BCL “Fort Frederick” web page found at http://www.beaufortcountylibrary.org/htdocs-sirsi/FortFrederick.htm.]
Printed Materials
SC 975.799 Penn Center. The Nomination of the “Emancipation Proclamation Site” to the National Register, 1993-1995. Michigan Support Group, no date given. 20 pages.
Annotation: On January 1, 1863, Brigadier General Rufus Saxton told the contraband slaves who had assembled at the John Joiner Smith Plantation that they were formally free. One hundred thirty years later, a re-enactment of that momentous event was staged on the site involving local and state government officials, the 1st South Carolina Volunteers Reenactment group, the Penn Center organization, and interested citizens. This brief but meaty booklet details the nomination of the site for the National Register of Historic Places, supplying copies of the original submission for inclusion and supporting documentation. (gmc)
III. Northern Teachers in Schools for Freed Black People
372.757 UNI University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Library. Southern Historical Collection. The Penn School papers in the Southern Historical Collection of the University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill. The finding aid and guide is available online at http://www.lib.unc.edu/mss/inv/p/Penn_School.html.
973.715 BOT First days amongst the contrabands by Elizabeth Hyde Botume (BDC, HHI)
975.799 JAC Yankee missionaries in the South : the Penn School experiment by Elizabeth Jacoway. (BDC, BEA)
SC 975.799 FIR First annual report of the Port Royal relief committee in Concert Hall, Chestnut St., Philadelphia, March 26th, 1863 [Pamphlet photocopy] (BDC)
Microfilm Penn Center, Inc. Penn School Papers, 1862-1976 [33 Microfilm reels, BDC only]
Microfilm The Penn School, 1862-1948 [Microfilm] : A Look at Negro Education in South Carolina : Master’s Thesis, UNC-Chapel Hill, 1968.
Subscription Databases (Ask Librarian for Assistance)
Jonsberg, Sara Dalmas. “Yankee Schoolmarms in the South: models and monsters. “ English Journal. 91.4 (March 2002): 75(7). General OneFile. Gale. Beaufort County Library. 30 Jan. 2008
Abstract: The struggle over racial differences has created series of better feelings among Americans, leading to the unwillingness of the white students in studying about race and racism. The accounts of Mary Ames, Elisabeth Botume, Sarah Jane Foster and Laura Towne, white teachers during the struggle, and their relevance in today’s world, are described. Gale Document Number: A119816155 (Not available in full-text at BCL.)
Weisenfeld, Judith. “”Who is sufficient for these things?” Sara G. Stanley and the American Missionary Association, 1864-1868. “ Church History. 60.n4 (Dec 1991): 493(15). General OneFile. Gale. Beaufort County Library. 30 Jan. 2008
Abstract: Sara G. Stanley was an African-American woman whom the American Missionary Association (AMA) employed as a teacher of recently freed slaves in the South from 1864 to 1868. Her letters show that she criticized the racist attitudes of the white teachers and missionaries and insisted that the AMA be true to the Christian ideal of treating African-Americans as human beings. Stanley, who was born in 1836, taught at schools in Norfolk, VA; St. Louis, MO; Louisville, KY; and Mobile, AL. Gale Document Number: A11930594 (Not available in full-text at BCL.)
McAfee, Ward M. “Reconstruction revisited: the Republican public education crusade of the 1870s. “ Civil War History. 42.n2 (June 1996): 133(21). General OneFile. Gale. Beaufort County Library. 30 Jan. 2008
Abstract: An idealism to form a homogenous Union comprising of people from all races and culture, and the anti-Catholic bigotry inspired the Republican efforts in the 1870s to promote public education in the Southern states. The Democrats exploited white racism and the fear that such schools would lead to racial integration to oppose the Reconstructionists. Despite Pres Rutherford Hayes’s visit to the Southern states to pursue the cause, the Southern leaders cited lack of funds for their inability to support public education. The issue ended when the Blair Bill on federal education fell through. Gale Document Number: A18749079 (Not available in full-text at BCL.)
“Troubled on the Sea Islands. ” Scholastic Update. 129.n2 (Sept 20, 1996): 15(3). General OneFile. Gale. Beaufort County Library. 30 Jan. 2008
Abstract: The Union government gave land on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia to slaves it had freed in 1861. But the federal government returned the land the slaves had improved to its former white owners in 1965. Gale Document Number: A18759816 (Available in full-text at Beaufort County Library.)
Photographic image on p. 58 of Department of the South by Carse with this caption: “The tents and arbors put up by General Stevens’ men by the Smith plantation house were still in use when this picture was taken, in 1864.” The “Illustrations Credits” on p. x, state that “Photographs in this book are from the United States War Department General Staff and from the private collection of Charles E. Fraser.”
