Bennett envisions a historic trail that links the following sites and historic assets: “Santa Elena, telling the story of European Exploration and Settlement, Penn Center, telling the Gullah Geechee and Reconstruction stories, Beaufort and Port Royal telling the story of Reconstruction, and Hilton Head telling the stories of the Civil War and Mitchelville.”
“M.A.G.I.C. is an opportunity to use the importance of Mitchelville with willpower and imagination to show how the story is important,” says Ahmad Ward, the Executive Director of the Mitchelville Preservation Project. “We are using this to model their behaviors just like their ancestors. Through the program, they learn to appreciate the significance of Mitchelville as they foster leadership skills, as well as a better connection to the place that they live and understand the value of where they live.”
Mitchelville is much more than an old plot of land. It’s the birthplace of blacks who became free from a life of bondage. A place where slaves were given a chance to self-govern and establish roots of their own in a land that they had adopted as their own, as well as maintain culture and traditions that continue today. The Mitchelville Preservation Project has been and continues to collect stories and artifacts that demonstrate the richness of the story of Mitchelville.
Mitchelville was the heart of The Port Royal Experiment, which was launched by the U.S. government and proved to a skeptical American public that African-Americans would fight for freedom and country, work for wages within a free-enterprise labor system, and live responsibly as independent citizens. Mitchelville was constructed, inhabited and governed exclusively by previously enslaved freedom-seekers. Activities in this settlement were reported nationwide, ultimately influencing national reconstruction policies.
Hilton Head Island has been recognized as the only place in South Carolina for its historical importance in the Underground Railroad with three areas of membership: The Heritage Library, Mitchelville and Fort Howell, which is located within Mitchelville.
Beaufort County, South Carolina has a rich cultural history. Home to the towns of Hilton Head Island, Bluffton, Port Royal and Beaufort, the county was instrumental during and after the Civil War.
By Luana M. Graves Sellars Cover artwork American Gullah By Sonja Griffin Evans “Good colored
Hilton Head’s social and cultural history dates back to the early 1700’s, and from the beginning, the Gullah people were central to the story. Enslaved, and then abandoned by plantation owners fleeing the Union army, they not only endured their circumstances, they displayed the intelligence, fortitude and survival instincts to maintain and develop a culture and a community that is vibrant, and rich in traditions that are alive today.
