Season 1 · Episode 14
100 min · 1862–today
Under the Oaks
St. Helena Island, 1862. A tent. A slate. The first Southern school.
Logline
Laura Towne opens the first Southern school for the formerly enslaved beneath the Praise House oaks.
What the episode covers
- Laura Towne, Ellen Murray, and Charlotte Forten arrive on St. Helena, April 1862.
- Under the oaks at Brick Baptist Church — the classroom becomes the school becomes the Penn Center.
- 1948 to today — Penn Center as civil rights training ground (King, SCLC retreats) and Gullah cultural preservation seat.
Production notes
Community-attributed traditional music only, no post-1928 material. All primary sources public domain (Library of Congress, National Archives, community archives) or community-controlled oral history. Screenplay filed with U.S. Copyright Office as part of the Gullah Geechee Biz Season 1 deposit.
Attribution
Written & Directed by Darryl Elliott Brown
Produced by Darryl Elliott Brown
A Gullah Geechee Biz Production
© 2026 Darryl Elliott Brown
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