Freedom

Improve Imaginative Thinking

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Rules are the first casualty of imaginative thinking, so let’s first fail to define the indefinable and then delve deeper to extricate our best ideas from social constraints. 

We’ve explored instinctual, rational, and moral thinking, but imaginative thinking is wholly different. Root thinking begins instinctually and drives us to act. Rational thinking is taught in school and is used to succeed. Moral thinking—sorely lacking these days—is desperately needed to improve our decisions. Yet imaginative thinking is the rarest, most valuable, least valued and most misunderstood.

Imagination imagines, wandering and wondering—ideally taking on a life of its own—creatively, destructively iconoclastic, unpredictably novel, exploring and ignoring limits.  Applied imaginative thinking—creative thinking and invention—is how we come up with new ideas; the goals vary, from understanding the truth, to creating a beautiful work of art and to finding a simpler, more elegant solution to a mundane old problem.  But in its purist form, imagination is unburdened by reality: a spark, a thread, a blank slate, a new world or multiverses. Yet since imagination is limitless, it tends to draw ideas from all types of thought, which causes problems right in the beginning.  

Most people use their imagination to imagine what they desire, which is driven by their instinctual needs.  Advanced creative thinking evolved from this type of fantasizing, but when only used in service of instinct, imagination is limited to serve our basic needs and is reduced to being an extension of our primitive nature.  When an animal uses tactics to hunt, that is instinct, not rational thinking.  Similarly, visualizing our urges is instinctive, not imaginative thinking.  Instinctual desires are basic, common, constant, repetitive, and ubiquitous, the most direct path to satisfying a need as opposed to the originality of uniquely creative ideas.

Motive matters. Freeing our imagination from our basic instincts is just as important as learning to think rationally or morally.  Freeing your creative mind in this way allows you to do much more than simply satisfy or stimulate yourself.  Human passions may fuel imagination, but if the goal is only to express those emotions, then that is all you will get.  If the goal is pure imagination, art for art’s sake, or a single idea, then imaginative thinking can be used for any dream. Imaginative thinkers are aware of instincts but are not bound by them. Unconstrained, they may choose to reveal conflicts in the human condition in order that we may see ourselves anew and change. If the goal is to create something novel, a child’s escapist dream can mature and develop into an elaborate new vision for humanity.

Rational thinkers are productive but follow standard procedures, limiting their capacity for change. Rational thinkers judge imaginative thought solely by its productive utility or output value, and they dislike budgeting time or resources on vague concepts or chaotic individuals. They seek to control the production of ideas, defining subcategories of creative thinking, invention and brainstorming to harness imagination to create, invent or solve their priorities, counting the number of bad ideas identified and evaluated, preferably producing at least one quantifiably useful insight per day. So, invention and creativity often become budgeted, programmatic efforts to produce quantifiable results on schedule. There is little that’s creative about a brute force evaluation of a large number of committee-brainstormed suggestions to fit a limited set of concrete criteria. Also, rational people are typically the least qualified for evaluating creative thinking, since they often lack the imagination needed to understand, appreciate or apply a new idea.

Imaginative people who enjoy new ideas for their own sake often struggle to operate within corporations and bureaucratic organizations, especially when they receive no credit for their ideas. Chaotic daydreamers with vague concepts are anathema to their rational bosses, until the day one comes up with a new competitive advantage for the whole firm. Imagination is disruptive to routine, but an idea can add more value in an instant than a division of diligent workers do in a year. Imaginative, out-of-the-box thinking necessitates removal of limits, which contradicts the standard operating procedure of rational business people. So, imaginative employees often need to find a perceptive advocate for their approach, to explain the potential reward of a new idea for a relatively low investment of time and resources, and to demand appropriate credit for a successful result. Visionaries often have to start their own businesses.

Imagination is often amoral and especially dismissive of conventions and customs.  Moral thinkers typically evaluate imaginative thought by its risks and benefits to society, and, as self-appointed guardians of righteous behavior, they often clash with new, unproven ideas. But imaginative thinkers are often seeking good ideas and positive solutions, just in different, unconventional and creative ways. Society develops moral rules which are internalized by people, but even the most well established social rules must be improved through innovation. Otherwise civilizations stagnate and can become oppressive in pursuit of stability, where consistent conformity leads to small-minded dull routine. Think of how a comedian can newly capture a common daily scenario that makes us suddenly realize its absurdity and laugh. One imaginative person can shatter the self-imposed constraints of a civilization, giving it the freedom to grow into a better one.

Our civilization does not make imaginative thinking easy. We ridicule and ostracize people who think different, assign ownership of ideas to corporations that may bury them to protect profits, and we pass laws prohibiting uncomfortable changes that challenge the status quo. In theory, the possibilities of imagination are endless, but in practice, the world places constraints upon us.  At work, creative people may be expected to produce innovations on schedule, within budget, conforming to specifications, using preferred methods, following brand guidelines, in Compliance, after gaining agreement of all stakeholders, with input from senior leadership.  If there are only a few ideas that will fit, then it is not particularly creative to pick one.  Rational thinkers may believe they understand the problem better and may try to impose their solution upon you.  Moral and instinctual thinkers may also believe they know best. 

Imaginative thinkers must both rise above instincts and keep rational and moral controlling forces at bay. Imagination can create something out of nothing, while unimaginative others remain stuck in ruts, plod through 10,000 sequential failures, or miss the point entirely. A good idea requires looking at the problem differently than before, taking a new approach or testing a tenuous new connection. A good idea may appear to come out of the blue suddenly, but usually a good idea is the result of a unique perspective or uncommon thinking.  Imagination uncovers secret shortcuts through inspirational, non-linear leaps, invisible and unknowable to others. Often such thinking requires walking outside, sleep, or focusing on seemingly unrelated ideas. Daydreaming at work is cause for dismissal, but once you come up with a new solution to an intractable problem, everyone follows and claims credit.

We need to reorient our lives, our work and our society to encourage imaginative thinking. Creative thought burns calories, and imagination requires effort and time.  Imaginative thinkers need independence, space to do their thing, and access to whatever fuels their ideas and inspires them, without interference. Realizing a dream may require new media, new technology or shattering a sacrosanct symbol. New ideas need inspiration, including varied viewpoints, diverse experiences and old forgotten ideas.  Ideas yearn to be free, realized, rediscovered, shared, stolen and reimagined. But imaginative people need recognition for the value of their contributions, champions to help bring their ideas to fruition and protection from small-minded, fearful bureaucrats, thieves and corrupt controllers.

But the magic begins when we give ourselves time to dream, so first, imaginative thinking must be a personal priority. I live my best life when I lead with my imagination and let everything else follow.

All Thomas Jefferson Sites

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Jefferson is more controversial than his $2 bill, but like his nickel, you rely on his legacy every day.

Not only was he one of many who signed our Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, but Jefferson was the primary author. Do you believe in freedom of religion? Jefferson ensured that Roger Williams’ ideas were enshrined in our laws, writing that “no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious beliefs, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument maintain, their opinions in matters of religion.” His words are etched in granite in the Jefferson Memorial above in DC.

Jefferson was our second Ambassador to France after fellow inventor Franklin, the first Secretary of State, the second Vice President to his friend and rival John Adams, and friend of revolutionary patriots like Kosciuszko, Lafayette and Patrick Henry. Jefferson first engaged Dolley Madison as official hostess at the White House. Jefferson designed Monticello—below and on the back of the nickel—which is now a World Heritage Site that includes the University of Virginia, which he also designed.

Jefferson, like Washington, was a surveyor. Together they planned the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal route and mapped & owned Natural Bridge. Jefferson scouted Harpers Ferry from the hiking trail there. He designated the Natchez Trace and hired Gallatin, who built the first national highway. Jefferson was the driving force behind Lewis & Clark’s secret mission to map the route to the Pacific. His timely opportunistic purchase of Louisiana Territory—including part or all of 15 states—is recognized at Gateway Arch and now includes his face on Mount Rushmore.

But Jefferson will forever be remembered for his failure to apply his ideal that “all men are created equal” to all men including Native Americans and slaves. While he wrote that slavery was despotism, that slaves should be free and both admired and learned from Native Americans, Jefferson perpetuated both slavery and forced native removal, believing that their fated freedoms should be left to future generations to fulfill. Jefferson supported nullification—the supposed right of states to disclaim laws they did not like—, and such failures are why traitors like Jefferson Davis were named after him, and such failures forever defame Thomas Jefferson’s historic reputation.

Pilgrims v. Puritans

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Recently I returned with my kids and my Mom (above right) to Duxbury in Massachusetts, where she grew up. Duxbury is a pretty seaside town with a large harbor on the north end of Plymouth Bay, reflecting the long history of our seafaring roots. When the Pilgrims arrived on the Mayflower in 1620, they first landed in Provincetown on the tip of Cape Cod, skirmished with the natives and then moved to Plymouth. The military commander, Miles Standish, settled in Duxbury, and his statue stands there atop a large viewing tower on Captain’s Hill. Longfellow wrote a romantic poem about a love triangle between Standish, the cooper John Alden and a recently orphaned teen named Priscilla Mullins. John and Priscilla Alden lived on the homestead above, which is still owned by their many descendants as a National Historic Landmark.

The Aldens were Pilgrims, not Puritans. The Pilgrims had separated from the Church of England, while the Puritans did not. Just before arriving in Plymouth to form a new colony, while awaiting royal permission, the Pilgrims and others aboard wrote an independent contract, the Mayflower Compact of 1620, which was the first self-governing document by British settlers in the now USA, although the British colony of Jamestowne was founded first. The Puritans arrived around 1630, settling in Boston and Salem. Contrary to the ‘mind your own business’ ethos of the Pilgrims, the Puritans were so strict that many left their colony for religious freedom. Such historic differences may seem inconsequential now, but freedom versus loyalty to England would become a big issue in Concord in 1775. And still today, there are conflicts between those who would impose their strict religious beliefs and those who prefer more freedom to make our own choices.

Driving back over the bridge from the beach, we got a glimpse of Miles Standish looking out over the harbor once famed for ship building and a large merchant fleet, before we went to dinner at a haunted restaurant, built before the Revolution. Moments like these improve our perspective, remembering the breathtaking leap of faith our ancestors took to settle here. While not part of the NPS, I recommend visiting the reconstructed living history museum in Plymouth, now called Plimoth Patuxet Museums, as well as other historic sites in the area like Alden House in Duxbury where we enjoyed an excellent tour.

Black History Month

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Nina Simone on the march from Selma to Montgomery, with Harry Belafonte lower right.

Black History is about much more than emancipation and education. Beyond the basic rights to liberty and literacy, Americans have a right to pursue happiness. All year long, the national park service celebrates those who broke the barriers that denied black people their full rights as citizens.

The African Burial Ground predates our country, includes both free and slave, and is today a powerful symbol of the right to belong, be recognized and be remembered. New Philadelphia, Illinois, was the first town in American officially founded by an ex-slave in 1836. Camp Nelson became a focal point for escaped slaves during the Civil War, both as refugees deserving help and as soldiers with a right to fight in uniform. Nicodemus, Kansas, 1877, is the oldest black settlement west of the Mississippi, and it still lives. Jazz began before the turn of the century in New Orleans. In 1903, Charles Young, born a slave, became the first black national park superintendent, and in 1917 became the first black Army Colonel (surpassing Dr Alexander Augusta, Bvt. Lt. Col. during the Civil War). 

The Springfield Race Riot of 1908 sparked the creation of the NAACP, illustrating both the danger of race hatred and the need for African American advancement. In 1911, Maggie Walker, daughter of a slave, became the first African American woman to found and run a bank, among her many civic accomplishments in Richmond, Virginia, and nationally. In April 1939 after being refused the right to sing elsewhere, Marion Anderson made national news singing at the Lincoln Memorial.

WWII brought new opportunities, including employment for African American women among the Rosie the Riveters who built our fleets and the Tuskegee Airmen who helped turn around the war by defending our bombers over Germany. Tragically, segregation in the military led to the Port Chicago disaster in 1944, which in turn led to desegregation in the military. 

Eisenhower was President in 1955, and America was a very conservative, 88% white, 95% Christian country. Still, when Mamie Till-Mobley’s boy was brutally murdered in Mississippi, she shocked the conscience of the nation with his open casket, sparking the Civil Rights Movement. In 1961, black and white Freedom Riders rode buses to integrate interstate travel, lunch counters and restrooms, but were attacked by “Citizens Councils for Racial Integrity”: the KKK. Despite school desegregation, Normandy Veteran Medgar Evers was denied law school admittance due to his race, so he worked with the NAACP on desegregation, civil rights protests and an investigation into Till’s murder. Returning home the morning after listening to JFK (below) promising to desegregate “hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, and similar establishments”, Evers found his FBI protection detail had been suddenly withdrawn, and he was shot in his driveway, unintentionally desegregating the white hospitals of Mississippi shortly before dying.

That September, the KKK killed four young black girls by bombing a church in Birmingham. In November, JFK was assassinated. But the movement did not stop; it grew. In 1965, in Selma, Alabama, three times residents marched towards Montgomery to try to register to vote and to protest. First, they were beaten bloody and unconscious on the street by police on horseback. Second, they were stopped by legal action. And Third, they marched 54 miles to the capitol in Montgomery, joined by people from across the country, 25,000 strong, ultimately securing the Voting Rights Act a few months later.

The Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, who led that march and many others, gave his life for Civil Rights, along with many others. On 28 August 1963 in front of the Lincoln Memorial, he said, “I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” Well, two of his children are now dead, and his youngest is 60. I believe we failed to achieve his dream in his timeframe. But we must not stop trying.

”One hundred years of delay have passed since President Lincoln freed the slaves,
yet their heirs, their grandsons, are not fully free.
They are not yet freed from the bonds of injustice.
They are not yet freed from social and economic oppression.
And this Nation, for all its hopes and all its boasts,
will not be fully free until all its citizens are free.” 

President John F. Kennedy, Televised Address to the Nation on Civil Rights, 11 June 1963

Fort Monroe National Monument

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The English sited a fort here in their Virginia colony at the mouth of the James River to protect Jamestown and the deep water entrance to the Chesapeake known as Hampton Roads, and now the Norfolk Navy Base sits across the river. The current fort is the largest masonry fort in the US, and although it was not directly involved in any battles, the Monitor v Merrimack battle was witnessed from its lighthouse, the oldest on the Chesapeake. Lincoln planned the capture of Norfolk here. Confederate leader Jefferson Davis was imprisoned here, decades after Lt Davis had been involved in sending captured Chief Black Hawk to prison here. Robert E. Lee improved the moat system above. Edgar Allan Poe served here (and later returned to recite his poetry).

But the most important history here began in 1619, when the first Africans were brought here by British privateers who stole them from the Spanish, and they were immediately put to work by the English colonists beginning the abomination of slavery in the American colonies. The first African American child, William Tucker, was born here in 1624. (First, unless you include Spanish St Augustine Florida, where there were 16th century slaves, as well as slaves in the Coronado and DeSoto expeditions).

The day Virginia seceded, three slaves, Baker, Townsend & Mallory, escaped and sought refuge here. Their owner sent a Confederate officer to claim his property. Without any official policy, the Union General Butler decided that the three men were illegal property or ‘contraband’ and refused to return them. Butler supported educating, training and enlisting them. This ‘contraband decision’ was widely published in newspapers and became Union policy until Emancipation. Many other escaped slaves similarly sought protection at this and other Union forts and camps, and communities with contraband schools began. Nearby Hampton University began as one of those schools, attended by 16 year old Booker T. Washington in 1872, fully 253 years after slavery started here in this country.

Thaddeus Kosciuszko National Memorial

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This is a difficult site to visit, since it’s only open seasonally, on weekends, in the afternoon, in an area with very little parking. The site is tiny, consisting of a few displays, a short film, and this recreation of his room in a boarding house here in Philadelphia. So, why do we have a site for a Polish citizen?

Thaddeus left Poland and arrived almost simultaneously with the British fleet at the outbreak of the Revolutionary War. He had military education and soon found himself employed as an engineer. Long story short, Kosciuszko was the one who chose the site and designed the fortification at Saratoga, which became the turning point of the war. He also designed and oversaw construction of the fort at West Point, which was deemed impenetrable by the British. He also joined the southern campaign and even fought in the last skirmish at the end of the war.

He returned to Poland, declared independence from Russia, and was wounded and exiled when his insurrection failed. The site here is also considered a Polish historic site. He lived in the room above for many years and was close friends with many American Revolutionary War leaders, including Thomas Jefferson. He asked Jefferson to use his American pension to free slaves through his will, but somehow the case eventually lost in court. Jefferson may have been the wrong person to entrust for that.

Monticello

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Jefferson’s entryway is like a science museum. The wind vane connects to a display on the ceiling outside, the clock connects to a series of weights that display the day of the week. The antlers on the wall show American megafauna, and the Native American artifacts represent various tribes. There’s a concave mirror which reflects your image upside down, and there are various maps, as one would expect from the sponsor of Lewis & Clark’s expedition. The rest of the house also includes various gadgets and experimental devices, so he apparently enjoyed being seen as a wizard.

To call the house symmetrical is an understatement. The other side also has columns, well, just look at the back of a nickel. There are long wing-like patios connecting outbuildings, a tunnel running the transverse length underneath, and a winding garden path. Monticello means ‘little hill’ in Italian, but the views are impressive. Jefferson used to peer down through his telescope at the University of Virginia, which he also designed and founded and which is also part of this World Heritage site.

Jefferson is unpopular today, due to his treatment of slaves, and today’s Monticello does an excellent job of describing the hard life of the hundreds of enslaved people who worked here. The house tour includes the slave tour, and the docents are knowledgeable and answer a whole range of difficult questions. DNA testing revealed many secrets of Jefferson’s relationship with Sally Hemings—a child when it began—, and much more research has been done to unearth fascinating and desperate stories of slavery and a few of liberation. Jefferson knew slavery was wrong, and he had argued against it as a younger man. Some of his friends and colleagues freed their slaves and urged Jefferson to do the same, but with only a few exceptions, such as his own biracial children, he refused even in his will.

It is not wise to condemn the man entirely, however. If you believe that all men are created equal, that we all deserve freedom of religion without government interference, and many other American ideals, then you agree with Jefferson, who enshrined those ideals in our nation’s founding. We should hate the man for his racism and for perpetuating slavery instead of helping end it, but we should also admire his genius, as an architect, a revolutionary, and a renaissance man. Jefferson knew that the most memorable characters of the ancient classical ages all had tragic flaws that often destroyed them in the end, but that’s why we remember their stories—both good and evil—, to learn from them.

George Washington Birthplace National Monument

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George’s great grandfather owned 10,000 acres of Virginia tidewater. The three places Washington lived before he became a national figure were all managed by private foundations, but now the park service runs his birthplace where he lived until he was 3 or 4. There’s a small site in town that covers his boyhood. And then there’s the very popular Mount Vernon site, with living history and the beautiful original home restored to how it looked when George & Martha lived there. The tours at Mt Vernon are in depth and excellent, but this site is quiet and peaceful.

Both George & Martha inherited slaves before their marriage, and many of them had families together at Mount Vernon. The slaves they owned when they died (mostly George’s) were freed around 1800, but Martha’s slaves reverted to a male heir and wound up at Arlington House, where they worked for Robert E. Lee, until freed by that heir’s will in 1862. If only George could have used his office to free all the slaves, he could have saved Martha’s slaves from broken families and generations of more misery and also averted Civil War. One descendent of Martha’s slaves nevertheless saved important artifacts of George Washington’s life when the Union took Arlington House.

George’s birth site doesn’t get as many visitors as Mount Vernon upriver, but it is beautiful and educational. The old park film is still good, and the hiking includes a lovely 1 mile nature trail near the shore. The buildings are from the wrong era, so I skipped the inside tour. The obelisk above was moved to the entrance at a time when they realized that they didn’t know exactly where George was born on the site, but the park service has now found the foundation of the house that was here at the time of his birth. They’re still deciding how to present or restore it, but in the meantime enjoy viewing the fields, farm animals and the Potomac.

Harriet Tubman National Historical Park

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Harriet lived in Auburn—when not on the road—from 1859 until her death in 1913. The photo above recently discovered locally is the youngest one on display here. One local visitor said that his grandmother used to visit her and sit in her lap, and he brought more photos. The long term docent, a Vietnam Vet, used to live in the Tubman house and helped lead the effort to raise money for the restoration. Tubman purchased seven acres here from William Seward, of ‘Seward’s Folly’ fame, and a few of her belongings are on display—including her bed, bible and sewing machine—in the old folks home she managed here.

The park rangers are in town, while the home tours are run by the AME Zion Church, an official park partner. Until the operating agreements are finalized, the partner organization runs the majority of the park with a small devoted staff of around one, and the park service runs the church in town which Harriet attended.

I highly recommend reserving the tour, given at 10 and 2. I believe the docent’s name is Paul Carter, and he is both extremely knowledgeable and an excellent storyteller. For example, many of the visitors had heard about secret messages hidden in quilts that supposedly were used to give directions on the Underground Railroad. But there is little to no evidence of this, and logically it isn’t clear how these messages would have been understood by plantation slaves.

When Harriet was seven, she was spotted eating a cube of sugar, which meant being whipped mercilessly. Instead, she hid for days in a pigsty, fighting for scraps to eat. As a teen she received the head injury which caused a type of epilepsy that she interpreted as giving her visions. This was in Maryland, where she feared being sold down to the Deep South where conditions were much worse.

Keenly aware of the brutality and deadly reality of slavery, she began organizing escapes for herself and her relatives. With support of Abolitionists on the Underground Railroad, she became its most legendary conductor, personally leading 13 missions of hundreds of miles from plantation to Canada on foot, often crossing the border near here, rescuing 70 directly, more indirectly and losing none. She gave away her own money, spoke to Abolitionist groups, and raised money to end slavery. During the Civil War she spied behind enemy lines and led troops into combat rescuing many hundreds more. Later in life she spoke in support of women’s suffrage, with her friends Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony. This iconic American hero stood less than five feet tall, and she more than deserves her place on the $20 bill.

If you hear the dogs, keep going.
If you see the torches in the woods, keep going.
If there’s shouting after you, keep going.
Don’t ever stop. Keep going.
If you want a taste of freedom, keep going.

Harriet Tubman

Reconstruction Era National Historical Park

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Reconstruction began in November of 1861, when US Navy & Army forces destroyed two forts and took Port Royal, because when all the white planters fled in the Confederate retreat, 10,000 slaves took over their sea island plantations. Union policy at the time was to declare the former slaves “contraband” or illegal property seized by the military. But the pressure was on President Lincoln to resolve their status permanently. First, he quietly authorized the Union’s first black regiment—the 1st South Carolina Volunteer Infantry which by November of 1862 mustered 1000 men and engaged in battle—, and then he finalized his executive order to free the slaves.

“all persons held as slaves within any State…
in rebellion against the United States,
shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free”

Emancipation Proclamation of President Abraham Lincoln

Among the great mossy oaks here at Camp Saxton on the 1st day of January in 1863, our nation’s first black regiment gathered here with their friends and families to all become the first people freed by Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation. Then the 1st SC Volunteers received their regimental colors as proud soldiers of the Union Army, under the command of one of John Brown’s conspirators in the raid on Harpers Ferry. Harriet Tubman was also here as a volunteer spy and liberator, and in June she guided three gunboats and the 2nd SC Volunteers up the Combahee River 25 miles north in a dangerous raid that freed 700 slaves. Other African American regiments from Kansas, Massachusetts and other states in both the north and south soon followed, and by the end of the war, 200,000 African Americans enlisted to make up 10% of the Union Army.

As soon as Port Royal was liberated, Philadelphian abolitionists Laura Towne, Ellen Murray and Charlotte Forten, who was African American, arrived and began the most important part of reconstruction: teaching. While not the first African American school, in 1862 they founded the Penn School to teach people who had been denied formal education for generations. The Gullah Geechee people had created their own language and had kept many cultural traditions alive, including the delicious Lowcountry boil or Frogmore stew, and, when given the opportunity for formal education, they began learning basic, practical skills to live independently, everything from shoemaking and auto repair to cooking and nursing. At the Penn Center, I met a Gullah Geechee woman who still speaks the language and who was treated as a child by one of the first physicians to graduate from the Penn School.

The Gullah Geechee sea islands remained in Union hands throughout the war and became central to the Union “anaconda” naval blockade. The hero Robert Smalls (see Fort Sumter), after helping convince Lincoln to enlist African Americans, purchased the home of his previous owner here, using his congressionally awarded bounty for the Planter, and represented this district in Congress for five terms. The beautiful, historic neighborhoods of Beaufort were retained by the descendants of freed slaves by strict preservation laws, resulting in a sharp contrast with nearby predominantly white golfing communities like Hilton Head. In a historic echo, 100 years after the Union used Beaufort as a base to fight the Confederacy, the Reverend Dr Martin Luther King, Jr and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference chose the Penn Center as a base for their Civil Rights campaigns, including planning the March on Washington and the Poor People’s Campaign. Dr King wrote his I Have A Dream speech here in Gantt cabin on the Penn Center campus.

Plan your visit thoughtfully. To the west, Camp Saxton is hidden at the water’s edge between a navy base, the ruins of Fort Frederick and a residential neighborhood. In town, the visitor center in the historic zone’s old firehouse has very knowledgeable rangers who skillfully and kindly disabused me of my misconceptions. To the east, the Penn Center has exhibits (for a donation) on the school, the Gullah Geechee community and the important Civil Rights work done here. There are two dozen historic building on campus including a dock and a Rosenwald school. Many, such as the Brick Baptist Church, aren’t presently open to the public, but Darrah Hall is open with park staff, information and exhibits. A wonderful volunteer discussed whether the Reconstruction Era ever really ended. Plan more time for the Penn Center partner exhibits, less time for the downtown Beaufort visitor center and enough time at Camp Saxton to stand under the Emancipation Oaks (and take a better photo than I did).