The Priscilla E. Pemberton Society

Pemberton Society Founding President Lucia Henley Jack, Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, and Emory Campbell

On February 13, Bank Street's Pemberton Society hosted a special event featuring distinguished speaker Emory Campbell, who delivered a lecture titled "Penn Center: A Distinctive Change Agent for Freedom, From Emancipation Day to Present."

READ MORE ABOUT THE EVENT

The contributions of Emory Shaw Campbell to the cultural and environmental heritage of South Carolina are enormous.  He and his family live on Hilton Head Island, where he grew up and developed his love of the Sea Islands. Born in 1941, on Hilton Head Island, SC, he graduated from high school in 1960, as class Valedictorian.  In 1965, he earned his Bachelor of Science degree in biology from Savannah State College and in 1971 he earned a MS in Environmental Engineering from Tufts University in Boston.

Mr. Campbell’s concern for the future of the Sea Islands became apparent as he began to apply his education to real life situations in 1971 at the Beaufort-Jasper Health Center.  For almost ten years thereafter in his capacity as an Environmental Health Engineer he addressed issues that affected the daily lives of island people.  His goal was to inform and discuss methods of preserving and enhancing the unique and rich Gullah cultural and environmental heritage in the face of rapid development on the islands.

In 1980, he took a step closer to his goal, becoming the Executive Director of Penn Center, located on St. Helena Island.  He vigorously embarked on a program to revive the Center’s historical significance and its educational programs, and to preserve the cultural and environmental assets of the Sea Islands.  To help achieve this, he organized the now nationally recognized Penn Center Heritage Days Celebration.  He also revised the family farm program and expanded the cultural program to assist cultural artists, environmentalists, linquists, filmmakers and authors -- among them Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe, Patricia Jones-Jackson and Verta Mae Grosvenor. He served as inaugural Chairman of the Federal appointed Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission for preserving Gullah Geechee culture, 2008 - 2012.

Mr. Campbell has appeared in many documentaries, news magazines, films and radio and television programs, including 60 Minutes; The Today Show; a PBS special, Family Across the Sea; as well as on C-Span’s Washington Journal.  He has been awarded the Governor’s Award for Historical Preservation (1999),  was inducted into the South Carolina Black Hall of Fame (1999). He was awarded the Carter G. Woodson Award for Civil Rights by the National Education Association in 2006. In 2010 his essay titled “A Sense of Self and Place: Unmasking My Gullah Cultural Heritage” was published with ten other essays in the book,  “African American Life in the Georgia Lowcountry” by the University of Georgia Press. Later that year he received the  Environmental Stewardship Award from the SC Aquarium. He was awarded honorary Doctors of Humane Letters by Bank Street College, N. Y. in 2000 and by the University of South Carolina, Beaufort, 2012.

He authored the guide Book “Gullah Cultural Legacies” in October 2002, Second Edition 2005, Third Editon 2008. He retired from Penn Center in December 2002 after twenty-two years. He is currently President of Gullah Heritage Consulting Service whence he  conducts institutes on Gullah Cultural heritage and related issues through lectures, short courses and the Gullah Heritage Trail Tours on Hilton Head Islands.  

Mr. Campbell holds a B.S. Degree in Biology from Savannah State College and a M.S. Degree in Environmental Engineering from Tufts University. He has received numerous honors including an Honorary Doctorate in 2000 from Bank Street College of Education.