Port Royal Agricultural and Industrial School

Port Royal Agricultural and Industrial School. . , Beaufort community activist Abbie Holmes Christensen founded the Port Royal Agricultural and Industrial School for young African American students near this site in 1902. The school was modeled on Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute. Its mission was to teach farming and domestic arts, as well as reading, writing, arithmetic, and geography. From the beginning, the school was led by Joseph and India Shanklin, both graduates from the Tuskegee Institute. India Shanklin served as school matron, nurse, and teacher. In 1920, the school became a Beaufort County Training School. At its peak, 150 students were enrolled., The school closed in 1955 shortly before principal Shanklin's death. Proceeds from the sale of land, almost 900 acres, provided scholarships for local African Americans. A state historical marker identifying the site of the school is located 500 yards west on Shanklin Road., Did you know? Abbie Holmes Christensen collected Gullah folktales and published them in her book, AFro-American Folk Lore as Told 'Round Cabin Fires on the Sea Islands of South Carolina (1892)., [Sidebar:] , Abbie Holmes Christensen , 1852 - 1938 , Folklorist, educator, suffragist , Abbie Holmes Christensen was born in Westborough, Massachusetts on January 28, 1852. Abbie was the oldest daughter of Reuben G. Holmes and Rebecca Winch, both staunch abolitionists. In 1864 her family moved to Beaufort where her mother became a teacher in a school for freed people. Reuben Holmes was a businessman and was elected to the 1868 Constitutional Convention. Abbie taught in Beaufort County's public school system from 1870 to 1872.