The closure of Penn School in 1948 was the dawn of the Penn Center to come in 1951. A powerful ethos shift occurred in this transition: away from the white Northern mentality of interpreting black and Southern identities as deficits, toward an interracial cooperation among black and white Penn staff members that embraced the rich diversity of black experiences occurring in the American South and rooted in West Africa.
Within RESILIENCE, exhibited Penn Center materials—in which black voices are also viewed as authoritative—combat the pervasive paternalist racism within Penn Normal Industrial and Agricultural School materials—in which white voices are exclusively viewed as authoritative. The second half of this exhibit also illuminates the complicated, cyclical temporality between Penn Center and Penn School. Penn Center campus buildings and celebrations often honor West African heritage and, simultaneously, honor early white educators who condemned Africanisms. In embracing the breadth and scope of Penn’s history, Penn Center operators continue to act with altruism, reflecting on the past not with bitterness, but with love. Toward love, black empowerment and interracial growth continue to flourish at Penn Center.
