A staff of important black women emerged at the Laura M. Towne Library: Ethel Bailey (wife of St. Helena doctor York W. Bailey), Wilhemenia Barnwell, and Agnes C. Sherman. Under the leadership of these women, the library was oriented toward college preparation for Gullah and Geechee youth, and promoting reading among islanders via a book mobile for St. Helena and surrounding islands. Agnes was also the inaugural curator of the York W. Bailey Museum, honoring the Penn School graduate and beloved island physician. The museum continues to offer workshops and cultural programming, offered in neighboring public schools and Penn campus, allowing the museum’s influence to expand, inspiring and educating black and white Southerners alike about Gullah and Geechee folklore.
Agnes C. Sherman served a key role in the cultrual programming at Penn Center Inc. as curator, librarian, and outreach coordinator. This announcement typed by Sherman produced important context for the intentions of the Laura M. Towne Library under the leadership of proud, educated, black women. The necessity that Agnes highlights of black people becoming "familiar with our history and heritage" is deeply connected to the gaps and omissions of black thought within historical sources. Toward enlightenment and pride, Agnes proclaimed: "Black people everywhere are beginning to realize how proud we should be of ourselves."
The York W. Bailey Museum continues to celebrate the artistic accomplishments of Gullah and Geechee populations connected to the costal lowcountry islands of South Carolina and Georgia. Beginning in the early 1970s, the York W. Bailey Museum has been curated by black community leaders advocating for autonomy, and uncompromised black representations and interpretations of life through art in the American South. Cultural programming, primary source exhibits, and social events remain regular occurrences at the museum—carrying on the linage of Penn Center a unifying community center.
Sam Doyle was a Penn School graduate and self-taught folk artist. Employing found painting mediums and using his front yard as a gallery, Doyle gained local and national attention for his folk depictions of national figures and historical events, as well as his loving depictions of St. Helena Island. In a 2000 exhibit catalogue of Doyle's work for the High Museum of Art in Georgia, Curator of Folk Art Lynne E. Spriggs described Doyle as "unwavering in his inventiveness; true to his inspiration, he was uninhibited in his process...he took what was available and created art that valued rather than attempted to hide or change imperfections."