This Island in South Carolina Has the First Self-governed Town of Formerly Enslaved People in the U.S.
Amid the oaks and palmettos of Hilton Head, the historic site of Mitchelville is a window into Black American history. Courtesy of Hilton Head Isla...
Amid the oaks and palmettos of Hilton Head, the historic site of Mitchelville is a window into Black American history. Courtesy of Hilton Head Island VCB As a Black American woman with deep Southern roots, I cherish opportunities to learn more about my history. My father was born on the Gulf Coast of Alabama, and my mother was born in a rural North Carolina town that still doesn't have streetlights. They took part in the Great Migration, fleeing the Jim Crow South in the mid 1950s and early 60s to escape segregation and persecution.