The mission of the Mitchelville Preservation Project is to replicate, preserve, and sustain an historically significant site and to educate the public about the sacrifice, resilience and perseverance of the freedmen of Mitchelville, which in 1862 was the first self-governed town of freed slaves in America.
Situated on Hilton Head Island, SC, Mitchelville represents a jewel within the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor that forms the root of the African American's contribution to the heritage of freedom in America. That is the reason descendents of the Sea Islands can say,
"Da spirit of freedom lives in we."
Historic Mitchelville is the place where Africans in America, just out of slavery and not yet citizens, first began to govern themselves and re-imagine the meaning of freedom. The town was established in 1862. One historian refers to this period as "the dawn of freedom" in the Sea Islands (DuBois, Souls of Black Folk, 1903). Mitchelville is a radical example of Civil War era reconstruction plans. The United States Congress said as much when it passed the National Reconstruction Study Act (2003) that referred to Mitchelville and its importance in an understanding the difficult and complex period in America referred to as the Reconstruction Era.
Hilton Head Island is a place of significant historic sites. Perhaps none is more important to heritage travelers than those related to the Civil War. Historic Mitchelville is a Civil War site that presents a golden opportunity for teaching an untold story. The story supports and strengthens the American ideals of independence and freedom. Mitchelville represents the first organized town where Black people, moments removed from slavery and in a milieu of uncertainty, began to create a unique culture of struggle, resistance and perseverance, as they sought to give new meaning to the ideal of freedom.
The aim of the Mitchelville Preservation Project is to preserve and develop, as a heritage attraction, a portion of the site on Hilton Head Island where Mitchelville evolved. Recreating Historic Mitchelville has offered an opportunity for Hilton Head Island and Lowcountry heritage groups to work together in building an exciting Civil War attraction for American and international heritage travellers to visit. They will be informed and inspired as they experience the story of the Sea Island African American's contribution to the country's heritage of freedom.
