South Carolina State University's Ujimaa dancers and drummers will perform to the rhythm of the drum during the Penn Center Heritage Days Festival.

This year's theme is "HBCU Reunion Weekend -- The Homecoming." During the festival, participants will celebrate the history of historically black colleges and universities. The festival will take place from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 14, at the Penn School on St. Helena Island in Beaufort. The Penn School was one of the first schools for imprisoned Africans.

The Penn Center Heritage Days Festival is a three-day cultural event showcasing the culture of the Gullah people of the Sea Islands. The Gullah people are the descendants of the slaves who worked on rice plantations in South Carolina and Georgia. They still live in rural communities in the coastal region and on the Sea Islands of those two states. Gullah people retain many elements of African language and culture. Attendees will experience their folk art, food, music, crafts and cultural legacy.

Other events that will occur during the festival include demonstrations of the West African/Gullah cultural connection, including bateau making, quilting, basket making and live demonstrations of rice production in an authentic rice shack. There will also be Gullah storytelling, singing, African drumming, dancing, gospel singing, a craft fair and parade. An educational symposium will feature HBCU presidents and commissioners from the National Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage.

This is the seventh year that Ujimaa will participate in the Penn Center Heritage Days Festival. During the festival, Ujimaa will perform the "harvest dance," illustrating movements by Africans done while preparing meals and working in fields, and used to celebrate the fellowship of family and loved ones.

For those interested in attending the Penn Center Heritage Days Festival, a charter bus is available for $35 per person. Departure time will be at 6 a.m. Saturday from S.C. State's I.P. Stanback Museum and Planetarium parking lot. The bus will return at 8 p.m.

For more information about the Ujimaa dancers and drummers or to reserve seats for the Penn Center Heritage Days Festival, call Delvina Wescott at 803-536-5276.

You must be logged in to comment.