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Extent: 1 document box and 1 oversize folder Location: PU-4 and Pob+
Biographical Sketch of Shanklin Family Graduates of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, India Gordon Shanklin (circa 1879-1939) and Joseph Shanklin (circa 1879-1957) spent most of their lives teaching at the Port Royal Agricultural and Industrial School, an educational institution founded originally for former slaves located in Bluffton, South Carolina, near Beaufort. India and Joseph met and courted throughout college. They both graduated around 1899-1901. In 1903 Joseph accepted a job offer at Port Royal. He taught farming at the school for around two years until he was appointed principal. Soon after the time of his new appointment in 1906, he and India married. She joined him at the school where she served as the matron, housekeeper, and nurse in addition to teaching domestic science. Joseph served at the Port Royal School for forty-two years; India served for thirty-three years until her death in 1939. Joseph officially retired from the school in 1946, but he continued to play a vital role within the institution and the Beaufort community until his death on June 1, 1957, at the Georgia Infirmary in Savannah where he had been a patient for several weeks. The couple had three children: Joseph, Jr. (born circa 1907-October 1999), Thelma L. Shanklin West (born in 1913), and Foch Barnett Shanklin (born August 2, 1918). All three graduated from the school before attending college. Thelma graduated from South Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical College (South Carolina State College) in 1936; Joseph graduated from Tuskegee in 1931; and Foch graduated from Johnson C. Smith College and South Carolina Agricultural and Mechanical College. All three were employed at one time or another at Port Royal School.
Organizational History of the Port Royal Agricultural and Industrial School (S.C.) On October 1901, the Port Royal Agricultural and Industrial School started with seven pupils. By January of 1905, 150 students attended. The school, founded by a group of northern abolitionists and prominent Beaufort citizens, aimed to instruct African American students in better cultivation of land, care of stock, and improved manner of living. Additionally, the institution offered instruction in carpentry, bricklaying, printing and other trades. Coursework for females included cooking, sewing, nursing, and homemaking. Implicit in all aspects of the program was an effort to achieve the moral elevation of its students. The 1903-1904 Annual Report stated the school’s mission:
It is the aim of the Port Royal Agricultural School to teach these poverty-stricken folks how to farm intelligently. . . and to instruct the girls in cooking, sewing and general housekeeping. . . In the school room instruction is given in reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and farming.Edinburg Mahone (a Tuskegee graduate) accepted the position as the first principal. In 1904, however, he left his position in the midst of controversy. The board of trustees hired Joseph Shanklin, then working as the school’s agricultural instructor, as his replacement. Joseph and his wife India would devote much of their lives to the school. By 1919 Port Royal Agricultural School was well established with an endowment of around $11,000 and situated on hundreds of acres of land in Beaufort. Expenses were high, though, and during that year the trustees applied for the institution to become a county training school as a means of receiving additional funding. During the winter of 1919, the South Carolina legislature put $10,000 into the hands of the state superintendent of schools to be used for improving African American schools. To the Port Royal Agricultural School came the opportunity of assisting in the establishment of a county training school under the Smith-Hughes Act by deeding its school building and some forty acres of land to the trustees of Beaufort School District Number One. This would put the school in a position to receive assistance from private funds, the John F. Slater Fund, and from the district taxes. In 1920, Port Royal Agricultural School became the Beaufort County Training School, although it was always know as the Shanklin School to area residents. By becoming a county school, the institution was able to pool both public and private resources to promote its mission of industrial education and was able to meet the need for African American teachers since it was ostensibly known as a teacher’s training site. The arrangement allowed the Port Royal trustees to maintain around 800 acres of land, as well as two barns, two dormitories, a power plant, equipment, and an endowment of around $11,000.
Scope and Content Notes/Folder List The collection contains approximately 201 documents and 4 volumes in 18 letter size folders and 7 documents in one oversized folder. The collection consists primarily of correspondence among members of the Shanklin family. Researchers may find the following of interest in the collection:
Administrative Notes Acquisition Numbers: 3802, 3827 Location: PU-4 Processed: Meg Moughan, Processing Archivist (June 2000)
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