Laura Matilda Towne

Biography

Laura Matilda Towne (1825-1901) was an educator whose pioneering work on St. Helena Island, South Carolina, established Penn School, one of the first institutions dedicated to educating formerly enslaved people after the Civil War.

She devoted her life to that community, remaining there through hurricanes and hardships, insisting on the power of literacy to sustain freedom and leaving behind a model of unwavering moral courage.