“P” is for Port Royal Experiment

“P” is for Port Royal Experiment. The Port Royal Experiment, also called the Sea Island Experiment, was an early humanitarian effort to prepare the former enslaved persons of the South Carolina Sea Islands for inclusion as free citizens in American public life. The Port Royal Experiment was made possible by the U.S. Navy's conquest of the Sea Islands of Beaufort District in November 1861. Beaufort District planters abandoned most of their property and nearly 10,000 enslaved persons. Still not legally considered free, the abandoned enslaved persons were declared “contraband of war” and placed under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The combination of federal efforts to assist and employ the Sea Island Blacks and the efforts of several philanthropic and missionary organizations to prepare the “contrabands” for emancipation led to the Port Royal Experiment.