Joan L. Collins, Director of Outreach and Education, Pea Island Preservation Society
The Pea Island Lifesaving Station on North Carolina’s Outer Banks is historically significant and distinctive, as it was the only lifesaving station in the United States to be manned by an all Black crew. Under the direction of Keeper Richard Etheridge, the crew was hired from local Black men in the community and they were trained to be dedicated and dependable watermen in the service of lifesaving. The men of Pea Island never received any awards for rescues no matter how many lives they saved. It wasn’t until 1996, 100 years after the heroic rescue of the crew of the E.S. Newman in 1896, that the US Coast Guard finally paid honor to the crew of the Pea Island Station. Joan Collins, a Freedmen Colony and Pea Island descendant, joins us to share how the Pea Island Preservation Society is telling this story and preserving this very important history.
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