Once called the shame of the nation, Pennhurst was the epicenter of a civil and human rights movement that changed the way the world saw people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The atrocities of neglect at Pennhurst resulted in Supreme Court litigation that sounded the death knell for institutionalization worldwide.
Pennhurst was the battleground in a monumental struggle to secure basic human rights for the last group of Americans to attain privileges assumed to be the natural freedoms of all Americans. Pennhust's historic and beautiful campus is, like Valley Forge and Independence Mall to the east, hallowed ground in the struggle for dignity and self-determination, a western anchor to a freedom corridor, that, though stretching but a few miles, reached all the way around the world.
Through preservation and adaptive re-use of the historic Pennhurst campus, the Pennhurst Memorial and Preservation Alliance seeks to ensure that those achievements won at Pennhurst are neither lost nor forgotten.
We seek to reclaim this once painful place as a center of conscience, healing, and outreach. This process is essential in the creation and preservation of a society where, all people are valued and respected, and where all people have the knowledge, opportunity, and power to improve their lives and the lives of others.
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Found in several locations on the powerfully emotive Pennhurst campus, the poppy is the perennial symbol of resurrection, remembrance, and redemption.
As such, it represents our effort to save this internationally-significant place of memory from destruction. Through its environmentally-responsible and socially-sensitive re-use, Pennhurst can again become not only a profitable contributor to the region, but the birthplace of a needed renewed conscience for the future.
Principal drawing by Emily Scali
Official Statement Regarding Trespassing on the Pennhurst Property