GENEALOGY: Gullah Geechee embody unique African American culture

by Tamie Dehler, TribStar.com

The Gullah Geechee people embody a unique African American culture made up of the descendants of West African slaves. They occupy the islands and coastal regions of the eastern United States from Jacksonville, North Carolina, to Jacksonville, Florida. The largest groups live in South Carolina, where they are called Gullahs, and in Georgia, where they are called Geechees. Their culture and language represent a unique blend of African and American elements.

About 300 years ago, slaves were captured from the “rice coast” of west Africa that is now Senegal, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. They were brought to the coastal areas of the colonies to exploit their skills in growing rice. By the mid-1700s these low country coastal areas and sea islands in the colonies were covered by rice fields. Besides having rice cultivation skills, the Africans were resistant to many of the tropical fevers like malaria and yellow fever and could withstand the humid climate.

The white plantation owners in the low country often left the area during the rainy season (spring and summer) to go inland to their summer homes. They left their rice plantations in charge of black overseers called “rice drivers,” who ran the operation without much intervention from the whites. In time, the slaves on these isolated plantations developed their own culture that reflected their west African heritage.

During the Civil War, the white plantation owners abandoned the islands and fled to the mainland. The Union forces arrived on these islands in 1861 and found the Gullahs there. These were the first places where slaves were freed in the South. Many Gullahs subsequently served in the Union Army with the 1st SC Volunteers.

After, the Civil War, the islands and low country again became isolated as the white plantation owners did not return. The freed slaves purchased the land that their ancestors had been working on because no one else wanted these flooded and swampy areas. They practiced their unique culture without interruption until the middle of the 20th century, when development and tourism started encroaching.

Their language is called Gullah and it is a mixture of Elizabethan English (16th and 17th century) and various African dialects. In the 1930s, a linguist visited the area and studied their language. He found Gullah people who could recite many African words and phrases, and one woman knew four lines of a Mende funeral song that she had learned from her grandmother. Gullah was identified as a creole language that includes elements of the Via, Mande, Twi, Ewe, Housa, Yourba, Ibo, and Kikongo dialects from Africa.

Today, there are 750,000 Gullah Geechee people along the southeastern coast. Most live south of Charleston, SC-in south Carolina and Georgia. 250,000 of these people can speak the Gullah language. They live peaceful and simple lives close to the environment, practice wood carving, needlework, fishing, shrimping, crabbing, and growing rice, tomatoes, okra, and yams. Their diet is healthful and they are known for their longevity. Their religion is a mixture of Baptist and Methodist combined with African beliefs. They have translated the New Testament into their language.

Today, the Gullah Geechee people are threatened by big developers on the east coast. Some are having problems proving ownership to the land that was passed on from one generation another without written wills. Others have migrated to Harlem, Brooklyn, and Queens, in New York, where they try to keep their culture intact and often visit home. The Gullahs are led by Queen Quet and are trying to save their unique culture. They want to be recognized as a nation and to have self-determination, similar to the status of Indian tribes. In 2006 the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor was established by the National Park Service in an effort to preserve this unique African and American culture.