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Understanding Gullah Geechee Culture
Sapelo Island, Georgia (SIG) is the fourth largest barrier island on the Georgia coast. In the early 1800s, starting with plantation owner Thomas Spaulding, West Africans, experts in rice cultivation as well as their ability to withstand malaria and yellow fever, were enslaved, primarily from what is now known as Sierra Leone. They were forced to work the plantations on Sapelo. These enslaved West Africans embraced the conditions of the land, and nurtured the growth and survival of their families by connecting their strength and resilience to the land itself. Additionally, the spirit of their relationship with nature framed their existence as indigenous. The land -- and everything that the land produced -- became an expression known as “the indigenous culture of the Gullah Geechee people on Sapelo Island.”
Gullah Geechee culture is an important thread of our American fabric. So much so that in 2006, the U.S. Congress designated the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor -- which extends from Wilmington, NC in the North to St. Augustine, FL in the South. It is home to one of America's most unique cultures, a tradition first shaped by captive Africans that were enslaved and brought to the southern United States from West Africa and continued their traditions in later generations by their descendants.
For more information about the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor visit http://www.nps.gov/guge/index.htm
For more information about the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor visit http://www.nps.gov/guge/index.htm
Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Management Plan
For more information about the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Management Plan CLICK HERE
For more information about the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Management Plan CLICK HERE
Our Why
Congressman James E. Clyburn, a Gullah man from South Carolina said,
“The Gullah Geechee culture is the last vestige of fusion of African and European languages and traditions brought to these coastal areas. I cannot sit idly by and watch an entire culture disappear that represents my heritage and the heritage of those who look like me. Stories and traditions of this fusion of African and European cultures brought long ago to these shores have been slipping away along with the marsh and sand that are disappearing because of the encroachment of developments and the pressures to assimilate into the 'modern' world.”
In response, Gullah Geechee Culture Initiative was launched by stakeholders of Sapelo Island.
“The Gullah Geechee culture is the last vestige of fusion of African and European languages and traditions brought to these coastal areas. I cannot sit idly by and watch an entire culture disappear that represents my heritage and the heritage of those who look like me. Stories and traditions of this fusion of African and European cultures brought long ago to these shores have been slipping away along with the marsh and sand that are disappearing because of the encroachment of developments and the pressures to assimilate into the 'modern' world.”
In response, Gullah Geechee Culture Initiative was launched by stakeholders of Sapelo Island.
Honoring Our Ancestors
A memorial to a gentle giant, Charles H. Hall | 1934 - 2014
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The beacon of light from this little island has caused economic wealth for a select few at the expense of countless others. Together, we can focus on this same beacon of light to regenerate Gullah Geechee culture starting on SIG as we usher in generational wealth for all from the Economic Spine of our nation.
Help preserve the Gullah Geechee cultural thread of our American fabric by donating to support Solutions on Sapelo, a community-driven economic redevelopment plan.
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Land Speculators have been mapping Sapelo Island since the 1700s.
“Few places on the American eastern seaboard better exemplify the economic and societal utilization of a local ecosystem by human populations than the tidewater sections of the Carolinas and Georgia. For four centuries Euro-and Afro-centric cultures have resourcefully adapted to the conditions of their particular environmental circumstances - salt marsh ecosystem, alluvial soils, meteorological and hydrological considerations - to effectuate the enhancement of lifestyles and lifeways.”
Occasional Papers of Sapelo Island NERR, Vol. 1, 2008
Occasional Papers of Sapelo Island NERR, Vol. 1, 2008
