Gullah

Gullah Geechee
A Gullah woman makes a sweetgrass basket in Charleston's City Market.
Total population
Est.200,000[1]
Regions with significant populations
North Carolina • South Carolina • Georgia • Florida • Liberia
Languages
English (American English,African-American English) Gullah
Religion
Majority Protestant; minorities Roman Catholic andHoodoo
Related ethnic groups
African Americans,Afro-Bahamians,Afro-Trinidadians,Haitians,West Africans,Black Seminoles

TheGullah Geechee (/ˈɡʌlə/) are a subgroup of theAfrican American ethnic group, who predominantly live in theLowcountry region of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida within the coastal plain and theSea Islands.Their language and culture have preserved a significant influence ofAfricanisms as a result of their historical geographic isolation and the community's relation to its shared history and identity.^[2]

Historically, the Gullah region extended from theCape Fear area on North Carolina's coast south to the vicinity ofJacksonville on Florida's coast. The Gullah people and their language are also calledGeechee, which may be derived from the name of theOgeechee River nearSavannah, Georgia.^[3]Gullah is a term that was originally used to designate thecreole dialect of English spoken by Gullah and Geechee people. Over time, its speakers have used this term to formally refer to their creole language and distinctive ethnic identity as a people. The Georgia communities are distinguished by identifying as either "Freshwater Geechee" or "Saltwater Geechee", depending on whether they live on the mainland or the Sea Islands.^[4][5][6][7]

Because of a period of relative isolation from whites while working on largeplantations in rural areas, the Africans, enslaved from a variety of Central and West African ethnic groups, developed a creole culture that has preserved much of their African linguistic and cultural heritage from various peoples; in addition, they absorbed new influences from the region. According to the Gullah/Geechee Nation website, many Gullah/Geechees also have some native American or indigenous American ancestry.^[8] The Gullah people speak anEnglish-based creole language containing many Africanloanwords and influenced byAfrican languages in grammar and sentence structure. Sometimes referred to as "Sea Island Creole" by linguists and scholars, the Gullah language is sometimes considered as being similar toBahamian Creole,Barbadian Creole,Guyanese Creole,Belizean Creole,Jamaican Patois,Trinidadian Creole,Tobagonian Creole, and theSierra Leone Krio language ofWest Africa. Gullah crafts, farming and fishing traditions, folk beliefs, music, rice-based cuisine and story-telling traditions all exhibit strong influences from Central and West African cultures.^{[9][10][11][12]}

The origin of the wordGullah can be traced to theKikongo language of theCongo Riverbasin, from which manyGullah words spoken by Black Americans today come. Some scholars suggest that it may be cognate with the nameAngola, where the ancestors of many of the Gullah people originated.^[3][13] Shipping records from thePort of Charleston revealed that Angolans accounted for 39% of all enslaved Africans shipped to the port.^[14] The story ofGullah Jack, an enslaved African man who was trafficked from Angola to the United States, further supports the theory that the wordGullah has an origin in Angola.^[15]

Some scholars also have suggested that it may come from the name of theGola, an ethnic group living in the border area between present-day Sierra Leone andLiberia in West Africa, another area of enslaved ancestors of the Gullah people.^[16][3]

The nameGeechee, another common name for the Gullah, may derive from the name of theKissi people, an ethnic group living in the border area between Sierra Leone,Guinea, and Liberia.^[3]

One scholar suggested that the Gullah Geechee name could have also been adopted from theOgeechee River.^[17]Sapelo Island, the site of the last Gullah community ofHog Hammock, was also a principal place of refuge for Guale people who fled slavery on the mainland.^[18]

According to Port of Charleston records, enslaved Africans shipped to the port came from the following areas:Angola (39%),Senegambia (20%), theWindward Coast (17%), theGold Coast (13%),Sierra Leone (6%), theBight of Benin andBight of Biafra (5% combined),Madagascar andMozambique.^[14][19]

The Gullah people have been able to preserve much of their African cultural heritage because of climate, geography, cultural pride, and patterns of importation of enslaved Africans. The peoples who contributed to Gullah culture included theBakongo,Mbundu,Vili,Yombe,Yaka,Pende,^[20]Mandinka,Kissi,Fulani,Mende,Wolof,Kpelle,Temne,Limba,Dyula,Susu, and theVai.^[14]

By the middle of the 18th century, thousands of acres in theGeorgia andSouth Carolina Lowcountry, and the Sea Islands were developed asAfrican rice fields. African farmers from the "Rice Coast" brought the skills for cultivation and tidal irrigation that made rice farming one of the most successful industries in early America.^{[citation needed]}

The subtropical climate encouraged the spread ofmalaria andyellow fever, which were both carried and transmitted by mosquitoes. These tropical diseases wereendemic in Africa and might have been carried by enslaved Africans to the colonies.^[21] Mosquitoes in the swamps and inundated rice fields of the Lowcountry picked up and spread the diseases to Europeansettlers, as well.

Because they had acquired someimmunity in their homeland, Africans were more resistant to these tropical fevers than were the Europeans. As the rice industry was developed, planters continued to import enslaved Africans. By about 1708, South Carolina had a black majority.^[22]Coastal Georgia developed a black majority after rice cultivation expanded there in the mid-18th century. Malaria and yellow fever became endemic. Fearing these diseases, many white planters and their families left the Lowcountry during the rainy spring and summer months when fevers ran rampant.^[23]

The planters left their European or African "rice drivers", or overseers, in charge ofthe rice plantations.^[23] These had hundreds of laborers, with African traditions reinforced by new imports from the same regions. Over time, the Gullah people developed a creole culture in which elements of African languages, cultures, and community life were preserved to a high degree. Their culture developed in a distinct way, different from that of the enslaved African Americans in states such as North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, where the enslaved lived in smaller groups, and had more sustained and frequent interactions with whites and British American culture.^[24]

In late 2024 underwatersonar was used to map 45 previously unknown irrigation devices used to control water flow for rice fields in conjunction with earthen dams and levees, developed by the Gullah Geechee over an area of 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of the northern end of Eagles Island, North Carolina, US. This provided evidence of the Gullah Geechee engineering and technological skills used for rice cultivation.^[25]

When theU.S. Civil War began, the Union rushed to blockadeConfederate shipping. White planters on the Sea Islands, fearing an invasion by the US naval forces, abandoned their plantations and fled to the mainland. When Union forces arrived on the Sea Islands in 1861, they found the Gullah people eager for their freedom, and eager as well to defend it. Many Gullah served with distinction in theUnion Army's1st South Carolina Colored Infantry Regiment. The Sea Islands were the first place in the South where slaves were freed. Long before the War ended,Unitarian missionaries fromPennsylvania came to start schools on the islands for the newly freed slaves.Penn Center, now a Gullah community organization onSaint Helena Island, South Carolina, was founded as the first school for freed slaves.^[26]

After the Civil War ended, the Gullahs' isolation from the outside world increased in some respects. The rice planters on the mainland gradually abandoned their plantations and moved away from the area because of labor issues and hurricane damage to crops. Free blacks were unwilling to work in the dangerous and disease-ridden rice fields. A series ofhurricanes devastated the crops in the 1890s. Left alone in remote rural areas of the Lowcountry, the Gullah continued to practice their traditional culture with little influence from the outside world well into the 20th century.^{[27][28][29][30]}

In the 20th century, some plantations were redeveloped as resort or hunting destinations by wealthy white Americans.^{[citation needed]} Gradually more visitors went to the islands to enjoy their beaches and mild climate. Since the late 20th century, the Gullah people—led by Penn Center and other determined community groups—have been fighting to keep control of their traditional lands. Since the 1960s, resort development on the Sea Islands greatly increased property values, threatening to push the Gullah off family lands which they have owned sinceemancipation. They have fought back against uncontrolled development on the islands through community action, the courts, and the political process.^[31]

The Gullah have also struggled to preserve their traditional culture in the face of much more contact with modern culture and media. In 1979, a translation of theNew Testament into the Gullah language was begun.^[32] TheAmerican Bible Society publishedDe Nyew Testament in 2005. In November 2011,Healin fa de Soul, a five-CD collection of readings from the Gullah Bible, was released.^[33][34] This collection includesScipcha Wa De Bring Healing ("Scripture That Heals") and theGospel of John (De Good Nyews Bout Jedus Christ Wa John Write). This was the most extensive collection of Gullah recordings, surpassing those ofLorenzo Dow Turner. The recordings have helped people develop an interest in the culture, because they get to hear the language and learn how to pronounce some words.^[35]

The Gullah achieved another victory in 2006 when the U.S. Congress passed the "Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Act"; it providedUS$10 million over 10 years for the preservation and interpretation of historic sites in the Low Country relating to Gullah culture.^[36] The Act provides for aHeritage Corridor to extend from southern North Carolina to northern Florida in a project administered by the USNational Park Service with extensive consultation with the Gullah community.

The Gullah have also been in contact withWest Africa. Gullah groups made three celebrated "homecomings" toSierra Leone in 1989, 1997, and 2005. Sierra Leone is at the heart of the traditional rice-growing region of West Africa where many of the Gullahs' ancestors originated.Bunce Island, the British slave castle in Sierra Leone, sent many African captives to Charleston and Savannah during the mid- and late 18th century. These dramatic homecomings were the subject of three documentary films—Family Across the Sea (1990),The Language You Cry In (1998), andPriscilla's Legacy.^[37]

• The Gullah wordguba (orgoober) forpeanut derives from theKikongo andKimbundu wordN'guba.
• The Gullah dishesred rice andokra soup are similar to West Africanjollof rice and okra soup. Jollof rice is a traditional style of rice preparation brought by theWolof people of West Africa.^[38]
• The Gullah version of "gumbo" has its roots in African cooking. "Gumbo" is derived from the wordngombo meaning okra in several western Bantu languages of theBakongo andAmbundu people of Angola. It is one of the dish's main ingredients.
• Gullah rice farmers once made and usedmortar and pestles andwinnowing fanners similar in style to tools used by West African rice farmers.
• Gullah beliefs about "hags" and "haunts" are similar to African beliefs about malevolent ancestors,witches, and "devils" (forest spirits).
• Gullah "root doctors" protect their clients against dangerous spiritual forces by usingritual objects similar to those employed by Africantraditional healers.
• Gullahherbal medicines are similar to traditional African remedies.
• The Gullah "seekin" ritual is similar tocoming of age ceremonies in West African secret societies, such as thePoro andSande.
• The Gullahring shout is similar to ecstatic religious rituals performed in West and Central Africa.
• Gullah stories about "Br'er Rabbit" are similar to West and Central Africantrickster tales about the figures of the clever and conniving rabbit, spider, and tortoise.
• Gullah spirituals, shouts, and other musical forms employ the "call and response" method commonly used in African music.
• Gullah "sweetgrass baskets" are coil strawbaskets made by the descendants of enslaved peoples in theSouth Carolina Lowcountry. They are nearly identical to traditional coilbaskets made by theWolof people inSenegal.
• Gullah "stripquilts" mimic the design of cloth woven with the traditional striploom used throughout West Africa.Kente cloth from theAshanti and theEwe peoples, as well asAkwete cloth from theIgbo people are woven on the strip loom.
• An African song, preserved by a Gullah family in coastal Georgia, was identified in the 1940s by linguist Lorenzo Turner and found to be aMende song from Sierra Leone. It is probably the longest text in an African language to survive the transatlantic crossing of enslaved Africans to the present-day United States. Later, in the 1990s, researchers Joseph Opala, Cynthia Schmidt, and Taziff Koroma located a remote village in Sierra Leone where the song is still sung today, and determined it is a funeral hymn. This research and the resulting reunion between a Gullah family and a Mende family that have both retained versions of the song is recounted in the documentaryThe Language You Cry In (1998).^[39]
• Some words coming from other African languages such asYoruba,Fon,Ewe,Twi,Ga,Mende, andBini are still used by Gullah people.^[40][41]
• The Gullahs’ English-based creole language is strikingly similar toSierra Leone Krio of West Africa and contains such identical expressions asbigyai ("greedy"),pantap ("on top of"),ohltu ("both"),tif ("steal"),yeys ("ear"), andswit ("delicious").^[42]

The Gullah have preserved many of their west African food ways growing and eating crops such asSea island red peas,Carolina Gold rice, Sea island Benne, Sea island Okra,sorghum, andwatermelon all of which were brought with them fromWest Africa.^[43][44] Rice is a staple food in Gullah communities and continues to be cultivated in abundance in the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina. Rice is also an important food in West African cultures. As descendants of enslaved Africans, the Gullah continued the traditional food and food techniques of their ancestors, demonstrating another link to traditional African cultures.

Rice is a core commodity of the Gullahfood system: a meal was not considered complete without rice. There are strict rituals surrounding the preparation of rice in the Gullah communities. First, individuals would remove the darker grains from the rice, and then hand wash the rice numerous times before it was ready for cooking. The Gullah people would add enough water for the rice to steam on its own, but not so much that one would have to stir or drain it. These traditional techniques were passed down during the period of slavery and are still an important part of rice preparation by Gullah people.^[45]

The first high-profile book on Gullah cooking^[46] was published in 2022 byEmily Meggett, an 89-year-old Gullah cook.^[47]

Over the years, the Gullah have attracted study by manyhistorians,linguists,folklorists, andanthropologists interested in their rich cultural heritage. Many academic books on that subject have been published. The Gullah have also become a symbol of cultural pride for blacks throughout the United States and a subject of general interest in the media.^[48] Numerous newspaper and magazine articles, documentary films, and children's books on Gullah culture, have been produced, in addition to popular novels set in the Gullah region. In 1991Julie Dash wrote and directedDaughters of the Dust, the first feature film about the Gullah, set at the turn of the 20th century on St. Helena Island. Born into a Gullah family, she was the first African-American woman director to produce a feature film.^{[citation needed]}

Gullah people now organize culturalfestivals every year in towns up and down the Lowcountry.Hilton Head Island, for instance, hosts a "Gullah Celebration" in February. It includes "De Aarts ob We People" show; the "Ol’ Fashioned Gullah Breakfast"; "National Freedom Day," the "Gullah Film Fest", "A Taste of Gullah" food and entertainment, a "Celebration of Lowcountry Authors and Books," an "Arts, Crafts & Food Expo," and "De Gullah Playhouse".Beaufort hosts the oldest and the largest celebration, "The Original Gullah Festival" in May. The nearby Penn Center onSt. Helena Island holds "Heritage Days" in November. Other Gullah festivals are celebrated onJames Island, South Carolina, andSapelo Island, Georgia.^{[citation needed]}

Gullah culture is also being celebrated elsewhere in the United States. TheHigh Art Museum in Atlanta has presented exhibits about Gullah culture. The Black Cultural Center atPurdue University inWest Lafayette, Indiana conducted a research tour, cultural arts festival, and other related events to showcase the Gullah culture. The Black Cultural Center Library maintains a bibliography of Gullah books and materials, as well.Metro State College inDenver,Colorado, hosted a conference on Gullah culture, calledThe Water Brought Us: Gullah History and Culture, which featured a panel of Gullah scholars and cultural activists. These events in Indiana and Colorado are typical of the attention Gullah culture regularly receives throughout the United States.^{[citation needed]}

• VOA report about an exhibit about Gullah culture
• 
  Sweet grass baskets made and sold by the African American Gullah community can be found throughout City Market.
• 
  Gullah sweet baskets from Edisto island

Gullah culture has proven to be particularly resilient. Gullah traditions are strong in the rural areas of the Lowcountry mainland and on the Sea Islands, and among their people in urban areas such as Charleston and Savannah. Gullah people who have left the Lowcountry and moved far away have also preserved traditions; for instance, many Gullah in New York, who went North in theGreat Migration of the first half of the 20th century, have established their own neighborhood churches inHarlem,Brooklyn, andQueens. Typically they send their children back to rural communities in South Carolina and Georgia during the summer months to live with grandparents, uncles, and aunts. Gullah people living in New York frequently return to the Lowcountry to retire. Second- and third-generation Gullah in New York often maintain many of their traditional customs and many still speak the Gullah language.^{[citation needed]}

The Gullah custom of painting porch ceilingshaint blue to deter haints, orghosts, survives in the American South. It has also been adopted byWhite Southerners.^[49]

Gullah Gullah Island is an American musical children's television series that was produced by and aired on the Nick Jr. programming block on the Nickelodeon network from October 24, 1994, to April 7, 1998. The show was hosted by Ron Daise—now the former vice president for Creative Education at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina—and his wife Natalie Daise, both of whom also served as cultural advisors, and were inspired by the Gullah culture of Ron Daise's home of St. Helena Island, South Carolina, part of the Sea Islands.

• Quotations related toGullah at Wikiquote
• Media related toGullah at Wikimedia Commons

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