GULLAH GEECHEE
Overview
The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of West Africans forced into slavery and brought to the United States from West Africa in the 18th Century. Their culture, language, and traditions represent a marriage of the cultures of West Africa and the South Eastern United States.
It all started with rice. In the 1700's colonists in South Carolina and Georgia discovered that the subtropical climate of the coastal region made it a prime location for growing rice (Opala, 2012). The problem: the colonists had no experience with the crop. At the same time, rice was being successfully propagated along the Western coast of the continent of Africa. In particular, the countries of Sierra Leone, and to a lesser extent Senegal and Liberia, were known as the "Rice Coast" countries (PBS: Now with Bill Moyers, 2003).
Given the American demand for slaves from the "Rice Coast," British colonists set up a slave castle in Sierra Leone at a place called Bunce Island. West Africans were captured, brought to the slave castle at Bunce Island, and began a painful and arduous journey across the Atlantic Ocean to the Eastern United States (Pollitzer, 2005). A majority of slaves that were traded in the United States were brought into the port in Charleston, South Carolina (known at the time as Charlestowne). The West Africans brought with them knowledge and experience of the techniques and methods for growing rice (Opala, 2012). Their expertise, combined with the near perfect growing conditions, lead to rice being one of the most successful crops in early American history (Pollitzer, 2005). As rice plantations began to grow in size and number along the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia, more and more slaves were brought over from West Africa. Along with the slaves came many new diseases including yellow fever and malaria (PBS: Now with Bill Moyers, 2003). Since the slaves had a certain level of immunity to the diseases, having lived with them their entire lives, the primary threat of these diseases was to the European colonists (Opala, 2012). The threat and fear of disease led many plantation owners to leave the coastal areas during certain times of the year leaving the slaves in charge of the plantation. Some plantation owners even lived in cities away from their plantations year-round, and left their slaves to manage day-to-day operations (Pollitzer, 2005).
The absence of the plantation owners, and the continuous influx of West African slaves into the plantations, are thought to be two primary reasons the Gullah Geechee culture was able to grow and develop with such a strong African influence (Pollitzer, 2005). Another reason the culture has managed to survive over time is because of the relative isolation of the sea islands from the mainland. According to Joseph Opala of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance and Abolition at Yale University, "these factors combined almost three hundred years ago to produce an atmosphere of geographical and social isolation among the Gullah which has lasted, to some extent, up until the present day" (Opala, 2012). Historians today are still unsure of the exact origin of the terms "Gullah" and "Geechee." Some have attributed the origins to terms used in Sierra Leone. Others attribute the origins to the Native American language. Gullah and Geechee people speak a creole language that is largely made up of a combination of English and a number of African languages (Turner, 2002). Linguists who studied the language closely have concluded that the primary African influence is the Krio language, spoken by the people of Sierra Leone (Turner, 2002). Influenced strongly by their African roots, the Gullah Geechee people have many beautiful and unique art forms, dances, and songs/chants. The Gullah Geechee are also known for their oral storytelling, which is not only a passionate display to witness, but it is one way the traditions and culture of their ancestors is passed from generation to generation (Cross, 2008).