Exploring Gullah Life in the Low Country

The Gullah people of coastal South Carolina and the islands off the coast are African American descendants of slaves who retain many traditions from Central and West Africa. James Greenwood, director of multicultural education at NMH, spent two weeks in the Palmetto State this summer as part of a federal Department of Education Teaching American History grant researching the Gullah people, and helping public school teachers from Cleveland incorporate lessons about Gullah history and culture into their teaching practice.

Here’s a dispatch James sent from South Carolina’s Low Country:

“We’re reading several books written by folks studying Gullah culture and memoirs by Gullah people themselves. We’re looking at culture: from food, to religious practices, to education, to folk tales (most people know the Brer Rabbit tales or the song “Kumbaya”—Gullah for “Come by Here”). We’re studying the many things these people were able to retain in the culture from Africa, and why it happened specifically (and in some ways, could only happen) in the Low Country.

“We spent five days at St. Helena Island at the Penn Center—the site of one of the country’s first schools for freed slaves and one of the most significant African American historical and cultural institutions in existence today. We toured the Sea Island with local folks, really trying to create a mental image of what life was like there, both under slavery in the antebellum period and following the Civil War.”

Rice Cultivation
“South Carolina was a major hub for slavery, with some estimating that 50 percent of African slaves brought to North America arrived in Charleston. South Carolina was known for its rice (and later indigo) cultivation. The climate here (not unlike parts of West Africa) allowed rice to flourish. However, the conditions were ideal for malaria, which many African slaves had more natural resistance to than did those of European descent. Because of that, there were more absentee-landlords, with overseers running plantations while the masters lived elsewhere in more hospitable climates. South Carolina became one of the places in the South where we actually saw a black majority, which created a very specific slave experience that was different from slavery in other areas, such as North Carolina or Virginia. Also, because of the specific skills required to cultivate rice, slaves were sought from particular regions in West Africa (largely Sierra Leone) where rice cultivation was already an established way of life. So they maintained a more enduring connection to Africa, which allowed elements of African cultures to be retained. Ironically, the skills and knowledge of the Africans in America reinforced their enslavement.
“Though many were from Sierra Leone, there were slaves from multiple regions and ethnic groups in Africa. Gullah, therefore, as a language, developed as a method of communication, blending bits of these various African languages with bits of English.  Over time, after emancipation (and after other states such as Texas became competitors in rice production) the plantations died out and many whites left the region. On some of the islands, there were black populations left to their own devices. Some of the Sea Islands didn't even have bridges to the mainland until as late as the 1940s. Much of the Gullah culture was allowed to grow in near complete isolation.”

Teaching the Culture
“As part of the program, we’re working mostly with history teachers, so we're hoping they’ll be able to present this as a case study of one of the many ways that slavery existed in the US. We also hope they’ll be able to communicate the strength and resilience of black slaves. Despite slavery being such a devastating force—and it was terribly destructive—people were able to retain elements of their culture: both in language and in practice. In fact, in trips from the Gullah islands to parts of west Africa in recent years, Gullah speakers were still able to communicate with (both understand and be understood by) certain speakers of various African ethnic languages. That's remarkable. This was shown in the PBS documentaries “The Language You Cry In” and “Family Across the Sea.” Other Africanisms include naming practices, quilting, burial practices, and, probably one of the most widely studied skills, basket-weaving— particularly the weaving of what are called sweetgrass baskets. When placed side by side with baskets made in Sierra Leone, they are nearly identical in craft and technique. 

“There are also art and math teachers who plan to incorporate elements of Gullah culture into their lessons. It’s truly multicultural education at its best! Math teachers spoke about using the baskets as examples when studying measurements or patterns. English teachers talked about writing narratives and autobiographies. Science teachers can teach the biology and environment of the area, so there are dozens of applications across disciplines.”

The Penn Center
“The house we stayed at in the Penn Center was also the house that Martin Luther King, Jr., stayed at when he was in South Carolina in the 1960s. To think that we walked the same places that Dr. King walked was amazing. For me, working with teachers from the Cleveland Public School System, the school system that I went through, was a rewarding experience. In fact, one of the participants was a former high school teacher of mine, so it was great to be working together as colleagues now.”