In the past, people have described the Gullah culture as quaint and the language as unintelligible. A closer look reveals a complex history and language with direct links to West Africa that survived slavery and thrived on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia. The Gullah experience has many variables that make it unique to each family and community.
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When you look at the scenery of South Carolina’s Lowcountry, it’s hard not to admire its beauty and wildlife. Also native to this region, is one of South Carolina's most unique group of people... the...
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There is talk of war in December, 1860. The southern states threaten to secede if Abraham Lincoln is elected President. Lincoln’s election results in the formation of the southern Confederate States...
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Host Aunt Pearlie Sue has a story to tell: Christmas Eve of December 1860 also happens to be the eve of the American Civil War. The life of slavery weighs heavily on the hearts of those who work on...
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Penn Center is one of the most significant African American historical and cultural institutions in existence today. The historic campus is located on St. Helena Island, one of the most beautiful and...
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After becoming Penn Community Center in 1953, the institution began to focus on social issues affecting the well-being of the native islanders. This expanded to African Americans as a whole in the...
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The Penn Center, formerly the Penn School, was founded on Saint Helena Island, South Carolina, by Northern abolitionist missionaries. The school was created to educate freed people, and was one of the...
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A circular dance called the "Ring Shout" was a part of Gullah-Geechee Christian worship services for many years.
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Scholars have located a song linking a family from Georgia to the village of Senehun Ngola in Sierra Leone. Linguist Lorenzo Dow Turner traveled to Georgia in 1931 to hear people speaking and singing...
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Nakia Wigfall is a seventh generation Gullah basket maker from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. Wigfall travels to Sierra Leone with a mission to make sweetgrass baskets with the other local residents...
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In the city of Kabala, in Sierra Leone, residents speak their native tongue, as well as a Creole language called "Krio," which is similar in many ways to the Gullah language spoken by the Gullah...
