Gullah

The Gullah culture has a complex history and language with direct links to West Africa that survived slavery and continues to thrive on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia.

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. 

Title:
Gullah | From the Sky
Gullah | From the Sky

Video

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

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...
3D VR - Penn Center: Brick Church | Let's Go!
3D VR - Penn Center: Brick Church | Let's Go!

Interactive

Grades: 4 5 8 11

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...
Gullah Roots: Sweetgrass Basket Making | Carolina Stories 6
Gullah Roots: Sweetgrass Basket Making | Carolina Stories
Episode 6

Video

Grades: 6 7 9 10 11 12

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...
Gullah Roots: Return to Bunce Island | Carolina Stories 2
Gullah Roots: Return to Bunce Island | Carolina Stories
Episode 2

Video

Grades: 6 7 9 10 11 12

From 1617 to the abolishment of the English slave trade in 1807, Bunce Island was the last glimpse of home for tens of thousands of enslaved Africans. Today, only ruins remain, as a testament to the...
Gullah Roots: Rice As Cash Crop | Carolina Stories 1
Gullah Roots: Rice As Cash Crop | Carolina Stories
Episode 1

Video

Grades: 6 7 9 10 11 12

Rice is a staple food of Sierra Leone. Rice is not only a favorite dish of Sierra Leoneans and the Gullah-Geechee, but it is also a part of their history. A dike system for cultivating rice worked...
Henrietta Snype | SC African American History Calendar (2019) 11
Henrietta Snype | SC African American History Calendar (2019)
Episode 11

Video

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Higher Education

Henrietta Snype, from Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, is a world-renowned sweetgrass basket-weaver. Taught by both her mother and her grandmother, Snype has been creating sweetgrass basket art ever...
Beyond Barbados | Carolina Stories 5
Beyond Barbados | Carolina Stories
Episode 5

Video

Grades: 4 6 8 9 10 Higher Education

A Cultural Hearth The success of Barbados, Carolina, America, the New World for that matter is coterminous with slavery. The labor, the technology, the ingenuity, and the culture that supported this...
Beyond Barbados | Carolina Stories 6
Beyond Barbados | Carolina Stories
Episode 6

Video

Grades: 4 8 Higher Education

From Whence They Came Gullah is the blending of all the cultures that came together during that horrible time in human history called the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The connection between Barbados and...
Anita Singleton-Prather | Women Vision SC
Anita Singleton-Prather | Women Vision SC

Video

Grades: 4 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Anita Singleton-Prather grew up thinking she would study law and become a civil rights attorney. Instead she became a master storyteller, author and educator. Her work has influenced civil rights and...
Grosvenor, Vertamae | South Carolina Public Radio
Grosvenor, Vertamae | South Carolina Public Radio

Audio

Grades: 6 7 8

"G" is for Grosvenor, Vertamae (1938-2016). Writer, culinary anthropologist. A native of Allendale County, Grosvenor moved with her family to Philadelphia when she was ten. After high school she lived...
Uncommon Folk 5
Uncommon Folk
Episode 5

Video

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Higher Education

Sam Doyle, from St. Helena Island, South Carolina, is able to capture the Gullah community, and represent who they are in his paintings.
Uncommon Folk 6
Uncommon Folk
Episode 6

Video

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Higher Education

Reverend Johnnie Simmons, another lowcountry artist, uses paint, wood burning techniques, and the Gullah language to tell stories in his artworks.
Emory Campbell
Emory Campbell

Video

Grades: 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Higher Education

Emory Campbell is a community leader on Saint Helena's Island, SC. This is his full interview from the SCETV documentary "Sea Change." Questions addressed in this video include: What would the effect...