Though the heart of Gullah Geechee culture lies in South Carolina, it extends from North Carolina through northern Florida. Born of two and a half centuries of American slave trade (1526-1865) and nearly that many years of imported enslaved Africans, Gullah Geechee culture evolved as slaves from different countries (Angola, Senegal, the Gambia, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Togo, Liberia, Benin, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Congo) developed a common language and endured common experiences as captive people. While they, of course, learned to speak and understand the English of their owners, the owners and their families escaped the plantations in the summer for months at a time to avoid the heat and humidity, malaria, and other diseases. Thus, for six months a year or more, the Africans naturally spoke their own tongues or a Creole version as they interacted with slaves from different countries while not under their masters' watchful eyes.
Most of the Africans brought to what was then Carolina (North Carolina, South Carolina, and north Georgia) came from windward (or west) Africa. Why? They and their ancestors had cultivated rice since 1500 BC and no one better understood how to prepare wooded marshlands as rice paddies and tend the annual crops. The work was brutal and dangerous. They cleared wooded tidal swamps that were infested with alligators, poisonous snakes, and mosquitoes and once the paddies were established still ran all of the same risks except being killed by a falling cypress or gum tree. They succeeded beyond anyone's expectations and Carolina long grain rice, grown in freshwater but able to withstand post hurricane salt and brackish water, became a global commodity exported around the world. Originally thought to be less land, modern satellite imagery suggests that as much as a quarter of a million acres in Carolina was cleared and planted to rice--all by the hands of slaves. The rice industry generated riches beyond belief and dominated the coastal Carolina economy for two hundred years.
Though we've been learning about Gullah Geechee culture the entire way up the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW), we particularly enjoyed the Gullah Museum of Georgetown. The daughter of the late founders, Andrew and Bunny Rodrigues, offered us an introduction to the Gullah "story" quilts her mother had made and we took her up on the opportunity to learn about them and more.
She showed us the Harriet Tubman quilt first. This quilt portrays key passages in Tubman's life from her early escape to freedom, her 19 trips helping escapees on the underground railroad, her abiding faith, and more.
The rice quilt was also poignant and captured the role of women working on rice plantations where there were plenty of long days of hard work for both genders.
I found the midwife quilt to also be meaningful. These were the most important women on the plantation who knew every other woman in the most intimate way and, as a result, were central figures in Gullah Geechee culture. They provided advice during pregnancy, attended births, and helped ensure mother and child got off to a good start post partum. When I worked in Pakistan, I found the mullah and the midwife to be the two most influential people in any village. With both of them aligned, you could accomplish almost anything. Otherwise, good luck.
My favorite quilt, however, was a replica of the quilt of Michelle Obama that Bunny Rodrigues made with her neighbors in 14 days for the Obama inauguration. The quilt tells the story of the first lady's Gullah ancestry along with her personal journey through childhood, law school, marriage, child rearing, and on to the White House. The original quilt is curated by the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Georgetown, itself, is a historic town sandwiched among rivers. The third oldest town in South Carolina after Charleston and Beaufort, it showcases many historic homes and buildings--the antebellum ones of which were undoubtedly built by enslaved people. Front Street runs along the river and offers numerous shops and restaurants, several museums, and a harbor walk. In addition to its history of cotton and rice, the town was at one point the largest exporter of lumber in the south. International Paper Company built one of its largest pulp and paper mills here and there is also a steel mill. It's not clear to us whether or not these are currently operating.
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