The Gullah Geechee people are the descendants of Central and West Africans who came from different ethnic and social groups. They were enslaved together on the isolated sea and barrier islands that span what is now designated as the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor – a stretch of the U.S. coastline that extends from Pender County, North Carolina to South Carolina and Georgia Sea Islands and coastal lowlands of St. John’s County, Florida and for 30 miles inland. The people known as the Gullah and the Geechee had an inherently strong community life and the geographical isolation contributed to their ability to preserve their African heritage probably more than other African groups in the United States of America. As a result, the history, stories, beliefs, and creative expressions became critical antecedents to African American culture overall; as well as, the broader American mosaic. Their narratives chronicle 400 Years of “knowing who we be.”
This year’s Sweat Equity Investment in the Cotton Kingdom Symposium is dedicated to the 400 Years of making a way out of “knowing” who we be … as informed by the Gullah Geechee tradition. The tradition of the Gullah Geechee reveals how over time, place and space their forefathers and mothers developed a language as a means of communicating with each other and enabled them to preserve many African practices in their day-to-day activities through the arts, crafts, cuisine and spirituality still evident today. This is an evolving story of self-determination, persistence, resilience, innovation, isolation, and enslavement and this year’s theme for the annual event, taking place on The Mississippi Valley State University campus, Wednesday and Thursday November 6-7, 2019.
