The Gullah in Charleston - History and Tradition

Over the years, the use of the language has almost disappeared. But if you were to visit some of the outer islands of the Coastal Carolinas and Georgia, you can still hear Gullah spoken among the locals. I've heard it spoken by Gullah women in the Marketplace in Charleston, where they weave and sell traditional seagrass baskets, and although it's difficult to understand at first, i find the unique use of words and musical sound quite pleasing to listen to.

To visit a page of Gullah words and definitions from a 1920's publication, click here.

During the late 1600s, English settlers in the new colonies needed more workers to farm thousands of acres of land on Sea Island plantations. Most were Africans brought to the American colonies as slaves. South Carolina provided some of the main ports for the European ships that carried slaves from West Africa and the West Indies, and many West Africans were skilled farmers and builders. Plantation owners wanted slaves from that region to farm indigo rice and cotton. Rice, a crop that the Africans had cultivated for centuries, was highly desired throughout the world. By 1700, Carolina golden rice became a major export from the Sea Islands. Almost as profitable as gold, it brought great wealth to the families who owned the plantations.

Gullah communities are located where slaves once lived and worked on Sea Island plantations owned by the American colonists. Native Americans were also part of these communities, and the unique blend of the West African culture, combined with European and Native American influences, resulted in the distinct culture that is known as Gullah.

When the Civil War ended, the slaves were freed. Since most plantation owners were not able to produce crops on their own, without slave labor, some of the land was sold to the plantation workers. Most of those who remained on the islands made a living by farming and fishing. They had little contact with the mainland, because the only way to travel off the islands was by boat. Given this geographic isolation, the native Islanders were able to maintain their folk ways and language.

Gullah is also the name of the language. It was developed among Africans as a way to communicate with people from other tribes and Europeans. In the 1930's, it was determined that this language is made up of parts of Elizabethan English and over 4,000 words from many different African languages. The similarity in the languages is an example of the connection between West Africans and the people from the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia. It's spoken in a rhythm and rapidly, making it difficult to understand. Gullah is written phonetically.

Essential Reading
click on the book cover for detailed info

More great publications
Gullah Voices The Ultimate Gullah Cookbook A Peculiar People

Charleston's Moja Arts Festival--->
- An Annual Celebration of
African American and Carribbean Arts

Annual Native Islander
Gullah Celebration on Hilton Head Island

Gullah Tours

African American Focus Tours at Middleton Place

Middleton Place, an 18th century plantation, offers visitors the opportunity to learn how the African American slaves and freedmen lived and worked at Middleton Place, and other Lowcountry plantations.
Learn about domestic life at a freedmen's cabin, labor at the Rice Mill and rice fields, and religion
and spirituality at a chapel and slave cemetery. Tour is included in the regular price of admission

Stroll Down Cabbage Row - Church St., Charleston

Cabbage Row is the section of Church St. that inspired "Catfish Row" in the Dubose Heyward story, "Porgy."
It was the basis for Ira Gershwin's opera, "Porgy and Bess," a fictionalized glimpse at african american life
during the 1920's. The character "Porgy" was based on a real Charlestonian, Samuel Smalls. 800-868-8118

Treasures of the Lowcountry
Self-Guided Tours of Charleston, Colleton, and Dorchester Counties

Slave Mart Museum - 6 Chalmers St. Charleston
8:30am - 5pm 843-724-7395

The African American National Heritage Museum is one of several locations where slaves
were sold in Charleston. The last auctions at this market were in 1863. Presentations detail
the African American experience in Charleston and the Lowcountry, from their arrival in
1670, to the Civil Rights movement. Permanent exhibits also explore Caribbean influences
on America, slavery, emancipation, reconstruction, arts and cuisine

Gullah Festival, Beaufort

Penn Center is one of the oldest African-American
educational and cultural institutions in the country

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