The Gullah culture
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The Gullah culture
Introduction
Gullah is initially believed to be closely related to the country Angola from whereby half of the slaves came to Carolina and Georgia. Today, the Gullah people are a mixture of the various tribal groups from Central and West Africa. They were the descendants of the enslaved Africans forced to work in plantations in South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia (Fuller, 2015). Due to the water separation, traveling to the mainland difficult, resulting in Isolation and blending of diverse languages and cultures connected from their African roots and cultural influence by the white plantation owners. The paper is focused some of the Culture aspects that were depicted by the Gullah people at the time and how it has evolved especially considering that the Gullah people are regarded as the oldest culture that is still in existence in the USA. Its origin is believed to have been traced back to Carolina during the 1500s. Today, there are over 500,000 Gullah’s that live in the region in over 500 mile stretch along the Atlantic Ocean.
Gullah History
Based on Jarrett, (2004), the Gullah culture is the best example of showing the evolution, ingenuity, adaptation, and strength of the slaves brought to America from Africa. They were initially captured along the West African Coastline and sold as slaves to labor to the rice and cotton plantations. They were imprisoned in cells before being transported across the Atlantic Ocean. The imprisonment led to the mixing of diverse cultures that evolved to a hybrid of new languages, customs, traditions, and beliefs. As mentioned earlier, Gullah is said to be a version of the country Angola which many believes comes from an African story of Giza’s and Golas of two cultural groups of the people living in Liberia before being brought to the United States. In North Carolina, this group is referred to as Gullahs, while in Georgia, they are referred to as Geechee.
During the slavery period, West Africa had a rice-growing culture; hence the skills and the knowledge of these people were valued for providing cheap labor to the rice plantation owners. Therefore, the Gullah people became the backbone of the plantation in South Carolina. However, after the Civil War’s emancipation, most of the Gullah people remained in the islands and opted to preserve their culture despite being forced to provide cheap labor by the Jim Crow laws. During the 1940s, a significant shift from Agriculture to tourism made them concentrate on providing labor force in hospitality and chief income in almost every state, thus spreading widely.
The Gullah culture
The Gullah people are known to preserve more of their African heritage, than any other African American culture in the USA. They speak an English-based language that contains African words influenced by African stories, beliefs, and crafts. A number of the Gullah’s culture, such as farming, fishing, and traditions, was highly influenced by the central and Western Culture. Most of the Gullah’s ancestors are based in the USA in Georgia and Carolina. Since they came from the rice-growing region, a big group of the enslaved Africans made them the best candidates to extend their rice-growing techniques. In the mid-18th century, both Georgia and Carolina were covered with thousands of acres of rice that became very successful to the American industries.
The semi-tropical climate facilitated the rice-growing activities. However, diseases such as malaria and yellow fever became quite a challenge, which forced the white plantation owners to escape to the low country during spring and summer and left them in charge of the Africans. Working on the large acres and hundreds of slaves reinforced other communities to import in the region, thus developing a culture, which was highly preserved. The Isolation gave the Africans the strength to preserve their culture since they had little or less contact with the whites. By early 1700, the Gullah’s were already blending their languages, music, craft, and customs that represented various African cultures (Jarrett, 2003). Therefore, the emergence of the culture was resulted by the Isolation of the slaves by the whites due to tropical diseases. However, the importation of the African slaves continued leading to an influx to the African community, thus renewing their numbers.
The Isolation lasted throughout the slavery period and even after the Civil war in 1860 and 1865, who continued to works as wage laborers. However, the rice economy fell due to the stiff competition in Louisiana rice plantations this abandoning the fields, which later became swamplands. Over the years, the Gullah’s cultures have attracted several historians attracted by the folklorists, anthropologists, and linguists. Their culture has become a symbol of cultural pride in thought USA and has become a subject of interest to many media outlets.
Language
The Gullah language is a case of survival of evolution from the African Heritage after in the face of assimilation. The different backgrounds of the slaves brought upon many tribes who spoke a different language. It was initially born on African soil, known as Pilgrim, developed by people who did not speak a common language. Due to the peak of the slave trade, the pilgrims became part of African, and when they were imprisoned, the language became means of communication. After some time, the Pilgrims combined with another language combined with African spoken words and English words, which later became Gullah. Some of the Gullah language’s common words include; de, which is the in English, yez, which is ears in English. The language is known to have close similarity with the creole linguistic styles, which is basically from the multiple languages used in situations such as slavery.
Moreover, the English language is the target language of Gullah since the plantation language was dominant, an indication of power over the slaves, thus becoming the main thread of the Gullah language. Based on Jarrett & Lucas, (2002), the African language became a substitute language influenced by grammar and sentence language even though there are multiple sources regarding the Gullah language. Many scholars believe that the language is a mash-up, of the African Language and English language.
Gullah Arts, traditions, and traditions
Many of the Gullah customs and traditions cannot be easily traced back to the Africa tribes; however, many can agree that many of them came from West Africa and Western Sudan. It is believed that the Gullah people took bits of the African traditions and combined them with their own culture. Some of the traditions include; ring shout celebrations whereby the Gullah people were converted to Christianity. It was celebrated in the African style. In the ceremony, they chant and dance as an indication of being possessed by the Holy Spirit. However, these kinds of traditions are not in existence today, but it is showcased in the form of their language, belief in witchcraft, and painting their doors blue to ward evil spirits away. Additionally, some people still believe some people have the power to ward off the evil spirits, and if they are worried about the spirits, they paste newspapers on their wall to distract the spirits.
One of the most profound arts of the Gullah people, is their art to make baskets that can be traced back to West Africa. It was used to make work items such as fan used in separating grains from the chaff; it also became an economic activity for the Gullah people at the time. In many Gullah celebrations, they would display their beautiful creations on the highways and in their houses. Women mainly practiced the art; however, in the past, men used to weave, especially to the aged and the one who was in poor health, to weave large baskets. After, emancipation, women took up the art of weaving small baskets for holding food and for decoration purposes. Today, tourists make a stop in Georgia to purchase beautiful baskets, which generally is very impressive. Another art included painting and woodcarving that was tended to portray images of the Gullah people in attractive images that were quite attractive.
Burial ceremony
Gullah burial ceremonies began with drums’ beating to inform people that someone from their community has passed away. During this time, the mirrors are kept away. The corpse would not be reflected, and the funeral party is prepared to take the body to the cemetery and asks permission from the ancestors before entering. Based on Ghahramani, McArdle & Fatorić, (2020), the participants would dance around the grave by smashing dishes and bottles so that no one else in the family will die soon. After the funeral, the people would return to town and cook large portions of food, leaving significant food portions on the ground to liberate the souls. The cooking ceremony was referred to as Saraka.
Religion
As stated earlier, many of Gullah’s cultural aspects were part of the African heritage; after all, the Gullahs’ ancestors came from the diverse American tribes. The slaves adopted the beliefs and practices that were closely related to Africans. Generally, we can pinpoint that the Gullahs culture came from West Africa since not all traditions can be traced back to specific African tribes. Moreover, some of the Gullahs’ practices were borrowed from their white masters such that they converted to Christianity by their style of worship differed from their masters by dancing rhythmically by pounding sticks as an expression of thanksgiving and praise.
Music
The people deeply rooted music from the Gullahs by singing to Jazz’s spirits and gospel music, ragtime, blues, and Rhythm. During the time music played a central role in low country worship and praises, the people intensified the songs by clapping using the push-up instruments. Over the centuries, some of these rituals have died out whose customs are traced back to the 1930s and 1940s before Isolation. Others, such as the painting of the doors and the windows blue to keep of evils spirits, still exist. Additionally, the Gullah had an extensive collection of fables like the Brer stock, fox, rabbit, and Brer snake, whose stories mainly revolved around animals with distinct personalities. Whose situations and predicament was identical, the main character in their plots was the Brer Rabbit, whose outwits would overcome the more prominent characters. The Gullahs’ storytelling culture became part of the Gullahs and was widely known in America. An example of a famous writer is Joel Chandler, who popularized Gullah’s stories in the tale so Uncle Remus.
The Gullah art embraced art and crafts that are distinctly known to come from African culture, mainly due to Isolation’s long period. The Gullahs made assortments artifacts that can be distinguished from West Africa. Today, South Carolina and Georgia museums have wooden mortars and pestles, calabashes, pots, and brooms. To date, the Gullahs men have preserved their wood carving heritage and decorating of graveyards. The Gullah women still sew quilts, which are near related to today’s African style cloth.
Gullah food
Before the rice plantations, the Africans who came as slaves from Africa had been used with a diet heavily substituted with rice; hence, it is not a surprise that they continued to preserve the same culture while working in the rice plantations. According to Ellis, et al. (2014), Adding to the fact that most of the communities that lived along the coast of Carolina and Georgia made sense of their preference for seafood. To this day, Gullah Cuisine is impacted by rations given to slaves daily, such as quarts of rice, sweet potato Bushels, Molasses, and pork, among others. Notably, they took what was available and turned it into delicious dishes that are valued today. The two traditional foods, greens, and rice that were similar to the Sierra Leon foods referred d to as places. They also make red rice containing okra and fish. In the remote areas, the Gullahs had made boiled corm from wheat flour, referred to as fufu.
Quilting in the Island
Quilting became another cultural trait that showcased a high significance between the Sea Islands and the West Africans. Quilting became an economic activity in the Sea Islands, which later became a prominent role among the Gullahs as a craft tradition. The quilts are exceptionally distinct due to their feature a strip formation. The rectangular bits on the cloths and fabrics were assorted in shapes, colors, and sizes. They were all sewn together in a curvilinear pattern that was quite distinguishable from the European quilts. Additionally, the quilts had a high significance of the colors such as red, which indicated danger, while blue repelled evil spirits, while the white, signified purity (Matory, 2008).
Over the decades, the quilts have been used to signify crucial events within their cultural framework; today, many can recognize the patches of quilts and their meaning. Rites of passage such as birth and marriage were often commemorated by making complete quilts to the departing member and celebrating a new member in the family. The family heirlooms were valuable cultural aspects of the Gullahs. The Gullahs strip quilts are known to have a close resemblance to the quilts in Ghana and Benin.
Beliefs and practices
Rootwork was an activity carried out by the Gullahs as a form, to ward of the evil spirits, while a rootworker is someone who can remove evil spirits and provide a cure. It is documented that the practices that were an essential aspect to them. Their existences are still in practice in places such as St Helena. According to Cross, (2008), the root work comprised using herbs to heal most illnesses, and the remedies were passed from one generation to the next. The belief system contributed to social control that aided in mitigating anti-social behaviors and immoral behaviors. Work among the Gullahs was a collaboration by all the community members and the community leaders who had access to the elders who were bearers of essential knowledge regarding rootwork.
Policymakers
Based on Brabec & Richardson, (2007), the Gullahs policies were quite successful, which was contributed by the Island’s residents, who worked to bring positive change among the people. The Chief was known as Marquette, who was the founder of the Geechee. The members were given the task to raise awareness of the problems facing the people on the Island. In the process, they developed fundraising efforts and community activities throughout South Carolina to preserve their cultures. The essence of these policies was to preserve the Gullahs’ deep culture, which is still in existence to date due to the policies.
The Gullah women
Women among the Gullah culture were the customs keepers of their tradition and knowledge; they would pass stories, crafts, and values to their children. The women in the islands were independent and placed a lot of value on family and the community. According to Amin, (2003), the women would engage in the fundraising ceremony to raise the community standards. Furthermore, the women played a significant role in the economic activities by carving and making baskets that have been used as a form to promote tourism today. Today women from Mt. Peasant make an essential contribution to the tourism market. However, due to the whites’ immigration, the cultural life of the Gullahs is negatively changing the family life leading to social disintegration. At the same time, their cultures are being interfered with to make more dollars.
In summary
The Gullah culture has indicated the extent to which it has embraced its culture from storytelling, their view of life and death, cuisine, beliefs, and practices, among others. A lot has been passed from one generation to the next that is still practiced to date based on these cultures. However, due to other cultures’ influence, some of their cultures are slowly eroding, such as The Gullah people have quickly disappeared over time. These include the ring shout, which was conducted before the Isolation, leaving just bits to be passed to the next generation. Today, the Gullah people have found new economic opportunities such as tourism and hospitality, especially after the Isolation period in the 1940s. They are no longer isolated due to the diverse opportunities and have significantly impacted the American culture. Nevertheless, the Gullah people still regard themselves as a particular culture, and they still cherish their heritage.
References
Amin, J. A. (2003). The Legacy of Ibo Landing: Gullah Roots of African-American Culture by L. Marquetta Goodwine, Editor. Philosophia Africana, 6(2), 103-104.
Brabec, E., & Richardson, S. (2007). A Clash of Cultures The Landscape of the Sea Island Gullah. Landscape Journal, 26(1), 151-167.
Cross, W. (2008). Gullah culture in America. Greenwood Publishing Group.
Ellis, J. H., Friedman, D. B., Puett, R., Scott, G. I., & Porter, D. E. (2014). A qualitative exploration of fishing and fish consumption in the Gullah/Geechee culture. Journal of community health, 39(6), 1161-1170.
Fuller, S. Y. (2015). Gullah Geechee Indigenous Articulation in the Americas (Doctoral dissertation, UC Berkeley).
Ghahramani, L., McArdle, K., & Fatorić, S. (2020). Minority community resilience and cultural heritage preservation: A case study of the Gullah Geechee community. Sustainability, 12(6), 2266.
Jarrett, C. W., & Lucas, D. M. (2002, August). Introducing folknography: a study of Gullah culture. In Proceedings of the 65th Annual Meeting of the Rural Sociological Society (p. 20).
Jarrett, C. (2003). Connecting with the soul of a community: An interactive study of Gullah culture. Black Praxis.
Jarrett, C. W. (2004). The Gullahs of Squire Pope Road: A case study in social impact assessment. In NAAAS Conference Proceedings (p. 1354). National Association of African American Studies.
Matory, J. L. (2008). The illusion of Isolation: The Gullah/Geechees and African culture’s political economy in the Americas. Comparative Studies in Society and History, 50(4), 949-980.