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Rice & SlaveryTHE GULLAH FESTIVAL

BySundiata

Charleston South Carolina

The Sea Islands

Eighty-five percent of Africans enslaved in the United States came through the port of Charleston.

Rice and slavery became the ingredients of a brand new culture

On the southeast coast of the United States the cultivation of rice and slavery is the link in the divergent transmission of a unique African culture, which came to life across the Atlantic Ocean and lives on in vibrant simplicity extant of the bullwhip days. 7

The Gullah (or Geechee) people of the Sea Islands along the coast between South Carolina and Georgia developed a distinct culture, which was forged through decades of isolation. Gullah culture is at once African, New African and Creole. 10

Gullah culture speaks to the language (Geechee), folklore, music, religion, as well as arts and crafts like woodcarving, basket weaving, as well as the local the cuisine of a people who were able to retain more African culture than any other community in the United States. 11

From Sierra Leone

To Charleston S.C. 1790

They say that sharks would follow these ships for months, and that the stench of death could be smelled within a 5 mile radius.

It was not uncommon that 75% of the human cargo was tossed into the sea.

Charleston Slave Market

Rice and slavery were the unique stimulants to this great culture. The ecology of the West Coast of Africa is similar to the tropical conditions in the Charleston and Sea Island region. Plantation owners sought slaves from Sierra Leon for their skill in harvesting rice.

It is this intersection of cultural coherence that forged a new culture all its own.

The Gullah speak creole, weave baskets tell stories and cook rice just like their ancestors on the African coast.

Beaufort South Carolina

Charleston 2012

Their folklore is found in the trickster narratives of Brer Rabbit made famous by Joel Chandler Harris. The Gullah practice religions of a Voodoo nature, and cook red rice and other rice dishes brought to America from Africa. Basket weaving is a prominent aspect of Gullah culture.

In 1986 Mrs. Rosalie Pazant, her three daughters and a friend created the Gullah Festival to celebrate this unique and enduring culture. Each year, one week before Memorial Day the Gullah Festival takes place in Beaufort South Carolina.More than 10,000 people attend the festival every year.

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