Gullah Celebration, Hilton Head, SC

“Yellow Swing” by Jonathan Green

A nearly month-long series of events at various locations on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, featuring the arts, crafts, food, culture and history of the Gullah people, descendants of African slaves who settled on isolated sea islands and marsh areas between Wilmington, N.C., and Jacksonville, Fla., in the 19th century. For more information, please visit their official website.

The Gullah/Geechee, Beaufort, SC

The Gullah/Geechee are African Americans who lived in the Low Country region of South Carolina and Georgia, which includes both the coastal plain and the Sea Islands. Known for preserving more of their African linguistic and cultural heritage than any other African American community in the U.S,  they are  the descendants of the slaves who worked on the rice plantations of those two states.

Photo:“The Old Plantation,” South Carolina, about 1790. This famous painting shows Gullah slaves dancing and playing musical instruments derived from Africa.

Photo: Map of South Carolina and Georgia’s Low Country coastal region including the Sea Islands.

For more information the proud history and culture of the Gullah/Geechee people be sure to visit these sites:

• The Gullah: Rice, Slavery and the Sierra Leone-American Connection
• Gullah Net: Explore Gulla Culture in South Carolina with Aunt Perlie-Sue
• The Gullah-Geechee Culture: Saving the Soul
• Geechee and Gullah Culture, The New Georgia Encyclopedia