Who Are The Gullah Geechee?

The abolishment of slavery initiated the relative isolation of formerly enslaved black people to waterfront properties from Jacksonville, FL to Charleston, SC. The 1865 field order that redistributed acres of land to free African families was quickly revoked, leaving them to exercise a deed system called “heirs’ property.” This isolation became the catalyst for a blending of African cultures and traditions. Since then, descendants of these communities have named this African diaspora the Gullah Geechee Nation, showing genetic admixtures from Central West Africa, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Bights of Benin & Biafra.

The Gullah Geechee culture is marked by its unique language and living styles. Recent studies show linguistic origins linked to the Krio language used among the people of Sierra Leone in West Africa. The Gullah Geechee people still live in large familial or social groups occupying the same acreage, while sustaining these communities by farming, often earning wages through coastal industries like shrimping, crabbing, and oyster harvesting. While it is difficult to decipher the originating regions of certain customs, reciting folk tales, quilting, basket weaving, and wood carving are still observed. Gatherings like “Ring Shouts,” that were once held in secret, have since become annual festivals held in honor of their culture and its African ancestors.

The Owens-Thomas House & Slave Quarters is the only house museum of Savannah’s Historic District to display the intact quarters designated for enslaved people. Examining their living quarters provides the opportunity to explore how African spirituality and tradition has continually been practiced and evolved over time. The vibrant blue paint on the ceiling of the slave quarters, while previously referred to as Haint Blue, is in fact a synthetic ultramarine limewash believed to serve the same spiritual purpose with West African spirituality of warding off harmful or negative spirits. The home’s last original light fixture located in the foyer, though made in England, shows the Sankofa Adinkra symbol: a form of writing, pictography, and logograph used in Akan and Ghanian heritage. Perhaps utilized unwittingly by the manufacturer and patron, this symbol was, and is, highly meaningful in Gullah Geechee culture, and prevalent throughout Savannah’s Historic District on many cast iron fixtures made by those enslaved of African descent. It is instances like these where we observe the birth of the Gullah Geechee culture by decoding the symbolic craftmanship that tells the story of their perseverance.