The Gullah Way of Life

Gullah people exemplify faith and resilience.

By Laura Lee

Be sure to visit The Westin Hilton Head Island Resort & Spa to see a collection of photographs and artifacts from historic Mitchelville. On the north end of Hilton Head Island, where Beach City Road gives way to wooded walking trails and peaceful wetlands, visitors are met with a park unlike any other in the country. This is the sacred site of Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park, America’s first self-governing community of freed slaves.

To understand the significance of this land, walk along the scenic boardwalk to the gazebo. Close your eyes, and imagine that the year is 1861. After defeating Confederate Forces at Port Royal just seven months into the Civil War, Union Army General Ormsby Mitchel has just granted 600 acres of property to the freed slaves of nearby plantations.

Known as Gullah, these Sea Islanders had been isolated from the rest of the world, but their isolation allowed them to carry on many of their African traditions. They spoke an eclectic language and lived off the land, using all available resources as they cooked with seafood, rice, okra and peppers.

“All of a sudden, these people who have had nothing, go from being property to owning property,” explains Ahmad Ward, executive director at Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park.

By the time President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, Mitchelville residents were already buying land and holding elections. When the war ended two years later, 3,500 people lived in Mitchelville.

Theirs is a story of hope and inspiration, and their path served as a template for future freedmen towns across the country.

Visitors can still walk the grounds and learn about the past. “From reconstruction going to the teens, ’30s, and ’40s, Mitchelville is a highlight of the concept of freedom in America,” Ward says.

“It is a linchpin site because these folks were calling their own shots. They were charting their own course. Even after the army leaves and the population starts to contract, those folks were left with knowledge on how to live.”

Our tagline is ‘Where freedom began’ because, for us, this was the first opportunity “ that Africans in America could be citizens of something, especially a community ”that they built themselves.

– AHMAD WARD, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR AT HISTORIC MITCHELVILLE FREEDOM PARK.

The Gullah Museum allows you to step back in time and see how we lived before the bridge was built. Preserving my family’s homestead feels like my calling.”

– DR. LOUISE MILLER COHEN, DIRECTOR AND FOUNDER OF THE GULLAH MUSEUM

THE GULLAH MUSEUM

Displayed on the fence surrounding the Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island, nine paintings by African American artists tell the Gullah story. One of the paintings, by artist Amiri Farris, depicts a man playing a banjo beside a cast-iron pot, cooking a stew over a fire. “We are a food-loving people and a music-loving people, and you will see that reflected in the art,” says Dr. Louise Miller Cohen, who serves as museum director and founder.

Cohen was raised on this land, originally purchased by her great grandfather after the Civil War. When her uncle’s 91-year-old home was in danger of being demolished, she not only wanted to save the historic structure, but to preserve her family’s legacy and share what life was like back then. “I have this job I didn’t apply for — I’m guided by God,” Cohen says. “People are coming to the museum like I’ve never seen. People want to see it and hear about it and reconnect with their roots.”

The main attraction is Cohen herself. Her passionate storytelling paints a vivid picture of the past. In her songlike Gullah dialect, she tells the story of her great-great grandparents escaping grueling plantation life on a flat-bottom boat called a bateau. She shares the role faith, music and property ownership had on her people’s success. And she gives visitors a glimpse into her family’s home and teaches them how Gullah handicrafts are still made today. “We don’t give the Gullah workers enough credit,” says Louise. “The sweetgrass is handpicked and woven into baskets, the cast nets are made with thousands of knots. They’re worth every penny.”

PLAN

TRIP

The rich Gullah creole dialect, a distinctive mixture of English and African languages, is still spoken and written. One of the best-known Gullah expressions, “Kumbaya,” translated “come by here,” found its way into a famous folk song. Whether you’re traveling solo or with a group, read on for seven ways to experience the Gullah heritage on your next trip to Hilton Head Island.

Basket made by Michael Smalls

Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park

• Take a class on basket sewing from local

Gullah artist Michael Smalls at the Coastal

Discovery Museum. • Visit Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park, the first town built for formerly enslaved people, located on Hilton Head Island’s Port Royal Sound • Learn a 400-year-old history lesson at the

Gullah Museum from Dr. Louise Miller Cohen. • Join a Gullah Heritage Trail bus tour through 10 family-based neighborhoods. Guides share first-hand accounts of Gullah food, folklore and language. Tours depart from the Coastal

Discovery Museum. • Book a Heritage Library Foundation tour of Zion

Cemetery and Baynard Mausoleum, the oldest intact structure on the island. • Walk through Old Town Bluffton, Hilton Head

Island's neighbor on the mainland, is located on the Gullah Geechee Heritage Corridor, which runs down the southeastern coast. The Campbell

Chapel AME Church and the Garvin-Garvey

House are of historical and cultural significance to the Gullah descendants in Bluffton. • Take a Gullah tour of Daufauskie Island with sixth-generation Daufuskie Island native Sallie

Ann Robinson, also known as Pat Conroy’s star pupil in his memoir The Water is Wide, who shares personal stories and memories.

IN THE KITCHEN WITH CHEF BJ DENNIS

Originally from Charleston, South Carolina, BJ Dennis is a self-described Gullah ambassador who uses his role as chef to share this culture through food. Schooled in the ingredients and techniques of Gullah food by his family as well as culinary school training, Chef Dennis worked his way through the famous Charleston restaurant scene and traveled through West Africa and the Caribbean, cooking and learning. In Trinidad he was surprised to come upon African hill rice, a strain thought to be lost for at least a century, which has been reintroduced to Lowcountry rice growers. A Gullah chef rediscovering a heritage staple grown by enslaved people was a cultural moment that came full circle.

Q: Why should we preserve Gullah culinary traditions? A: I think food tells a story, and ingredients can take you back to the roots of places or people sometimes forgotten. I want to let people know there’s still a group here that has a major influence on this region and its beauty. The history of this region really resonates with me. There’s a lot of Gullah culture to share.

Q: How can you keep those traditions alive? A: We can follow the old ways of supporting our farmers, our fishermen, and our shrimpers by cooking with foods fresh from the land and the sea. We can teach the younger generations to cook this heritage food.

Q: As a chef, do you have a favorite ingredient? A: People always talk about shrimp and grits. But to me, it’s all about okra — the one plant that thrives even in the heat of summer. If you grew up here, no matter your ethnicity, you know that okra soup is the dish of the Lowcountry.

It’s important to me to let people know that there’s “ a group of Gullah people who are still in the Lowcountry, and who still have a major influence on this region, ”its history and its beauty.

– CHEF BJ DENNIS

SAVE THE DATE

• Hilton Head Island Gullah

Celebration: Throughout February, the island comes alive with authentic food, art, music, dancing and storytelling. • Annual Oyster Roast: In March, the annual All You Can Eat Oyster Roast raises funds for the Gullah Museum.

• Juneteenth: June 19, 1865 marks the day the last slaves in the country were set free, five weeks after the

Civil War ended. Explore Mitchelville

celebrates by hosting Gullah food vendors, live music and lots of fanfare.

• Gullah Food Festival: In the fall, sample recipes of shrimp and grits, seafood gumbo, deviled crabs and more at the Gullah Museum.

Baynard Mausoleum at the Historic Zion Cemetery, Hilton Head Island

History Lesson

Housing a wealth of historical information, The Heritage Library is the history and ancestry research center for Hilton Head Island and the Lowcountry. The Library owns two historic properties: Fort Mitchel, a Civil War earthwork battery; and the Zion Cemetery and Baynard Mausoleum, the site of the oldest existing structure on Hilton Head Island. The Library conducts tours, history programs and ancestry classes, and is an excellent resource for African-American genealogy research. heritagelib.org • 843.686.6560 F heritagelibrary d theheritagelibrary

Where Freedom Began

Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park endeavors to share the compelling story of the inhabitants of Mitchelville and their quest for education, selfreliance and inclusion as members of a free society. exploremitchelville.org 843.255.7301 F d exploremitchelville

Preserving History for All

Since 2003, the Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island has been committed to reviving, restoring and preserving Gullah customs, traditions, language, stories, songs and structures on the island. The museum was named No. 3 in the state as the most visited Heritage Cultural Attraction by the Lowcountry and Resorts Island Tourism survey in 2018. The tours are conducted by founder and executive director Dr. Louise Miller Cohen. gullahmuseumhhi.org • 843.681.3254 F gullahmhhi

Gullah Experience

Bay Point Island Launch works with celebrated members of the Gullah Geechee community to partner with and host a variety of experiences and workshops dedicated to educating the public about the Gullah Geechee heritage and their rich cultural history. Bay Point Island Launch partners with celebrated members of the Gullah Geechee community to host experiences and workshops that educate the public about their rich culture and history. F BPI Launch d bpilaunch