Gullah Geechee Communities

Members of the Cosmo Historical Preservation Association Corporation presenting at the 2023 Kingsley Heritage Celebration.

NPS/Layla Neal

Who are the Gullah Geechee?

The Gullah Geechee people are the descendants of West and Central Africans who were enslaved and brought to the lower Atlantic states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, and Georgia to work on the coastal rice, Sea Island cotton and indigo plantations. Because their enslavement was on isolated coastal plantations, sea and barrier islands, they were able to retain many of their indigenous African traditions. These traditions are reflected in their foodways, arts and crafts, and spiritual traditions. They also created a new language, Gullah, a creole language spoken nowhere else in the world. Kingsley Plantation tells the stories of Gullah-Geechee traditions through it's archaeology programs. Learn More...

What is the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor?

The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, and the federal Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission established to oversee it, were designated by an act of Congress on October 12, 2006 through the National Heritage Areas Act of 2006. The Corridor runs from Pender County North Carolina to St. John’s County Florida. The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission is charged with helping to achieve the goals of the Corridor designation: to recognize, sustain, and celebrate the important contributions made to American culture and history by the Gullah Geechee; to assist state and local governments and public and private entities in South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida in interpreting the story of the Gullah Geechee and preserving Gullah Geechee folklore, arts, crafts, and music; and to assist in identifying and preserving sites, historical data, artifacts, and objects associated with Gullah Geechee people and culture for the benefit and education of the public. Learn more...

What is Cosmo?

People who survived enslavement and maintained and morphed their traditions, languages, and beliefs settled in the areas around coastal plantations during the post-Civil War era. One such community, was named Cosmo. Building homes near the St. Johns River, founding Cosmo community members were riverboat pilots, farmers, and worked in commercial fishing. An early member of the Cosmo community was Easter Bartley, born on Kingsley Plantation. She and so many others found family, culture, and community in places like Cosmo.

Today, Freedom Park, located down the road from Fort Caroline National Memorial, helps to honor their history. Through community members actively protecting and sharing their stories and traditions, this culture lives on.

Learn more about Cosmo from the Cosmo Historical Preservation Corperation. The Cosmo Historical Preservation Corporation is dedicated to raising awareness about this historic Gullah Geechee community and the threats to its continued survival.

Videos below include Cosmo community members recording oral histories, and preserving culture through song.

 

Open Transcript 

Transcript

Ranger Ted: The, uh, Gullah Geechee culture is uh, very unique because it really uh is the most well preserved example of a traditional African customs that exists here in the United States but the challenge is to have a younger generation continue to be engaged in the preservation of the culture and then take that preservation into the future. So we really wanted to provide opportunities to bring some of the elders together with younger Gullah Geechee descendants and share their stories their artistic abilities their food ways but also what is so unique and so special about that culture and the idea of preserving it. Speaker 1: I didn't #1 understand that my culture was different than many others until I left home. If you don't have elders who are familiar with their culture most of our Gullah Geechee children don't no that they’re even Gullah Geechee. A lot of people don't even realize where the Gullah Geechee culture itself is established from Jacksonville NC down to Jacksonville FL 30 miles inland in all the sea islands. Speaker 2:  Serving the Gullah Geechee corridor interacting with Gullah practitioners diving into archival research trying to accurately and precisely tell narratives of the Gullah Geechee culture. Speaker 3: Everyone's opened up their their hearts and their communities and have allowed us to see into them I, I, I don't take it lightly. Griffin Lotson: Bringing the young people and old guys like myself to tie in the history and I feel proud that I've lived long enough that I can hand down real history. Not so much what I've read in a book but what I've lived and what I've experienced by talking to people much older than I am. Speaker 4: My great grandmother Willamina she grew up in a farm in South Carolina and I would remember the stories of how she would say a they take a little seed and it would feed generations. Working with my son now I'm showing him how we can find deep connection in reverence with the land. We are able to find true healing through that. Speaker 5: It really feels like I am fulfilling a legacy of generations of those that have come before me and that have witnessed and endured so much in their lives just to walk in the places that my forefathers once walked and to know that everything that they've done for my freedom. Speaker 6: the importance of sharing these techniques and teaching these techniques to our children they aren't grandchildren uh if we don't these techniques will be lost forever. Speaker 3: I personally would like to use all the knowledge I'm getting and use it in a pragmatic sense tying together that Gullah Gechee is the people and not necessarily the land. Speaker 4: My ancestors worked so hard and they persevered to be here. Without them I wouldn't be here and there's so much to be learned throughout their story. So I am a living and walking story and testament to their perseverance, their resilience, and I owe it to them to myself my son my mom to preserve that and be that and share that there is love in all these spaces what I believe is that the future of our communities is very bright. It's going to take us to just continue connecting and collecting and sharing the history and the stories with the world. It's just really important to understand your culture. And this is not just Gullah Geechee.  I love to share my culture and show the pride that I have so that other people can understand how important theirs is and take pride in themselves as well on who you are and you'll be surprised of what you become because you will flourish. When you learn your roots trees have strong roots, without those the branches won't form.

Duration:

4 minutes, 39 seconds

Gullah Geechee Youth Culture Quest: Gullah Geechee youth & elder culture bearers educating and learning from one another to help precipitate continued stewardship of Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage for the future.

 

Duration:

3 minutes, 6 seconds

Ranger Ted tells us about the Gullah Geechee communities in places like Kingsley Plantation. He explores their music traditions and the local Cosmo Gullah Geechee community performs.

 

Duration:

1 minute, 36 seconds

Cosmo Gullah Geechee descendant community performing "He Didn't Have to do it but He Did" in the picnic shelter at the Timucuan Preserve Visitor Center.

 

Duration:

2 minutes, 21 seconds

Learn about birds significant to the Gullah Geechee community with Isiah Scott as he tours Kingsley Plantation.

 

Duration:

1 minute, 43 seconds

Oral histories from the Cosmo community turned to memories of food and traditions including the "stew beef" like Gopher Tortoise meal.

 

Cosmo in the Civil War

Discover the stories of United States Colored Troops in Timucuan Ecological and Historic Preserve including history on some of the members of the Cosmo community, uncovered with the support of Cosmo Historical Preservation Corporation.

Read About USCT in the Park