Gullah Geechee Storyteller Preserves a Painful Past | National Geographic
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 23 พ.ย. 2014
- The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of West African slaves brought to the coasts of the Carolinas, Georgia, and northern Florida, whose geographic isolation helped them retain a distinct culture and language. In chronicling the injustice her ancestors faced, South Carolina Gullah storyteller Theresa Jenkins Hilliard seeks to make their struggle real and relevant to younger generations.
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Read more about Gullah Geechee heritage:
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Read about South Carolina's ACE Basin online in National Geographic magazine:
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PRODUCER: Kathryn Carlson
ARCHIVAL IMAGES: Library of Congress; National Geographic Creative; Lorenzo Dow Turner Papers, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution, Gift of Lois Turner Williams
ADDITIONAL SOUND: American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Gullah Geechee Storyteller Preserves a Painful Past | National Geographic
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I'm Cameroonian and the crazy thing is when Ms. Hilliard started speaking, her Geechee almost identically resembled West African Pidgin. Her tone of voice, words, everything. It's remarkable.
This is sooooo very true!
Yes. My family is from SC, & people often ask if I'm from Camaroon.
Many of the Gullah and geechee come from Sierra Leone. It’s very possible that they came from Cameroon
Do you realize that your not African but American rooted they took Indians from America to Africa the Indian slave trade that's why we sure the same culture as yall we are not African
Yes but alot of west Africans did come to the Americas by way of the transatlantic slave trade. 94% of them went to South America and only 4 to 6% went to the north. 300 to 500 thousand west Africans landed on the shore of North America while there were a couple million Negros already here!
I'm JAMAICAN and I understood her soooo well my heart dropped to my stomach. Sounds so close to our patwa/patois which I think comes mostly from Ghanaian Twi (and perhaps some Nigerian and other west or central African influence). She sounds soooo beautiful! We are such a beautiful people. I'm bout to cry. I love that we were able to maintain at least some of what is ours in terms of culture --- and we use that as person power. Moreover I love that, even with what we lost, many of us continue to build...innovate and create as we go on. I love being of African descent. I love my people throughout the diaspora. This is too powerful.
Me too ❤️
I am Yoruba and I understood her so perfectly well.
Same here. Understand every word, especially backra.
Some historical sources claim that the majority of the Gullah people are descended from captured enslaved Mende people. An Mande ethnolinguistic group from contemporary Sierra Leone.
Ummmm…. They were forced from their homes from Africa to be slaves you idiot
I am Gullah Geechee my mother's people had the tongue and i grew up listening to them telling me stories ... My great grand mother died when I was 18 years old she lived to be 100 and majority of her children are still alive and speak the language in Charleston , SC and St.Stephens ...
Ms. Rho I'm from Charleston
Ms. Rho hey fellow South Carolinian. Im a proud Geeche that speak Gullah.
Ms. Rho and are you Christian or are you practicing an African traditional religion
Thank you for sharing. Heading to Charleston and we are looking forward to learning more about the Gullah culture and history. As an African it’s important to me to get this part of history. Any Gullah restaurant recommendations?
Is it a mixture of natives and Africans???
OMG I am really creeped out because she used some words in my language. I am Nigerian Ibo and she used some Ibo words when she was speaking. I can't believe my people went through hell. I really want to visit these places so they know we didn't forget them and we still mourn them.
AfricancoolChic i grew up on one of these islands of the coast of south carolina. believe me africa is still alive in america. we eat red rice which is similar to jollof rice and okra soup which is of african origin as well. we have a gullah/geechee festiva in may ofl every year in beaufort, south carolina celebrating our african roots
Exactly! Only when people of African descent are able to tell our own stories will the truth be told.
AfricancoolChic Its called the Nation Security Council Memorandum 46,
Kareem Sharif Same with us in South Louisiana we have jambalaya similar to Jollof rice, Gumbo like okra soup, beans and rice but they try say its Cajun. An Igbo I know say when he come yah and they tell him say Cajun food he laughed when he saw csuse he knew it was African. We and definitely old people have sort of a similar accent and word pronunciations and use words similarly
B Reel yea definitely man check out the Gullah people of coastal south Carolina. We are also referred to as geechee. We are said to retain more of our African culture than any other black Americans
I’m Bahamian and she honestly sound like my grandparents. It’s crazy
I'm American born and raised. However, as my great-grandmother started to decline before she died, she had Alzheimer's, she started speaking and singing songs in Gullah. I had never even heard of it. One of her nurses told my family what it was because they were familiar with it. Now I'm researching it.
Beautiful, she reverted back to her early memories. Have a great journey in your researching, us diaspora people are all beautiful.
wow thats crazy. im glad youre able to trace back to your roots though your grnadmother but thtas such an unfortunate way to find out. i hope you and your grandmother are doing great an di wish you the best with your gullah family research
That’s beautiful. It’s all my family speaks
It's amazing how Alzheimer's works.
My grandmother, her first languages were Romanian and Polish with Romanian being spoken in the household and Polish learned secondarily so age could communicate with her mother's parents. Then English was learned beginning at about 12 years old as the family moved to the new country when she was that age, with English being the primary language for the rest of her life.
As her disease progressed she eventually lost her command of English and had only Polish and Romanian and in the very end only Romanian....which I guess was burned deepest into her brain since it was the language she heard as she came out of the womb.
The brain/mind is an incredibly complex organ. So fragile too.
Thank you pls share stories I love this information it’s not taught
I am gullah geechee this is very close to my heart!
KARDEA'S KUISINE OMG I am really creeped out because she used some words in my language. I am Nigerian Ibo and she used some Ibo words when she was speaking. I can't believe my people went through hell. I really want to visit these places so they know we didn't forget them and we still mourn them.
+AfricancoolChic Are Gullah Geechee people descended from Nigerian Ibos? I know a lot of Afro-Americans are West African descendants...
James Vander Vegt Descendants from all over West Africa.
Gullah geecee people are the Americo- liberians of liberia & the Creole people of Sierra leone
Charm Bae that's right, I'm from Charleston
I have spent many moon's on Edisto, worked with Gullah families and agree there is a history here that needs to be preserved and passed on to up and coming generations so as to never forget.
Agreed.
I’m from Sierra Leone 🇸🇱 west Africa and I can understand every Gullah word she said wow😮and I just getting to know about the Gullah
Very interesting
Our DNA comes from that region of Africa
I'm suprised so many people from diffrent places are leaving comments so amazed that Gullah/Geechee dialect the 👸🏾 is speaking is the same as African and West Indian(the islands) dialect. Remember yall we share the same Ancestors from here and Africa 💯💯💯. Shout out to All of Us especially them Gaskins 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾 my Fathers family name who are decendents of the Gullah/Geechee folks 💪🏾🤗❤🖤💚❣ Ase OOOOO
This is pure Bahamian dialect. Well, we're all connected but we were just dropped off at different locations. May Yah avenge us in His perfect timing!
Bahamians migrated to the Caribbean from United States after Revolutionary War
Born and raised in SC, this language is the way we talk today amongst our people.
I am jamaican and haitian and i can understand quite well without the subtitles.
its a different dialect.
+Ashley Casey Different to you! not us.
shan t ?
the Gullah language is related toBahamian Dialect, Barbadian Dialect, Belizean Creole, Jamaican Patois, Trinidadian Creole, and the Krio language of Sierra Leone, in West Africa.
They came from the islands.
I have to visit the Gullah Geechee before I die. I’m so fascinated.
the Gullah festival is every May in Beaufort
Understood her perfectly! Subtitles were not needed. Blessings to her and the rest of our Gullah family for protection of their lands 🙏🏽
The most moving four minutes of film created. Very moving...
Yea its crazy how much is passed on. I am Jamaican and had to pause cause I was shocked. She sounded like she was speaking Jamaican Patois (Patwa)....so cool!
Sounds so much like the ppl from the Caribbean and Africa. It really is amazing how we are one
I am Sierra Leonean. The freed slaves were brought here and settled in Freetown. I'm a descendant and that is our language. We call it KRIO here but it's exactly the same.
Theres a few Gulla Geechee that have made the trip back to salone quite recently
I found out that I am Gullah Geechee. All my life growing up in Brooklyn, NY I was told that American blacks didn't have a culture. Basically, if you weren't Jamaican, Trini or of West Indian descent you didn't "fit in" to the norm here in Brooklyn where I was brought up. I took a DNA test on ancestry and found out a lot of great things about my lineage. I'm a proud Geechee. The way they spoke was beautiful and sounds a lot like my West Indian Brothers and Sisters. We are all from the same place and settled in different places. It made me really see things from a different angle.
The whole world looks to African Americans for style, the way we dress, the way we wear our hair, dance moves, our lingo etc.. baby you have culture unlike no other that's steady evolving and as it evolves they copy it and say you have no culture 😂...
@@ronnie2699Thiiis 👏🏾 👏🏾👏🏾💪🏾😮💨
Am Jamaican and her accent sounds similar to mine
the Gullah language is related toBahamian Dialect, Barbadian Dialect, Belizean Creole, Jamaican Patois, Trinidadian Creole, and the Krio language of Sierra Leone, in West Africa.
YOU ARE CORRECT, DIALECT OF BARBADIAN PEOPLE THE MOST, THE FIRST SETTLERS TO SC IN 1670, CAME FROM BARBADOS AND BUILT THE CITIES THERE... BAJAN DNA.. LOVE IT
Yes, that's the geece way💋🌌🌞Hear that all the time. but from the Chuck( Charleston)
Teach!
chuck brooks I'm sorry but Bahamas most check it out yourself,but still we are all one..much love
Second generation Guyanese Canadian and this lady sounded like my grandmother. I couldn’t believe it!
🇬🇾 Same
I love this. My family is Bahamian and the similarities really do warm my heart.
Got to witness a gullah speaker at Boone hall plantation. Powerful, emotional stuff. God bless the Gullah Geechie
3:14 Those horrific scars on that man's back! What kind of a human being does that to another human being??
An evil one
It wasn't a HUMAN who did that.
@@satis7561 who did it.
@@dcbb6865a monster/ a demon
More humans should care enough to learn about not only our own history but others as well. Thankful for the internet in this way. Thanks for sharing🙏
Former Hilton Head Island resident, land that rightfully belongs to the Gullahs. They still have a strong population there and are some of the most beautiful, most kind, most generous souls I’ve ever met. Extremely resourceful and creative, likely because they had to be. The language is alive and well and is a treat to listen to. Truly just such wonderful people, I felt lucky to have been around them.
One of the best things Nickelodeon ever did was Gullah Gullah Island 🏝️
It’s so funny cause they originated from west Africa and so do us carribean people. Also the accents is crazy similar
Not only from West Africa. Some originated from Central Africa (mostly from the Kongo tribe).
The Gullahs were taken from the "Rice Coast" of West Africa; Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ghana, Nigeria etc. They were the only slaves that were taken from Africa straight to America. They were taken to the States of South Carolina and Georgia to grow rice.
Yes, exactly!
A Gullah geechee lady on tik tok brought me here now I can’t get enough of the accent love it had too do my research😩🥰
Same
I'm of Jamaican heritage - both parents were born in Clarendon, Jamaica. I grew up speaking Jamaican patois in the UK where I was born with my parents and extended family. I have no problems at all understanding Gullah because it sounds like patois. ....but different.
I’m from the Caribbean and this accent sounds so similar to the West Indian one! It’s incredible! We are all linked
Wow she sounds like a West Indian from Caribbean island
That's because the languages developed the same way. West African languages + some dialect of English and creole languages are the outcome.
She is they not african
She never said she was African
I said the same thing
@John Kimber bruh there is no such thing as speaking african you are miseducated there is my kin and we aint from no africa we are named after the ogeechie river is south carolina nice try though
We still have some let in Belize and St Vincent as well... let not forget who we are! Bless us MOTHER AFRICA!
Left* I meen.
I'm from South Carolina and my grandma talked like this so I know some of what she's saying
Thank you. I'm studying to become an ESL teacher and hearing this dialect is beautiful. I will do my best to help preserve this culture.
Respect from nyc with Caribbean roots. This is deep.
Her accent sounds so much like Koloqua it’s amazing! Like my family members speak nearly identical to this, only it’s Liberian English
These are my people every summer my mother sent me to Charleston SC...oh I loved those days..the people..the food..the sun..Church on Sunday..Amazing experience from Harlem to Charleston..
Dope
Absolutely amazing, thank you for educating us on this!
I understand everything without the subtitles: Trinidad & Tobago.
We talk a little like this in the southern US, our accent not as thick as her though
My family are from Jamaica, and if you close your eyes you hear that Patwa. It's absolutely freaking weird tbh. I know that these people are not Jamaican but wow! 🖤
I am Bahamian and I can understand this without the subtitles
Jamaican here and understood every word she uttered. Interestingly the accent is familiar to accents found in the Caribbean. The words are used in Jamaican patois/patwah. "Buckrah" for example is used in Jamaican patois to refer to the "boss" /slave master.
This brought tears to my eyes. So glad I found the culture of my late grandparents. Now they I can be more at peace.
This gives me flashbacks to living in Beaufort SC surrounded by my beautiful culture
My Heritage too...Lady's Island specifically with the DeVeaux clan...
mine too. Lady's Island and St. Helena
She sounds very Caribbean, a mix of all the island. But yes she does sound Jamaican. It's the African words that we held on too. 'deh' means the same in Jamaican and Nigerian.
She said "affi" a lot , and we use that word a lot in Jamaica.
Geechee Boy Here Born And Raised In Lowcountry SC 🌴 This Gullah Geechee Is Deep Rooted In Me And My People Down Ya Its Alive And Well In Due Time The Most High Yahuah Tsebaoth Will Avenge His People 🦁🔥🙏🏽
This is so beautiful. I want to hear more!
Born and raised in SC. My mom talked like that.
I understood her without the need for subtitles. Very similar to Jamaican Patwa
Wow ! Instant connection! I am west Indian and I felt like this was one of my aunty speaking
I'm Grenadian and I understand much of what she was saying, it sounded very familiar.
This is very powerful. Growing up watching Gullah Gullah Island on Nickelodeon...this all makes sense now...
So much pride in this culture and heritage of pain and strength ❤️
This is beautiful! I would like to research more on the Gullah Geechee people!
Trinidadian here 🇹🇹 and she sounds at times exactly like my Kweyol (French-Patois) elders. DAIS Family ❤
..and it's called krio or Creole in Freetown, Sierra Leone.
My mom and aunties would speak like this all the time + my dad would say some words in patois so I understood everything 🇯🇲💙💛💚
I just miss my grandmother sooooo much and she is definitely Gullah Geechie I have yet to meet someone who makes red rice like her.
Ohhh Weee,
I am born & raised on St. Croix, USVI 🇻🇮 and I felt & understood every word she said. The connection to the motherland does exist and it is real, Ashaaa...
I'm 🇵🇷 and Gullah and when I hear people from the USVI talk, I can understand una perfectly.
that clap on acapella at the end is also still practiced in Central/Southern African church songs when and where no electric music is accompanied...also notice that the rhythm of that clap is has an element of dancehall to it just like the oldschool Jamaican Dancehall
That was a beautiful brief insight, thankyou.
Giving me chills. My grandmother and mother were on Edisto Island. I and the rest of my immediate family all grew up in Charleston
We love you and we honor our ancestors. Keep our culture alive!
My great Aunt and grandma speak geechee. I wish I could as well, it's so soothing. They're from Conway, SC.
+Traci bruh how much of the younger generation speek geechee?
ebeledi Not sure. I know people my parents age can understand it, but I don't know anyone my age who can speak it unfortunately. From what I can tell it is a dying language/dialect.
wow thats crazy... I hope it stays alive and the younger generation learns to cherish it. It is a very important part of American history that needs to be remembered and preserved.
Proud to be a Geechee
i'm glad
Thos is the way we speak in the Bahamas. WOW
This is endlessly fascinating.
One thing I hate is how people tend to put all "black" people in the same boat, without realizing the vast cultural (and even DNA) differences : Gullah, Creole, Melungeon etc...
This is it!!!! I'm a Black American but I'm not Gullah Geechee from the Carolinas, I'm not a Creole or Cajun from Louisiana either. There are more groups than these two that get groups together. Melugeouns, Redbones, Gould's, Lumbee's, even "Mullatos". If Black Americans really want to know who they are then research is mandatory. We need to know that prior to the civil war we had were individuals after they lumped us all together. Which is why there is so much confusion
Growing up in upstate SC I heard a lot of the same words and accent and even though I am not of Gullah or African descent I understand it. Not every word but a surprising number. More than I expected. It is a great history heavy with great sorrow. Beautiful proud people. We used to spend time every November in Hunting Island. It has changed drastically from it once was. So many are gone or have forgotten the Gullah culture. As deaf child the little dab of Gullah I heard is an amazing sound. So here I am looking for representatives of why my own speech sounds the way it does. Sorry I don’t hear English accent. It is so strongly a Gullah sound.
One of the few things I love about this state. The Gullah people.
Her last song was gold!
This woman is Speaking Patois.....WOW... My mind is blown a likkle.
That not Patwa.That how most elder speak when talking English. She say dem .All island use that.
She sounds like a Bahamian
Nakeisha Sands Yes I am Bahamian and I said the same thing. She also sounds like she can be from Turks.
Nakeisha Sands they sound like old island people
Bahamians have no idea these are our brothers and sisters
I know my ancestors are from the Carolina islands although I've never been. I find it interesting that I understood every single word no issue. I love her voice.
go for a visit. you won't regret it
My ancestors are from Cat Island. I am going there in July 2024.
Am from Liberia in West Africa and by the way, am from the Gola tribal group...that's how we spelled the gullah geechee in Liberia. Matter of fact, that's how most Liberians speak like that lady.
Its true
You are so right! I was shocked that I could understand her so clearly!! That's just how our Liberian "colloquial" sounds, especially when spoken by those from the Congau settlements (Arthington, Brewerville, Millsburg, Lexington, etc.)....
Thank you God Almighty for our Gullah/ Geegchee Ancestors.
such beautiful language I love it.
I promote this as an Daufuskie Island, SC descendant!!
Her accent reminds me of my Jamaican and Trinidadian family all at the same time.🥰
Amazing! If only it was like that everywhere in USA..
yes we need our culture back
We need this💯
I’m from the south and I can understand everything they are saying
There's still some Gullah families in Beaufort, SC, to this very well!
Wow the ✋ clapping my grandma an great great ma blessings pls preserve
LOVE THIS STORY
Beautiful! 🌹
Thank you...
Beautiful!
Love this! My family lore has stories of some Geechie connections (Georgia) haven't researched enough to verify yet. One thing their isolation didn't shield them from tho - that "good ship jeezus" 😖. Even still, they kept so much of their ancestral ways of worship (like ring shout)...
Makes me sad each time I learn of what has been taking from us. Hearing her speak sounded so familiar to my spirit...and mimicking her the words fit comfortably on my tongue. I have always wished a language to say the least was something we preserved here in the states. This was enlightening. I could here Africa, Jamaica, Belize , Haiti and some Native American in her tongue.😍
Wow this is how my grandma talked this was exactly my grandma accent god rest her soul rip grandma I promise I will carry out traditions even the ones you didn’t teach me I love you grandma Lena 😭😭💕💕I just wish I would’ve learned how to make quilts and crochet Im glad I learned to cook and to be a hard and smart worker😢
african diaspora is so beautiful.
My grandfather has been telling us that his grandfather's people spoke Geechee and fought with their feet and we never understood what he was talking about. It all makes sense now. The Carolinas are a long way from California but now I know I had some Gullah people in my family.
You definitely should visit Charleston, SC
I am Gullah geechee......all my kin still there see y'all again soon enjoyed our August family reunion food was banging....😘😘😘😘😘
I'm Bahamian I found out earlier this year that our african ancestors are gullah. I saw the tribes in american donated to us after dorian
At the end of the day we all one...Black Americans, West Indians, Africans....we all came from the same place...let’s unite and help each other cause we need to in todays times.
My grandma used to sing this song in the kitchen.
I am blessed to be able to view this today, in my life