Taylor 1
Hillary Taylor
El 30 de abril, 2010
Poverty Studies
The Gullah People and Their Poverty
In from January 19th, 1994 through May 5th, 1997, Nickelodeon Studios premiered the
children’s TV series “Gullah Gullah Island.”1 The show portrayed an African American family
staring Ron and Natailie Daise. A couple in real life, these two adults stared as benevolent
parents of three children, caretakers of a niece, and friends of a gigantic yellow polliwog named
Binyah Binyah. The show was very popular among adults and children, winning two “Parent’s
Choice Awards.”2 Most of the episodes featured singing, dancing, and learning. Themes on the
show ranged from “healthy eating,” “telling the truth,” “working together,” and various forms of
problem solving. In its prime, “Gullah Gullah Island” ran alongside popular shows like “Blue’s
Clues” and “Little Bear” on Nick, Jr., Nickelodeon’s daytime children’s program.
Occasionally, my peers and I will talk about old shows from our long-lost childhood.
Inevitably, “Gullah Gullah Island” comes up as one of our most beloved television programs.
However, after many years, most of my peers have begun pondering the show’s origins. Where is
“Gullah Gullah Island”?, they wonder. Was it actually a real place? And what exactly is Gullah
anyway? Is it just a geographic location? Because the show neglected to define the word
“Gullah” or inform viewers what exactly was “Gullah” about the island, many people think the
word “Gullah” is a fictitious word with little meaning. Most people don’t realize that Gullah
1
Amazon.com, "Gullah Gullah Island," review of Gullah Gullah Island, IMDb,
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177444/ (accessed May 2, 2010).
2
Jamila White & Associates, Inc., "Gullah Gullah Island," Kearse Media Solutions,
http://www.gullahgullah.com/gullahisland.html (accessed May 2, 2010).
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Gullah Island was based off an actual group of people called the “Gullah people.”
The Gullah people are descendants of African slaves brought to work on plantations in the
southern part of the United States. It is a culture of people ranging from Jacksonville, North
Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida. The preverbal focal point of Gullah people resides in the
Lowcountry region of South Carolina, specifically Beaufort, Charleston, Berkley, Dorchester,
Colleton, Horry, Hampton, Jasper, and Georgetown counties. Charleston, South Carolina is often
thought of as the home of the Gullah Culture.3 Gullah people are also known as “Geechee”
people. The words can be used interchangeably. The names “Gullah” and “Geechee” are thought
to be drawn from two of the main tribes brought over during the slave trade: the Gola tribe from
the Angola region, and the Gizzi tribe from the Liberia region. Though time, these two tribe
names evolved into their present day forms. For the intents of this essay, I will use the term
“Gullah” as it is more popular than the word “Geechee.”
What makes Gullah people different from other African Americans brought to the
American South? While many historical aspects can be shared by all African slaves brought to
the United States, the geographic centration as well as later language and communal
developments make Gullah people a special historical case study. As indicated earlier, most of
these slaves came from the West African region. Besides Angola and the Liberia regions, these
slaves came mostly from what are now Bight of Biafra, Guinea, Sengambia, and Sierra Leone.4
In 1700, the first West African slaves first came to the South Carolina coast.5 Their jobs
3
Ida Johnson-Spruill et al., "Health of Gullah Families in South Carolina With Type 2 Diabetes," The Diabetes
Educator 35, no. 1 (2009)
4
William Pollitzer, The Gullah People and their Heritage, (Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2005), p. 60.
5
William Pollitzer, op. cit., p. 67
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consisted of growing the three cash crops for plantations along the coastal area: rice, indigo, and
cotton.6 Their welcome to the United States was not a warm one at first. Because these slaves
differed in originating geographic region, they were unable to communicate with each other in
the beginning of plantation days. Yet soon enough, they began to use an auxiliary language (also
known as a pidgin language) of African dialects to accomplish all the plantation work.7 This
auxiliary language combined with English, the language of the plantation owners, making it
easier for this amalgam of West Africans to share and express their experiences and varying
cultures.
This process of interweaving West African and Anglo Saxon cultures continued for the
next one-hundred, sixty-five years. Then, in 1865, the Emancipation Proclamation took effect in
what was considered The Confederate States of America four years beforehand. That same year,
General William Sherman issued what was known as “Field Order No. 15.” This order reserved
land from Charleston to Florida and 30 miles inland from the coast for these former slaves to
settle.8 It was understood that they could go wherever they wished, but most chose to stay where
they were because they had always been responsible for maintaining they land to which they
were brought. While many had considered the land a sort of “home,” other slaves felt
inextricably tied to the land because they had had little to no formal education with which to
advance socioeconomically should they move away. Thus, many of these slaves bought land
next to each other and established close knit communities. Once established, these slaves rarely
6
ibid, p.87, 91, 92.
7
Jesse Edward Gantt Jr. and Veronica Davis Gerald, The Ultimate Gullah Cookbook (Beaufort, SC: Sands
Publishing, 2003), pg. 13. The practice of auxiliary languages was not uncommon during the slave trade. Most tribes
back in Africa spoke them to accomplish business transactions and government ordinances.
8
William Pollitzer, op. cit., p. 67.
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ventured far outside these communities. During this period of isolation, the Gullah culture was
born. These people were now living together in community, reinforcing their sense of African
descent. Their auxiliary language began to take hold of the residents, further mixing English and
West African dialects, traditions, and ways of life.
Today, Gullah people are known for their history as slaves and their unique crafts and
icons. The most known craft of the Gullah people is inarguably the sweetgrass basket.
Sweetgrass baskets are baskets made from sweetgrass plants found along beaches of the
southeast. In the Lowcountry of South Carolina, it is not uncommon to see stands selling these
baskets alongside major highways.9 Gullah people are also famous for their other arts modeled
from Africa, including earthenware pottery called “Colono Ware,” wood carvings, beadwork,
and even story quilts. Story quilts are especially meaningful because they “communicate
affection and celebrate family history--a marriage, birth, or departure for school...it is a reminder
of the powerful ties of kinship...they are an historical record...”10 Another famous Gullah icon is
Gullah language. Through the continual use of English and West African dialects, the Gullah
people developed from a pidgin language to a more developed, Creole language. Comparatively,
Gullah language sounds much like Haitian Creole in both spelling and harmonics.11 The dialect
is now recognized as a distinct language such that the American Bible Society has even
published a bible in the Sea Island Creole.12 Other well known Gullah icons include their unique
9
Coakley, Sweetgrass Baskets and the Gullah Tradition (Charleston, SC: Arcadia, 2005), pg. 47. This is an
especially common site on South Carolina Highway 17 South.
10
William Pollitzer, op. cit., p. 180
11
Jamie Elizabeth Gabrini, review of Gullah Culture in America, by Wilbur Cross, The Western Journal of Black
Studies 33, no. 4 (2009): pg. 296.
12
De Nyew Testament, (New York: American Bible Society, 2005). It is the official Gullah/Sea Island Creole
translation.
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folklore, specifically their tales about the clever Ber Rabbit. Food is also a very famous aspect of
the Gullah culture. These West African slaves brought with them some of the most basic cooking
ingredients with them to the United States. Foods like okra, watermelon, and peanuts are a few
among the many foods they transplanted here in the Southeast.13 Religion also plays a large part
in these people’s lives. Gullah religion is a mix of Christianity with a few attributes from West
African religions. They believe in God, seeing themselves as the Israelites brought into slavery
and waiting for their “Moses” to deliver them. They also heavily identify with Jesus, who’s
suffering on the cross is seen much like their suffering in slavery.14 Yet much of the West
African influence on religion comes from hexes, herbal remedies, superstitions, and the
perceived magic of root doctors, Both Christian and West African aspects are combined into
worship, rituals, and sacrifices designed to invoke God, the surrounding spirits, or even long
forgotten ancestors.15
While the roots of Gullah people were rough and jagged upon arriving to the United States,
many of those who know of the Gullah people assume that their lifestyle is fairly prosperous.
Indeed, Ron and Natalie Daise, the Gullah parents on Gullah Gullah Island were portrayed as
upper-middle class citizens living in harmony with their neighbors and the environment.
However, this view of Gullah individuals does not represent the vast majority of Gullah
socioeconomic level. In truth, Gullah people are a people confined in deep poverty. Not
necessarily poverty in the sense of 19th century enslavement, but a poverty of low
socioeconomical status that has carried passed the Emancipation Proclamation to the present day.
13
William Pollitzer, op. cit., p. 98.
14
ibid, p. 137, 144
15
ibid, p. 138
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One aspect of the Gullah people’s poverty lies in their rural lifestyle. Independent Gullah
communities have always existed in rural areas. After the Civil War ended, the Charleston News
and Courier reported that plantation owners “returned to their plantations to find their houses
destroyed and in possession of former slaves.”16 Presently, most Gullah people are small farmers
selling local produce to stores or on roadside stands. Their small farms, however, are no match
by comparison to the large government subsidized farms across the nation. Subsidized farming
has left many rural farmers in the Lowcountry without a living. This means that even if they
desired such an opportunity, Gullah people don’t have the facilities to practice what we may call
“economically marketable skills,” thus perpetuating the cycle of unemployment. Also, apart from
Charleston and the beach front communities, there are very few industries in the Lowcountry of
South Carolina. Factories do not exist around these areas for a few different reasons. First, a lot
of the land is already used for timber, fishing, tourism, and agriculture.17 But another reason lies
in the area’s reputation as “Hurricane Alley.” Hurricanes and tropical storms are notorious for
hitting this part of the United States. From 1851 to 2006, a total of 31 classified hurricanes have
hit South Carolina, while 20 have hit Georgia and 46 have hit North Carolina.18 This measure
does not include the dozens and dozens of tropical storms which almost formed into hurricanes.
Meteorologists can never predict the strength of these hurricanes, which aids in the lack of
development along these rural areas. Maintaining facilities against these storms and hurricanes
can be very expensive. For example: when Hurricane Hugo hit South Carolina on September
16
ibid, p. 68.
17
Steve Mullins and John Burbage, "Litany of Disaster," in And Hugo Was His Name: Hurricane Hugo, A Diary of
Destruction (Sun City West, AZ: The News and Currier, 1989), pg. 46.
18
"Frequently Asked Questions: Hurricanes, Typhoons, and Tropical Cyclones," Atlantic Oceanographic and
Meteorological Laboratory, http://www.aoml.noaa.gov/hrd/tcfaq/E19.html (accessed May 2, 2010).
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21st, 1989, the hurricane caused over 4 billion dollars worth of damage and succeeded in
“making the Lowcountry barrier islands look like they had been bombed.”It is much safer for
developers to confine much of the area to timber industry, fishing, tourism, and especially
agriculture than to risk profit.19
Another aspect of Gullah people’s poverty is their low education. Their enslaved ancestors
never received traditional, Western education upon their arrival to the United States. Living in
isolation as rural farmers has also done little to improve their outlook on such. Furthermore, the
United States policy of “Separate but Equal” in 1986 with Plessey vs. Ferguson did little to
facilitate a proper, equal education for African Americans across the country. Even though the
Civil Rights Act passed in 1964, little has been done to improve education in Gullah regions. Pat
Conroy echoed such observations in his book The Water is Wide. Before writing the book, he
took a teaching job as a young adult on Dafuskie Island, an island rich with Gullah community.
Intellectually, what he found on Dafuskie Island “shook [him] to the core of [his being]. Seven
[children] couldn’t recite the alphabet. 18 thought savannah was the largest city in the world.
Savannah, Georgia was the only city any of the children could name. Four children couldn’t
count to ‘one.’ Three couldn’t write their names. I had stumbled into another century...If they
had lived in other parts of South Carolina, they might have gone on to become scientists
engineers scholars, artists, and writers.”20 Today, the Gullah communities live in an area known
as the “Corridor of Shame,” an area along I-95 notorious for its poor academic performance. The
fault lies with the South Carolina’s school funding system. In South Carolina, schools are funded
19
20
Steve Mullins and John Burbage, op. cit., pg. 46.
Pat Conroy, interview by Bud Ferillo, 2005, Corridor of Shame, http://corridorofshame.com/video/conroy.mov
(accessed May 2, 2010).
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through state sales taxes and local business property taxes.21 Because there are very few
businesses in the South Carolina Lowcountry, these schools within the Gullah community have
little funding for adequate teaching materials, staff, and even building maintenance and repair.
Roofs leak, plaster crumbles, and in some cases, sewage backs up into the hallways, causing
some schools to be condemned. Libraries remain in the Stone Age, possessing books from the
1950’s and 60’s, with outdated theories about how man will one day walk on the moon.
Seventy-five percent of these districts have “unsatisfying” ratings. And while it is unknown how
many Gullah individuals drop out of high school, the dropout rates for “Corridor of Shame”
students hovers anywhere from 46 percent to 67 percent.22
A third aspect of the Gullah people’s poverty is tied with the onset of many social ills,
namely, young unmarried mothers and gangs in the traditional Gullah areas. Marriage within the
Gullah culture and communities is not necessarily tied to the Christian union of man and woman.
Rather than legalizing the relationship between husband and wife, these communities don’t need
approval of the state or any religion based institution. Most of the time, parental permission is the
only validation needed.23 Therefore, divorce is rare among the Gullah people, but this does not
discount the fact that the men of these communities may float in and out of relationships. As
such, most marriages are common law. But unfortunately, because of the nonbinding g nature of
“common law,” lots of young, pregnant women are without the adequate support of a stable
husband. In a recent survey of 991 Gullah women, only 29.4% had reached beyond high school
21
Ferillo & Associates, Inc., "Corridor of Shame," Corridor of Shame: The Case, http://www.corridorofshame.com/
(accessed May 2, 2010).
22
Ferillo & Associates, Inc., op. cit.
23
William Pollitzer, op. cit., p. 130
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education.24 The other 70.6% is limited to job prospects that don’t require “economically
marketable skills.” These jobs are low paying, minimum wage jobs such as cashiers and workers
at Burger King.25 The mother cannot support herself and a child (much less several children).
Therefore, the mothers are left relying on their elder who end up having to adopt the young
mother and her child.
Gangs have also become a problem around the Gullah community. While many isolated
islands (such as Sandy Island) have avoided such problems,26 many mainland communities like
Hollywood, South Carolina have been introduced to these problems. Gang activity has not been
as tightly tied to urban areas, like Charleston, as much as expected. A recent study found that
rural Colleton County (with a population of 38,000 people) had the highest gang violence rate in
the state. In 2007 alone, approximately 98 gang-related incidents were reported. An estimated
400 gang members are predicted to be residing in the area. These individuals make up about 20
different local and national gangs. Furthermore, Charleston County ranked among the top
counties in the state for the number of jail inmates identified as gang members.27 One can
understand why such a problem should exist. Gangs provide a means of survival in such an
economically depressed area of the state. Because employment is low, the only consistent cash
flow would be from joining a gang. These gangs are not overly violent, however. These gangs do
24
Ida Johnson-Spruill et al., op. cit., p. 117.
25
David K. Shipler, The Working Poor (New York: Vintage Books, 2005), p. 291.
26
John D. Trespicio, "History," Tours de Sandy Island, http://www.toursdesandyisland.com/history.htm (accessed
May 2, 2010).
27
Glenn Smith, "Incidence of gang violence soaring," The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), December 10, 2009.
http://www.postandcourier .com/news/2009/dec/10/incidence-of-gang-violence-soaring/
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not use guns frequently, preferring to use their hands and fists instead.28 That said, there have
been an estimated 21 gang-related deaths from 1998 to 2007. And the number is only increasing.
Another aspect of poverty for the Gullah people is the problem of healthcare. At large, the
African American population of the Lowcountry is fraught with problems, some of which
include hypertension, high blood pressure, heart disease, and Type II diabetes.29 Gullah
populations are also more susceptible to stress and obesity, especially Gullah women. In the
Gullah community, women are the matriarchs. They are looked upon as the knot that holds the
family together, often being the most stable member of the household. Elderly women function
like “mammies” towards their grandchildren, nieces, nephews, great-grandchildren, etc.30
Therefore, it’s no wonder that they are more prone to stress and obesity. As evidence, some aid
organizations around the Gullah communities ask for donations for people in need, especially for
“large women.”31 Because Gullah communities are rural communities, the houses and/or trailers
are often dilapidated and in desperate need of repair. Multiple organizations, such as the United
Methodist Relief Center and Rural Missions, Inc. exist to repair and rebuild these houses in and
around Gullah communities. Oftentimes, these houses won’t be able to keep out the elements. As
such, they are moldy, dirty, and dusty, and unsafe. Sometimes, they are made with outdated
materials that also contribute to poor health. Materials such as asbestos are good examples of
such.
But bad healthcare is not only a result of poor housing. It is also a result of poor diet and
28
Glen Smith, op. cit.
29
William Pollitzer, op. cit., p. 192-194.
30
ibid, p. 130.
31
Rural Mission, Inc., "Helping Rural Mission," Rural Mission, Inc., http://www.ruralmission.org/helping.shtml
(accessed May 2, 2010).
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exercise. Most traditional Gullah food is fried or cooked in vast amounts of grease, butter, or
even ingredients such as bacon grease. While many of these ingredients are delicious in the
forms of a “Limpin’ Susan” (Rice and Okra mixture) or a seafood casserole, these recipes will
clog arteries faster than a heartbeat. These foods do not aid in keeping a diet or actively
exercising. Furthermore, eating the greasy food prevents them from self-regulating their health.
A recent study showed that from a sample of 1,276 Gullah people, 27.7% of individuals reported
self-glucose monitoring. The exercising rates were even more disturbing. About 55.6% reported
exercising. However, the exercise consisted of walking, without a measure for walking speed,
duration of walk, or how many times per week individuals walked. And although 44.1% of
people had reported that they had been referred to a diabetic class or a doctor, only 38.2%
reported making a yearly visit to an ophthalmologist.32 Not only are these people self-inhibiting,
they are also victims of medical prejudice. Oftentimes, they do not have easy access to medical
care. Today, there are only 15 hospitals available to this population of people who live all along
the coast of South Carolina.33 And most Gullah people do not trust the doctors in the hospitals.
What’s more, most Gullah people cannot afford health insurance or medical bills, so they would
rather avoid high medical expense in favor of spending it on something on something else,
especially food. These people are already impoverished, and the last thing they need is an
outrageously high medical bill.
Since the 1930’s, the isolation which kept the Gullah communities together has
disappeared, largely due to the interference of the outside world. Most modern roads along the
32
33
Ida Johnson-Spruill et al., op. cit. p. 117.
The Agape Center, "South Carolina Hospitals and Medical Centers," South Carolina Hospital Assoication,
http://www.theagapecenter.com/Hospitals/ South-Carolina.htm (accessed May 2, 2010).
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coast were built during this time, allowing corporations to come and eye the Gullah lands.
Developers began to threaten the delicate Lowcountry environment and historic way this unique
group has lived since the fall of the Confederacy. When tax values on beach front properties
became too high for Gullah people to pay them, a “friendly corporation” paid the money owed,
bought the tracts, and forced all of the Gullah people off their traditional lands.34 Corporate
businesses are currently in the process of buying Gullah lands and building huge beach resorts in
their place. Examples of these urbanized islands are Hilton Head Island, Litchfield Beach, and
Kiawah Island. Even Myrtle Beach (the metropolitan vacation getaway of South Carolina) was
once considered Gullah.35 This wave of modernization has swept across the state, turning forest
and marsh into private resorts and golf courses. It has disrupted the balance between people and
nature, and has even affected those traditions such as making sweetgrass baskets. The sweetgrass
has been killed by pesticides and herbicides from the surrounding development.36 So not only
are they unable to have a home, Gullah people are unable to practice their art.
The question which most Gullah people have to ask themselves is this: Is Gullah culture
worth maintaining? In the past 60 years, so much of the Gullah community has given way to
modernity and commercialism. Most people are unemployed and cannot afford to maintain
themselves or their community. Furthermore, many of the younger generations are not carrying
out or finding deeper significance in the Gullah culture. They know very little (if anything at all)
about the culture itself. And what they do know, they don’t practice it outside of the community
for fear of ostricization. A prime example of such is what is known as “decreolization” the act by
34
William Pollitzer, op. cit., p. 190.
35
Thomas Pyatt, Gullah History Along the Carolina Lowcountry, (Conway, SC: T.J. Pyatt, 2006), p. 9.
36
William Pollitzer, op. cit., p. 191.
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which the Gullah dialect is being stamped out of Gullah youth by school teachers. Many school
teachers believe that the Gullah Creole is actually a bad, broken form of English. People will use
the term “geechee people,” referring to those who speak “that Geechee talk” considered illiterate
and childlike by white Americans. Many frustrated teachers daily complain about the “sloppy,
error-filled and verbally destitute” speech of these children.37 Therefore, most of the children
don’t use the language at school, but at home with their elders who do speak the dialect.
If one examines the matter more deeply, he or she will realize that ending the Gullah
people’s poverty may mean destroying many aspects of the Gullah culture. Gullah people have
always been able to find community in their poverty. From the days of the slave trade to the
present, they have found solace in their unique lifestyles and traditions bourn from hardship.
What happens if we as outsiders start helping to “preserve them” by snatching this issue from
their hands, taking it up this cause and fighting the fight for them? Do they not lose too?
Recently, many people who left the Gullah communities in the following the Civil Rights Act
have come back to the places of their childhood. The new customs, values, and success they
achieved in the northern part of the United States has become transposed into their society, even
among the changes in poor rural living, education, social ills, poor healthcare, and expanding
corporate development. They are trying to reserve many practices from their transmogrified
African roots. These include ties of “matriarchy, polygyny, and kinship” and making them into a
“social creolization” with the new values.38 Organizations, like the South Carolina Costal
Conservation League and the Neighborhood Legal Assistance Program have been helping out
37
Virginia Doubchan Benmaman, "An Investigation of Reading Comprehension Ability of Black Fourth and Fifth
Grade Students Who are Reading Below Grade Level Utilizing Materials Written in Gullah and Standard English"
(PhD diss., University of South Carolina, 1975), p. 5.
38
William Pollitzer, op. cit., p. 134.
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these rural Gullah farmers maintain their land in the face of developers looking to attract tourists.
At Penn Center on St. Helena Island, the Sea Island Preservation Project is under way, taking an
earthist perspective in training residents to balance environmental protection and cultural
preservation with responsible development.39
Ultimately, the question of cultural identity in poverty is a question no others but the
Gullah people can answer. The surrounding groups outside of the Gullah culture must be willing
to enact on whatever they decide. But if given the choice between living in poverty without
power and living among those to whom power is given, I believe the Gullah people would
choose the later. The only way they can preserve their culture is to make themselves heard, and
poverty does not yield itself to the vociferous. But until that day, the Gullah people must take
comfort and courage in their struggle against poverty and the developing world by which it is
surrounded. It is my belief that despite their present state of poverty, they take comfort in these
words from Jesus’s Beatitudes:
“Oona bless fa true, oona po people, cause God da rule oba oona. Oona bless fa true, oona wa
hongry now, cause God gwine gii oona all oona wahn fa nyam. Oona bless fa true, oona wa da
cry now, cause oona gwine laugh later on.”40
39
ibid, p. 191.
Luke 6:20-21. De Nyew Testament. In the King James Version, the scripture reads: “blessed be ye poor, for
yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep for
now: for ye shall laugh.”
40
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Fourth and Fifth Grade Students Who are Reading Below Grade Level Utilizing
Materials Written in Gullah and Standard English.”PhD diss., University of South
Carolina, 1975.
Conroy, Pat. Interview by Bud Ferillo. 2005. Corridor of Shame.
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