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Gullah
STUDY GUIDE-TEST FRIDAY
Slaves kept their culture alive with Gullah. What is Gullah? It is a mixture of English and African languages. Gullah is also a culture.
Culture is the way a group of people live. Click on the buttons below to reveal four areas of the Gullah culture.
Storytelling
- The Gullah people would tell stories, thus passing them down through the generations.
Sweet Grass Baskets
Sweet grass baskets are important to South Carolina because this is the only place in the United States where people still make them!
They pass on the tradition!
Gullah Food
There are many foods that you eat today that came from the Gullah culture. Ex: Hoppin’ Johns, yams, boiled peanuts, etc
Music
- The Gullah people sang spirituals.They sang as they worked in the fields., -They played drums and danced.
SLAVERY
Slavery is when one person is owned by another person. A slave is told what to do by his or her master.
Over 200 years ago, slaves were brought to the United States from West Africa.
It was a long journey for the slaves who were brought to the United States. It took weeks and even months for ships to sail from West
Africa to the U.S. The journey from West Africa to the U.S. was very cruel and unhealthy. When the African slaves were unloaded from
the slave ships, many went to auction. An auction is where items are sold. Many white plantation owners did not view these Africans as
people but as a piece of property. Plantation owners wanted slaves who were healthy and could do hard work.
Many English settlers who came from Barbados wanted to bring plantations to South Carolina and other surrounding places. Plantations
depended on slaves.
Rice = Money
COLONIAL LIFE
The colony of South Carolina had a diverse population from the earliest colonial times. Each group made a significant
contribution to the culture and character of South Carolina.
THE ENGLISH
The English were the first to establish a permanent settlement.
The king of England gave the land to eight Lords Proprietors in payment of a debt. This land became known as a colony.
Proprietors are people who own something.
-Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper was one of the eight Lords Proprietors. The Ashley and the Cooper are two rivers near
Charleston named for him.
The Lords Proprietors commissioned the writing of the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina which established
representative government and religious freedom.
The Lords Proprietors attracted new settlers to the colony by offering them free land.
Many of the Englishmen who settled in the Carolina colony came from Barbados. In Barbados, these men established
plantations, or large farms. Slave labor was used to keep the plantation running. Crops, like rice and indigo, that were grown
and sold, made the plantation owners and the colony wealthy. South Carolina became one of the richest of the 13 colonies.
HUGENOTS
The Huguenots came from France. They were French Protestants who were persecuted (mistreated) in Catholic France. They
came to South Carolina for religious freedom. This means they could worship how they wanted. The Huguenots started the
South Carolina Society which started schools and helped the poor.
EUROPEAN JEWS
The European Jews were also attracted to the colony because of its religious toleration. They established a synagogue in
Charleston and contributed to the city’s economic growth.
GERMANS
German settlers were hard workers. They moved into the backcountry and built farms and cabins. Many came from
Pennsylvania, where they had first settled.
They were given free land which was good for growing wheat. The wheat was used to make foods such as bread.
Because so much wheat was used and grown in the backcountry, it became known as the breadbasket of the colony.
SCOTS-IRISH
The Scots-Irish were also hard workers who moved to the backcountry of Carolina.
They came to Carolina for religious freedom. After they arrived, they built a church, and then they built their town around
the church.