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Gullahs () are a subgroup of African Americans who predominantly live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, as well as the Sea Islands. Their Gullah language and culture have preserved a high volume of Africanisms as a result of their historical geographic isolation.
Historically, the Gullah region extended from the Cape Fear area on North Carolina's coast south to the vicinity of Jacksonville on Florida's coast. Gullahs are also known as Geechees (), which may be derived from the name of the Ogeechee River near Savannah, Georgia. The Georgia communities are distinguished by identifying as either "Freshwater Geechee" or "Saltwater Geechee", depending on whether they live on the mainland or the Sea Islands.
Having gone through a period of relative isolation from whites while working on large plantations in rural areas, Gullahs, who came from a variety of Central and West African ethnic groups, developed a creole culture that preserved much of their African linguistic and cultural heritage; in addition, they absorbed new influences from the region. According to the Gullah/Geechee Nation website, many Gullahs have some Native American ancestry. Their language, an English-based creole, contains many African loanwords and has been influenced by African languages in grammar and sentence structure. Gullah crafts, farming and fishing traditions, folk beliefs, music, rice-based cuisine and story-telling traditions all exhibit strong influences from Central and West African cultures.
Some scholars also have suggested that it may come from the name of the Gola people, an ethnic group living in the border area between present-day Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa, another area of enslaved ancestors of the Gullah people.
The name Geechee, another common name for the Gullah, may derive from the name of the Kissi people, an ethnic group living in the border area between Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Liberia.
One scholar suggested that the name could have also been adopted from the Ogeechee River. Sapelo Island, the site of the last Gullah community of Hog Hammock, was also a principal place of refuge for Guale people who fled slavery on the mainland.
The Gullah people have been able to preserve much of their African and Native American cultural heritage because of climate, geography, cultural pride, and patterns of importation of enslaved Africans and Indigenous People. The peoples who contributed to Gullah culture included the Kongo people, Ambundu, Vili people, Yombe, Yaka people, Pende people, Mandinka people, Kissi people, Fula people, Mende people, Wolof people, Kpelle people, Temne people, Limba, Dyula people, Susu people, Vai people, Guale, Black Yamasee and Black Seminoles.
In the 1670, the first English-speaking community was founded on South Carolina's coast. The colonist had little success for the first thirty years, but during the 1700s, they learned that rice, which was brought from Asia, thrived in the Low Country's interior valley swamps. Rice cultivation had a major role in South Carolina's economy during the 1700s. The colony grew and prospered as a result of this product's steady high pricing in England. One of the wealthiest colonies in North America was South Carolina, and its capital and main port, Charlestown (now Charleston), was one of the most affluent and stylish towns in early America. The rice plantation system was later extended farther south to coastal Georgia, where it also flourished, as a result of South Carolina's remarkable success.
Despite their initial lack of knowledge about rice farming, the South Carolina planters quickly realised the benefits of bringing in slaves from West African regions known for producing rice. As a result, compared to planters in other North American colonies, they were generally significantly more interested in the geographic origins of African slaves. Slave dealers in Africa quickly discovered that South Carolina was a particularly lucrative market for slaves from the "Rice Coast," "Windward Coast," "The Gambia," and "Sierra Leone" because the South Carolina rice planters were ready to pay higher rates for these captives. Slave dealers were particular about promoting their own auction posters or newspaper ads when they brought slaves from the rice-growing region to Charlestown. When traders brought slaves from other parts of Africa, such Nigeria, where rice was not usually farmed, to Charlestown, they frequently discovered that their slaves sold for less.They occasionally had to sail away to a different port since they were unable to sell any slaves at all. Opala, Joseph A. The Gullah: Rice, Slavery, and the Sierra Leone-American Connection. Freetown, Sierra Leone: Sierra Leone National Museum, 1990.
In the end, the colonists from Georgia and South Carolina devised a rice-growing system that heavily relied on the technical know-how and work habits of their African slaves. Slaves on rice farms worked in a line through the fields throughout the growing season, hoeing in time and chanting work songs to stay in sync. In order to separate the grain and chaff, the women "fanned" the rice in big round winnowing baskets after processing it with large wooden mortars and pestles that were nearly comparable to those used in West Africa. It's also possible that the slaves helped build the ditches, banks, and sluices that were utilized on the rice plantations in Georgia and South Carolina. Traditionally, West African farmers have grown dry rice on the slopes and wet rice on the flood plains. Travelers in the 1700s observed that West African farmers, particularly the Temne of Sierra Leone, were building complex irrigation systems for rice farming with the Portuguese introduction of superior varieties of paddy rice from Asia in the 1500s. Enslaved people in South Carolina and Georgia merely carried on using many of the rice-growing techniques they were used to in Africa.
By the middle of the 18th century, thousands of acres in the Georgia and South Carolina Lowcountry, and the Sea Islands were developed as African rice fields. African farmers from the "Rice Coast" brought the skills for cultivation and tidal irrigation that made rice farming one of the most successful industries in early America.
Georgia and coastal South Carolina have ideal climates for growing rice, but they also proved to be ideal for the spread of tropical diseases. Yellow fever and malaria were introduced by African slaves, and they flourished on the marshy coastal plain, particularly near the flooded rice plantations. Slaves possessed a certain amount of innate resistance to these tropical illnesses, but their owners were at great risk. When fever broke out in the rainy summer and fall, the white planters abandoned their plantations entirely and shifted their homes away from the rice fields. On a daily basis, a small number of white managers oversaw the plantations with the help of several gifted and reliable slaves who served as foremen or "drivers." Although there were still not many white people in the area, as the rice plantation system grew and produced more and more revenue, more African slaves were imported. South Carolina was unique among the North American colonies in that it had a black majority by 1708. In the 1730s, a European visitor to Charlestown made the observation that "Carolina looks more like a negro country than a country settled by white people."
Compared to slaves in other North American colonies, Gullah slaves in coastal Georgia and South Carolina had radically different living conditions. White people and Gullahs did not interact much. On the rice plantations, they lived in a mainly secluded community, and because of their numbers and isolation, they were able to preserve a wide variety of African traditional customs.
These had hundreds of laborers, with African traditions reinforced by new imports from the same regions. Over time, the Gullah people developed a creole culture in which elements of African languages, cultures, and community life were preserved to a high degree. Their culture developed in a distinct way, different from that of the enslaved African Americans in states such as North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland, where the enslaved lived in smaller groups, and had more sustained and frequent interactions with whites and British American culture.
In late 2024 underwater sonar was used to map 45 previously unknown irrigation devices used to control water flow for rice fields in conjunction with earthen dams and levees, developed by the Gullah–Geechee over an area of 2,000 acres (800 hectares) of the northern end of Eagles Island, North Carolina, US. This provided evidence of the Gullah–Geechee engineering and technological skills used for rice cultivation.
The Gullah have also struggled to preserve their traditional culture in the face of much more contact with modern culture and media. In 1979, a translation of the New Testament into the Gullah language was begun. The American Bible Society published De Nyew Testament in 2005. In November 2011, Healin fa de Soul, a five-CD collection of readings from the Gullah Bible, was released. This collection includes Scipcha Wa De Bring Healing ("Scripture That Heals") and the Gospel of John ( De Good Nyews Bout Jedus Christ Wa John Write). This was the most extensive collection of Gullah recordings, surpassing those of Lorenzo Dow Turner. The recordings have helped people develop an interest in the culture, because they get to hear the language and learn how to pronounce some words.
The Gullah achieved another victory in 2006 when the U.S. Congress passed the "Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Act"; it provided US$10 million over 10 years for the preservation and interpretation of historic sites in the Low Country relating to Gullah culture. The Act provides for a Heritage Corridor to extend from southern North Carolina to northern Florida in a project administered by the US National Park Service with extensive consultation with the Gullah community.
The Gullah have also been in contact with West Africa. Gullah groups made three celebrated "homecomings" to Sierra Leone in 1989, 1997, and 2005. Sierra Leone is at the heart of the traditional rice-growing region of West Africa where many of the Gullahs' ancestors originated. Bunce Island, the British slave castle in Sierra Leone, sent many African captives to Charleston and Savannah during the mid- and late 18th century. These dramatic homecomings were the subject of three documentary films— Family Across the Sea (1990), The Language You Cry In (1998), and Priscilla's Legacy.
Rice is a core commodity of the Gullah food system: a meal was not considered complete without rice. There are strict rituals surrounding the preparation of rice in the Gullah communities. First, individuals would remove the darker grains from the rice, and then hand wash the rice numerous times before it was ready for cooking. The Gullah people would add enough water for the rice to steam on its own, but not so much that one would have to stir or drain it. These traditional techniques were passed down during the period of slavery and are still an important part of rice preparation by Gullah people.
The first high-profile book on Gullah cooking was published in 2022 by Emily Meggett, an 89-year-old Gullah cook.
Gullah people now organize cultural every year in towns up and down the Lowcountry. Hilton Head Island, for instance, hosts a "Gullah Celebration" in February. It includes "De Aarts ob We People" show; the "Ol’ Fashioned Gullah Breakfast"; "National Freedom Day," the "Gullah Film Fest", "A Taste of Gullah" food and entertainment, a "Celebration of Lowcountry Authors and Books," an "Arts, Crafts & Food Expo," and "De Gullah Playhouse". Beaufort hosts the oldest and the largest celebration, "The Original Gullah Festival" in May. The nearby Penn Center on St. Helena Island holds "Heritage Days" in November. Other Gullah festivals are celebrated on James Island, South Carolina, and Sapelo Island.
Gullah culture is also being celebrated elsewhere in the United States. The High Art Museum in Atlanta has presented exhibits about Gullah culture. The Black Cultural Center at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana conducted a research tour, cultural arts festival, and other related events to showcase the Gullah culture. The Black Cultural Center Library maintains a bibliography of Gullah books and materials, as well. Metro State College in Denver, Colorado, hosted a conference on Gullah culture, called The Water Brought Us: Gullah History and Culture, which featured a panel of Gullah scholars and cultural activists. These events in Indiana and Colorado are typical of the attention Gullah culture regularly receives throughout the United States.
The Gullah custom of painting porch ceilings haint blue to deter haints, or , survives in the American South. It has also been adopted by White Southerners.
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