A Gullah woman makes a sweetgrass basket in Charleston's City Market, 2012.

If you drive along the state highways near Charleston, you cannot miss the small wooden stands covered in sweetgrass baskets, expertly woven and often being sold by the craftspeople who made them. The methods of making these baskets have been handed down from parent to child since they were introduced to the Lowcountry by enslaved Africans over 300 years ago. The baskets and the talented people who make them are the most visible reminder of the rich and vibrant Gullah community that still thrives in coastal communities from North Carolina to Florida.

The roots of Gullah culture are deep and begin across the Atlantic with the distinct cultures of various West and Central African nations. The majority of the enslaved people who arrived in Colonial America from Africa came through Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina where they were quarantined before proceeding to Charleston, South Carolina to be sold. Most enslaved Africans were brought to cultivate indigo and rice. The name Gullah can be traced to the Kikongo language of Angola where nearly 40% of enslaved Africans arriving through Charleston originated. The alternative name Geechee may have come from the Sapelo Island community at the Ogeechee River where escaped slaves and free Blacks established the community of Hog Hammock and continue to maintain their culture even today.

Because of their relative isolation on plantations away from cities and the similarity of the coastal climate to their African homes, enslaved people were able to preserve many of their traditions. Over time, a Gullah identity began to form with distinct language, culture, and foodways. After slavery was abolished, many freed Blacks moved to nearby coastal plains and islands, establishing predominantly Black Gullah-speaking communities.

A June 1749 notice of enslaved human cargo to be sold by slave brokers in Charleston, SC.

A rice raft with Gullah Geechee women, girls, and boys off Sandy Island near Georgetown, SC, 1904.

Many Black people today have Gullah roots including former First Lady Michelle Obama and Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas who was born in the coastal Georgia community of Pin Point and raised as a native Gullah speaker. You may even have spoken Gullah without knowing it if you’ve ever sung the song Kumbaya (“Come By Here”) which was collected in the Sea Islands by those documenting spirituals in the early twentieth century. (Listen to the earliest known recording of the song from 1926 here.)

While the Gullah language is now considered endangered, Gullah communities remain resilient in the face of many challenges including the profound impacts of climate change on coastal communities. There has been a resurgence in Gullah language and culture in recent years with the Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor focused on 79 Atlantic barrier islands was designated by Congress in 2006 to call attention to the historic and cultural contributions of the Gullah Geechee people.

Elizabeth Mazyck making a sweetgrass basket, South Carolina, 2010. Photo by liz west

Want to read more about Gullah people? Check out these resources!

Picture Books

Okra Stew: A Gullah Geechee Family Celebration by Natalie Daise

S is for Sweetgrass: The ABCs of Gullah-Geechee by Dr. Triba Gary, illustrated by Michael J. McBribe

Circle Unbroken by Margot Theis Raven, illustrated by E. B. Lewis

Joy Takes Root by Gwendolyn Wallace, illustrated by Ashleigh Corrin

Adult Nonfiction

High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America by Jessica B. Harris– also a Netflix series

Gullah Geechee Home Cooking: Recipes from the Matriarch of Edisto Island by Emily Meggett

There are extensive images and audio and written recordings of formerly-enslaved Gullah people that were collected by the federal government and are now housed at the Library of Congress. Check those digitized resources out here.