Overview
Rationale
Objectives
Strategies
Classroom Activities
Annotated Student Bibliography
Annotated Adult Reference List
Appendix
The purpose of this unit is to explore with the children
the topic of the Gullah people of the Sea Islands off the coasts of South
Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. This
unit will examine the history and the culture, particularly the stories and folk
arts of the Gullah people, the African origin of these coastal inhabitants, and
the connection between the Sea Island people and Pennsylvania.
Additionally, it will include the geography, the Gullahs’ knowledge of
herb and root medicine, the impact of industrialization on the Gullah economy,
and the effect of tourism development on the lives of the people.
A continuing theme of the unit will demonstrate that even though the
Gullahs had been separated from Africa for hundreds of years, there are many
examples of African retentions in the culture.
The targeted participants will be fourth and fifth graders, but for some
of the activities, such as the chants, songs, and stories, the kindergartners
through third graders will also be involved.
Studying the Gullah people of the Sea Islands will serve
to expose Pittsburgh Public School pupils to a culture within the borders of
their own country but probably little known to them. There have been scholarly debates concerning the extent of
the preservation of African culture in the so-called New World.
Learning about the Gullah culture concretely demonstrates that even
though the Gullahs had not seen the shores of Africa in more than two hundred
years, African culture has endured and been preserved!
The isolation of the islanders from the mainland, with no bridges from
the Islands until the 1930’s, as well as the practice of plantation owners’
retreating to the mainland during the malaria season helped to preserve
Africanisms as nowhere else in the United States.
Often there were only a handful of whites in a wide area.
Each island was also isolated from other islands, so the practices,
beliefs, and traditions of the people was not as influenced by other African
ethnic groups or by Europeans as elsewhere on the North American continent.
Islanders even considered those residents of other islands
“foreigners” (Johnson 157).
Language
patterns, vocabulary, grammar, and African names as researched by Dr. Lorenzo
Dow Turner, (Herskovitz 192), show the
connection with West Africa. Of those writing about Gullah speech, Ambrose E.
Gonzales, Professor George P. Krapp, H. L. Mencken, Dr. Reed Smith, and Dr. Guy
B. Johnson, renowned so-called authorities all, none had bothered to learn
African languages or even Gullah as had Dr.Turner (Herskovitz 276-279).
The quotes from these authorities are shocking in their total lack of
respect for the Gullah people, their culture, and their abilities.
The biographical dedication to Lorenzo Dow Turner (Holloway and Vass ix-xi)
clearly indicates how eminently well qualified Turner was in documenting,
analyzing, and comparing the Gullah dialect with African, Louisiana Creole,
Afro-Brazilian Creole, Native American, and Arabic languages.
Turner studied Portuguese, Arabic, German, French, Kongo, Igbo, Yoruba,
Krio, Mende, two Native American languages, and had a reading knowledge of
Italian, Latin, and Greek Turner
refuted the mistaken concept of Krapp, Mencken, and Gonzales, all of whom
attributed the Gullahs’ grammar and pronunciation to poor imitations of
English (Holloway and Vass x). The Gullah grammar, previously thought merely to
be incorrect English grammar, actually is derived from “a variety of African
languages” (Joyner14-15). Bantu terms have been identified in Gullah, thus
showing that Central Africa also has had a lasting linguistic influence on the
Gullah language (Vass in Holloway and Vass xiii-xxvi).
Turner found several older Gullah men who were able to count to at least
ten in various African languages (Turner 254).
Some
Gullah people recreated both the style of housing they were used to in Africa as
well as the pattern of positioning the houses in relation to one another.
The houses tended to be clustered around a main home or open courtyard
(“Gullah” in Encarta Africana, Demersen in Twining and Baird 61-62, and
Pollitzer 168-171). They were built
with dirt floors, tabby or mud walls, and thatched roofs.
Such houses can still be found in the Sea Islands (Pollitzer 168).
Tabby is composed of lime made from burning shells
and plaster or stucco (Burn 66-67).
The
patterns found in the baskets woven of pinestraw, palmetto, and sweetgrass are
the same as those in West Africa (Pollitzer 181-182, Pinckney 31-32, and Joyner
9 and 11). Even babies have been
carried in these baskets. Some men
on the Sea Islands do basket weaving, as do men in West Africa (Twining 130).
Photographs can be found in Joyner (between 192 and 193), Pollitzer
(photographs #17, #18 and #19), Pinckney (28-31), and Krull (23).
One man actually built a boat of coiled grass that transported him to
Union occupied Port Royal during the Civil War (Pollitzer 182).
The art teacher can explore these patterns with the classes. She can also introduce the works of Gullah artists Jonathan
Green and Sam Doyle.
The
weaving of the fishnets shows the same patterns as those currently found in the
fishnets of Sierra Leone (Krull 23). Men
repair and sew new nets with a palmetto needle, just as men in Nigeria do (Pollitzer
79 and Branch 78). The dust jackets
of the Pollitzer and Daise books show a man repairing a fishnet.
Professional fisherfolk on the islands catch mass quantities of fish in
the nets, as have people in Africa (Jones-Jackson 15).
The manner of tossing the fishnets is the same as in Sierra Leone (Pollitzer
36). A painting in the Banks book
(fourth page) shows a fishing net being tossed.
Willie Hunter of Johns Island is shown casting (Branch 77).
Drum fishing, the method of beating a drum or the side of the boat to get
porpoises to scare the fish into the nets, has been used both on the Sea Islands
and on the coast of West Africa (Pollitzer 179, Jones-Jackson 15, and Johnson
142). Injecting toxin into dammed
waters to stun fish, thus allowing for easy retrieval, has been practiced both
in West Africa and on the Sea Islands (Mitchell 18 and Pollitzer 179).
Through
examining the Gullah folktales and West and Central African folklore, we can see
parallel stories and motifs. Many Brer Rabbit stories came from the Wolof
culture brought by a number of African ethnic groups (Holloway and Vass xx-xxiii).
They found their way into the Uncle Remus tales on the Sea Islands.
When the Africans sought refuge with the Creeks, they told the stories to
their protectors. The tales then
became part of the Native American trickster tales. The storytellers mixed
African story parts with “elements of the American historical experience” to
show Buh Rabbit’s cunning in outwitting larger foes (Joyner 15). The
ubiquitous Anansi of West Africa and the West Indies became Aunt Nancy in the
Sea Islands (Pollitzer 160).
West
African retentions are also evident in the music of the South and on the Sea
Islands in particular. In fact,
what is thought to be the oldest African song currently sung by African
Americans was found among the Gullah. When
a researcher took a recording of that song to Sierra Leone, she discovered that
some Mende women knew it (“Gullah” in Encarta Africana and Turner 254, 256).
The ring shout, involving a circle dance and still surviving on the
Islands, originated in Africa (Joyner 71, Forten Grimke's “Ring Shout
Ceremonies” in Encarta Africana, photograph in Daise 27).
The popular “Michael, Row the Boat Ashore” was collected on Port
Royal Island and published in 1867 (Joyner 82). Many of the songs, games,
chants, and clapping plays that Bessie Jones, last active member of the original
Sea Island Singers, taught at workshops in California and at Yale, among others,
and recorded on record and on film, were taught to her by her grandfather who
had been brought from Africa (Jones 44, Jones and Hawes introduction, and
personal conversation with John Langstaff from Yale).
The “Juba” dance was seen performed by enslaved Africans in Congo
Square in New Orleans (Jones and Hawes 37).
Mrs. Jones felt a strong commitment to perpetuate her historic musical
heritage (Bundschuh). “And I like
to show them that I’m holding up their songs. . .” (Jones inside cover).
Some Gullahs from South Carolina and Georgia escaped into Spanish held
territory in Florida. Because the
Spaniards desired to keep Florida as a buffer against the English colonies, they
chose to maintain the wildness of the area and to invite both Gullahs and Native
Americans from Georgia and South Carolina to reside there.
The Gullahs were more suited to the climatic environment, and their
knowledge of plants and vegetation enabled the Native Americans to survive (Opala
21). The two groups fought together
for years against the United States Army and were subsequently routed to
Oklahoma, then Indian Territory. Some
of the Gullahs, called Black Seminoles, traveled into Mexico to escape raiding
whites and Creeks (Opala 23-24). Presently there are groups of Black Seminoles living in
Texas, Oklahoma, and the West Indies. Some
of the Texan Black Seminoles yet speak a Gullah dialect 340 years after leaving
Georgia and South Carolina. The
Oklahoma Black Seminoles still retain African cultural elements (Opala 24-25).
This
unit will also draw upon the Pennsylvania and Pittsburgh connections to people
on the islands so that our children can feel more closely affiliated with their
southern neighbors. Pennsylvania abolitionists helped to organize a Freedman’s
Bureau and Penn Center on St. Helena Island—thus, the center’s name.
The Pennsylvanian organizations Pennsylvania Freedmen’s Relief
Association, Germantown Association, and Benezet Association all enabled
teachers to staff schools on the Sea Islands (Johnson 210-211).
Pittsburgh-born Laura A. Towne, both physician and teacher, traveled to
Port Royal on St. Helena, founded and developed Penn School, and subsequently
taught there for nearly forty years (Pollitzer 66-67).
Charlotte Forten, a free Black woman, reared in Philadelphia, and Ellen
Murray, also from Philadelphia, taught on the Islands with Towne.
The classes will enjoy learning that the very Penn Center named for their
state was the site of a number of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s meetings.
Some of the planning for the 1963 March on Washington was carried out at
Penn Center (Krull 25).
The
classes can learn about the only instance in United States history when the
government engaged in an egalitarian land redistribution to formerly enslaved
people in 1863 (Pinckney 5, 41-43). In
addition, General William Tecumseh Sherman gave land to former slaves in
January, 1865 by way of a field order (Joyner 276-277 and Jones-Jackson 14).
In September, Field Order No.15 was revoked by President Andrew Johnson.
Some of the new landowners managed to hold onto the land. We can also share with the pupils the information that Major
General David Hunter’s 1862 emancipation of many Gullahs was reversed by none
other than President Abraham Lincoln (Pinckney 41).
Some
of the most fascinating African retentions among the Gullah people are practices
relating to death and burial. Graves
are often decorated with broken bottles, broken pottery, clocks, and mirrors.
These may be favorite objects of the deceased or the last item the
deceased held in his/her hand (Pollitzer 183 and Branch 58-59). Evidence exists
that these practices came from the Kongo people as well as from throughout West
and Central Africa (Holloway 167-175, Pollitzer 183, and Branch 59).
When the dead person leaves behind a baby or a young child, that progeny
is passed over the coffin at the gravesite before burial so that the parent
won’t return for the child (Branch 59, Holloway 87, Joyner 72-73, and
Jones-Jackson 73). Shells are
thought to embody the spirit of the sea, the vehicle that brought Gullahs to the
Islands, and the vehicle to transport them to the next world (Holloway 173-174,
Joyner 75, and Pollitzer 184). The
Kongo people hold a special regard for shells.
The concept of immortality is implied because the word for shell, zinga,
is also the word for “to live long” (Pollitzer 184).
While
much emphasis is placed on the conjuring of Gullah root doctors, especially in
the stories, evidence exists that these people were and are knowledgeable about
both the curative and the toxic effects of herbs and roots. Information on roots
and herbs used by Gullah people can be found in Mitchell (39-100) where she
provides Gullah, Native American, and European American uses for the plants in a
directory. Mitchell is a medical
anthropologist who lived among the Sea Islanders while she did field research in
1974. There was some similarity
between plants on the Gullah lands and those in Africa and evidence that “African
pharmacological traditions were handed down to subsequent generations of slaves
by oral tradition…” (Mitchell 30). The
Native Americans who inhabited the Sea Islands shared their knowledge of healing
plants with both Africans and Europeans (Mitchell 23 and 30).
Although “the herbalist tradition had come over on the slave ships, the
herbs did not” (Pinckney 48). Pinckney
laments the loss of much under-documented knowledge with the deaths of most of
the Gullah herbalists. He tells of
some Gullah remedies whose ingredients can be identified and the results of
their use documented and others whose ingredients call for more investigation
(89-92).
The
encroachment of tourism development and industry onto the Sea Islands has meant
the end to a way of life for many of the Gullah and white inhabitants. It
appears to have begun in 1950 when General Joseph B. Fraser purchased land on
Hilton Head and cut down many old trees for lumber. His son then began developing resort plantations (Joyner
278). Many longtime residents have
been forced to sell their land and to move off the islands (Krull 32 and
Jones-Jackson 165-168). Others who
have remained have become victims of white cultural imperialism.
Outsiders have built a school system that caters to them.
Non-Gullah staff are ignorant of and critical of Gullah speech and
culture, resulting in the Gullah children’s being culturally suppressed
(Joyner 280-281). Industrial
pollution spoiled some of the waters for harvesting oyster, shrimp, crab, and
fish, resulting in many of the Gullah people’s having to seek other
occupations, usually unskilled ones (Burn 440).
The development of resorts has also interfered with the native
population’s ability to earn a living by cutting off their access to the
water. Likewise, the water has been
denied to them for recreation, crabbing and fishing (Branch 80-81 and Joyner
279). Only one public beach remains
on St. Helena (Krull 35).
The treatment of the Islands’ inhabitants by both the government and the media exhibits prejudice of both race and class. The devastating hurricane of 1893 with its horrific loss of Island life and wherewithal received less newspaper coverage than the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago (Rosenfeld in Weatherwise). The lack of educational facilities and personnel, roads, public transportation, water, and electricity into the 1970’s reveals how little regard local and state authorities have had for the people (Branch 30 and Twining 90). On Daufuskie where once residents had access to beaches by traversing various branches off the main road encompassing the island, now the roads have been restricted to use by the new “plantations.” Supposedly residents are to have access to rerouted roads, but these turn out to be through protected areas that don’t permit access (Branch 84).
This
interdisciplinary unit meets some of the standards currently utilized by the
Pittsburgh Board of Education: Arts and Humanities Standards #1, #2, and #3,
Career Education and Work Standard #2, Communications Standards #1, #2, #3, and
#7, Environment and Ecology Standard #2, Information Literacy Standards #1, #2,
and #9, Mathematics Standard #2,
Science and Technology Standards #1, #4, and #7, and Social Studies Standards
#1, #2, #4, and #9. (See Appendix
for these standards written out.) Fourth
graders study world history, and fifth graders study United States history.
The research skills involving maps and reference materials are proscribed
for these grades. In the Pittsburgh
Public Schools, these grades have had the necessary skill base for this
instruction. This unit could also
be used by sixth and seventh grades with modification.
Some of the stories, songs, and chants can be shared with kindergarten
through third grade.
The
overall objective of the curriculum unit is for the classes to develop a
familiarity with, and an appreciation of, an ethnic group of the United States
with whom most are unfamiliar. This
is in keeping with Social Studies Standard #1. Specific objectives follow.
Social Studies Standard #2 will be fulfilled by the classes’ being able
to identify the area of Africa from which the Gullah people were brought.
Their locating the Sea Islands on a map using lines of longitude and
latitude also is in keeping with Social Studies Standard #2.
The students’ calculating distances between the Sea Islands and West
Africa, between the Sea Islands and the mainland, and among the Sea Islands
utilizing map scales will enable us to satisfy Mathematics Standard #2.
Information Literacy Standard #1 and Communications Standard # 1 will be
fulfilled by the pupils’ identifying key words to find information related to
Gullah people Their using Encarta Africana to locate material on the
Gullahs is in keeping with Information Literacy Standards #1, #2, #3, and #9 and
Communication Standard #1. The
classes’ utilizing cross references in the encyclopedias, book and electronic,
to find information on Gullah culture and history will enable us to satisfy
Information Literacy Standards #1, #2, #3, and #9.
Their employing the Power Library’s Searchasaurus to locate material on
the Sea Islands and their inhabitants also will fulfill the requirements for
Information Literacy #1, #2, #3, and #9.
Students’ identifying the role that Pennsylvanians played in
Reconstruction and education on St. Helena is in keeping with Social Studies
Standards #1, #4, and #9. Their understanding how prejudice affected the treatment of
the island residents during and after the hurricane of 1893 will satisfy Social
Studies Standard #9. The same
standard will be fulfilled by the pupils’ concluding that the substandard
facilities, services, and infrastructure afforded to the Islanders when the
Gullahs were in the vast majority was due to racial and class prejudice.
Communications Standards #3 and #7 will be met by the pupils’
identifying parallel stories in the literatures of West Africa and the Gullah
Islanders. Their listening to the
various folktales and stories is in keeping with
Communications Standard #7.
The classes’ identifying and analyzing the impact of industry on the
Sea Island people and their way of life will satisfy the requirements for
Science and Technology Standards #4 and #7, Career Education and Work Standard
#2, and Environment and Ecology Standard #2.
Their identifying the herbs and roots used by the Gullah for healing
various ailments is in keeping with Science and Technology Standards #1 and #4.
These objectives are appropriate for the standards for fourth and fifth
grades.
Strategies
To
engage the classes and to accommodate a variety of learning styles, material
will be presented in several fashions. I
shall use films so that the children can see the beauty and uniqueness of the
Sea Islands, including the grave decorating, and so that they can hear Gullah
spoken. I obtained large maps from
the United States Department of the Interior so that they can easily see the
islands with their many inland waterways and the lines of longitude and
latitude. I have an overview map so
that they can see the coastline of the United States and the location of the Sea
Islands in relation to each other and to the mainland.
The art teacher will show the classes works of Gullah artists and
artisans and examples of the basket weaving, fishnet weaving, and quilting.
The science teacher will permit the students in the cooperative learning
groups to use Powerpoint to present their information on roots and herbs to the
classes. I have found a number of
colorful books that depict Gullah life for children.
Storytelling appeals to children not otherwise easily engaged in
learning. I have already started to
share some of the Gullah stories with grades one through five, resulting in
requests for more. Asking the
classes to compare stories engages them in one of the higher levels of Bloom’s
Taxonomy. They have begun to learn
from me some of the chants and songs belonging to the culture, and their
enthusiasm is encouraging. I’ll
present Gullah sayings and let them puzzle out the meanings.
The classes will form cooperative learning groups to use the reference
tools, both print and electronic. I
shall bring in examples of Ashanti weaving that I bought while in Ghana and will
share my memory of watching men and boys weaving at looms with their feet.
I’ll also show the children raw cotton brought up from the South.
To engage their sense of taste, the teachers working on the Gullah unit
and I will serve Gullah cuisine.
The
fourth and fifth grades at my one school currently come to the library for one
forty-minute period on alternate weeks. At
my other school the fourth and fifth graders have library for one forty-five
minute period each week. The other
grades have library once a week.
To introduce
the unit, I shall show a few clips from the movie,
Daughters of the Dust, so that the classes can see the beauty of the islands
and be inspired by their air of mystery. The
scenes of the men engaging in capoeira and of the young women and girls playing
games on the beach will be included.
To offer visual aids in describing Gullah history, I shall enlarge the
map depicting the location of the West African ethnic groups from which Gullah
people came that is found in Pollitzer
(26). Then I’ll let the pupils look at a map showing the eastern
United States, pointing out where the Sea Islands are. Using the map scale, they will figure out how long a voyage
the Middle Passage was. I’ll show
the classes Tom Feelings’ book, The
Middle Passage, and I shall read
Julius Lester’s book, From Slave Ship to
Freedom Road, to them so that they
can better visualize the trauma that the captured Africans experienced both
during the Middle Passage and upon landing.
The dedication page of Feeling’s book mentions his wife Dianne.
I’ll tell the children how she and I were on the same People to People
trip to South Africa. We went as children’s literature specialists.
I’ll also share how I spent time one evening chatting with Julius
Lester so that I could knowledgeably introduce him to the audience at the
Carnegie Library Fall Festival of Children’s Books the following day.
I’ve discovered that when I reveal that I have met an author, the
children seem more interested in him/her. I
think it makes the person seem “more real” to them.
I find that children like to learn how to say words and phrases in other
languages. Whenever I am aware of
an ethnic holiday or season, such as Latino Heritage Month, Chinese New Year,
and African American Heritage Month, I teach the children how to say hello and
other common expressions. I also do
this when I tell folktales from various countries.
When I introduce the unit on Gullah culture, I shall show the classes the
Gullah day clock, as depicted in Banks (front of book).
Throughout the unit I shall introduce Gullah words and phrases from time
to time. I shall also point out
some of the African/Gullah words that we use in American English, such as okra,
nana, gumbo, and goober.
I’ll introduce the basket or cradle names used by Gullah families to
name their children in addition to their official names.
I shall show them my alternate name in the Twi language, spoken in Ghana,
and display for them on the blackboard the Twi names based on days of the week. This way they can find their own names based on when they
were born.
In the library science curriculum the fourth and fifth grades are taught
various parts of a book, e.g., half title page, dedication page, foreward,
preface, introduction, appendix, text, index, and table of contents.
Third graders are taught the parts of a title page.
I shall use some of the children’s books relating to the Gullah culture
to accomplish these aims, so that they will be receiving additional exposure to
the material.
The science teacher and I will show the fourth and fifth grade classes
the pictures and descriptions of various herbs along with their uses (Mitchell
39-100). The children will be
divided into cooperative learning groups to investigate the properties and uses
of herbs and roots of their choosing. They
will illustrate their findings and present the information to the classes using
Powerpoint. As an extension
project, the pupils will plant an herb garden on the property adjacent to the
school. To demonstrate the culinary
properties of some herbs, mint and sassafras teas will be made and served by the
children with the guidance of the science teacher.
The classes can see the healing properties of some plants in lip balm and
aloe. They will discover that
plants which have olfactory appeal, such as peppermint, are used in lotions and
massage oils and in potpourri. We
shall pass these out so that the children can smell the different aromas.
When the art teacher introduces quilting, I shall bring in my Kente cloth
stoles and cloths and share with the classes how I saw the Ashanti men and boys,
using their feet, weaving the cloth in strips while I was in Ghana.
I find that pupils enjoy hearing about how I have acquired various
articles of clothing and artifacts, especially if they have not been familiar
with them. They soon begin to
recognize the origin of other examples of jewelry and clothing.
As a culminating activity, the art teacher, the social studies teacher, the science teacher, and I will cook Gullah cuisine. We shall have an exhibit of photographs showing the planting and harvesting of rice and of cotton in the Sea Islands. We’ll also show photographs of the mortar and pestle used in making indigo dye, both in West Africa and on the Sea Islands. We shall show pictures of the fishing nets and pictures of people fishing, tossing the nets and using the drum fishing method. The children will display their artwork and will present a puppet show based on Gullah folktale.
“Never forget
the bridge that carries you over.”
A Gullah Saying
Annotated
Adult Reference List
Books
Bennett, John. Doctor
to the Dead, Grotesque Legends and Folk Tales of Old Charleston
New York. Rinehart, 1946.
Twenty-three folktales, most of which are too lengthy and involved to
interest children. Often included
in bibliographies.
Burn, Billie. An
Island Named Daufuskie
Spartanburg. The Reprint Company, 1991.
Nineteen chapters and seventeen appendices. Extensive bibliography and index, although
index not sufficiently detailed. Illustrated
with black and white photographs, prints, and maps.
Covers history, topography, plantation life, culture, industry, family
records, slave prices, Gullah vocabulary and stories.
Author former Daufuskie postmaster.
Dabbs,
Edith M. Face of an Island, Leigh Richmond Miner’s Photographs of Saint Helena
Island New York.
Grossman Publishers, 1970. A
collection of large, clear, black and white photographs of people, buildings,
artifacts, and scenery of St. Helena with informative captions. Useful foreward.
Endpapers are plantation maps of St. Helena.
Daise,
Ronald. Reminiscences of Sea Island Heritage Orangeburg.
Sandlapper Publishing, Inc. 1986.
A photographic essay of St. Helena Island with recollections by the
people themselves. Author a native
of St. Helena whose parents are graduataes of the Penn School.
Photographs from late 1800’s and early 1900’s.
Dash,
Julie. Daughters of the Dust
New York. Dutton, 1997.
Expands the story from the award-winning film of the same title,
following the characters to whom we were introduced in the film.
Hagar’s granddaughter leaves Harlem to do anthrophological research
among her own Gullah people on the Sea Islands.
Green,
Jonathan. Gullah Images: The
Art of Jonathan Green
Columbia. University of South Carolina Press, 1996.
A collection of large color plates of Green’s paintings.
Biographical information on the Gullah artist.
Index.
Herskovitz,
Melville. Myth of the Negro Past
Gloucester. Peter Smith,
1941, 1958. Nine chapters with
useful notes on each chapter. A
bibliography and a supplementary bibliography as well as a thorough index.
A pioneering study by one of the leading scholars on Africanisms in North
America.
Holland,
Rupert Sargent, editor. Letters
and Diary of Laura M. Towne Written from the Sea
Islands of South Carolina 1862-1884
New York. Negro Universities
Press, 1912, 1969. Foreward by
Alice N. Lincoln. No index.
Towne was a Pittsburgh native.
Holloway,
Joseph E., editor. Africanisms in American Culture
Bloomington and Indianapolis. Indiana
University Press, 1990. Ten essays
by Holloway, Asante, Mulira, Creel, Hall, Brandon, Thompson, Maultsby, Robinson,
and Philips. Very informative
introduction. Notes following each
essay. Identification of
contributors. Thorough index.
Illustrated with black and white photographs and line drawings.
Holloway,
Joseph E. and Vass, Winifred K. The
African Heritage of American English
Bloomington and Indianapolis. Indiana
University Press, 1993. A
compilation of African retentions in American English divided into five
sections. Includes place names,
folklore, food culture, and religion. A
biographical dedication to Lorenzo Dow Turner.
Maps and tables. Well indexed.
Johnson,
Guion Griffis. A Social History of the Sea Islands, with Special Reference to St. Helena
Island, South Carolina
Chapel Hill. University of North Carolina Press, 1930.
Nine chapters devoting particular attention to the labor culture of
cotton, rice, and indigo and the effects of the Civil War. Thorough index.
Illustrated with black and white photographs.
Johnson,
Guy Benton. Folk Culture on St. Helena Island, South Carolina
Hatboro. Folklore
Associates, Inc. 1930, 1968. Divided
into three sections, Gullah dialect, folk songs, and folklore.
Bibliography and index. Very
informative foreward by Don Yoder, placing Johnson’s assertion that Gullah
derives more from English and overseers’ babytalk than from African sources in
juxtaposition with Turner and Herskovitz. Foreward
excerpts Johnson’s response to Herskovitz and Turner.
Jones,
Bessie. For the Ancestors: Autobiographical
Memories Collected
and edited by John Stewart. Urbana.
University of Illinois Press, 1983. Told by the last active member of the
original Georgia Sea Island Singers, Ms Jones recounts her life as a
sharecropper, farmhand, migrant worker, domestic servant, railroad camp cook,
and cannery worker. She won awards
for educational programs and recordings.
Jones,
Bessie and Hawes, Bess Lomax. Step
It Down: Games, Plays, Songs, and Stories from the Afro-American Heritage
New York.
Harper & Row, 1972. Instructions
on words and steps of many songs and games that Ms Jones recalls from her
childhood and early adulthood. Many
were learned from her enslaved grandparents.
Divided into nine sections according to type.
Contains a note for scholars, a selected bibliography, a discography,
annotations, and an informative introduction.
Well indexed.
Jones-Jackson,
Patricia. When Roots Die, Endangered Traditions on the Sea Islands
Athens and London. University
of Georgia Press, 1987. Covers
social history and organization, folk literature, texts, and language.
Map showing South Carolina Sea Islands.
Four appendices, extensive notes, selected bibliography.
Thorough index. Foreword by Charles Joyner.
Preface informative about author’s research, emphasizing the importance
of interdisciplinary research and of recognizing the dignity and knowledge of
the people being studied. She
worked with Faith Mitchell (See her entry in bibliography) and made Sea Island
trips with Muriel Miller Branch (See her entry in student bibliography.).
Touching memorial tribute to Jones-Jackson who was killed doing National
Geographic research on Johns Island.
Joyner,
Charles. Down by the Riverside, a South Carolina Slave Community
Urbana and Chicago. University
of Illinois Press, 1984. A
cultural history and study of slave existence that includes emotional impact of
the institution. Examines the
cultural change that took place within the enslaved community.
Notes on each section and index.
Joyner,
Charles. Shared Traditions: Southern
History and Folk Culture
Urbana. University of
Illinois Press, 1999. Essays on the
relation between history and culture in the South with a reflection on the
future of folk culture. Emphasizes
the distinctive Southern culture formed from African, Native American, and
European heritages. Extensive
notes. Well indexed.
Joyner,
Charles W. Folk Song in South Carolina
Columbia. University of
South Carolina Press, 1971. Five
chapters on significance of folk music, ballads, religious songs, and seculars.
Songs accompanied by information on where they were collected and by
whom.
Longsworth,
Polly. I, Charlotte Forten, Black and Free New York.
Thomas Y. Crowell, 1920. Biogrpahy
of the free black woman from the famous Philadelphia family who taught on St.
Helena Island and kept a journal of the events.
Index.
Mitchell,
Faith. Hoo Doo Medicine: Gullah
Herbal Remedies Columbia.
Summerhouse Press, 1999. Good
history of the Islands followed by a directory of various herbs and roots with
African American, European, and Native American uses.
Black and white line drawings of plants.
Moutoussamy-Ashe,
Jeanne. Daufuskie Island, a Photographic Essay Columbia.
University of South Carolina Press, 1982.
Foreward by Alex Haley and preface document the end to a way of life on
the island.
Opala,
Joseph. The Gullah: Rice, Slavery,
and the Sierra Leone-American Connection
(pamphlet) Freetown.
USIS, 1987. History and
culture of Gullah people, emphasizing rice connection to Sierra Leone.
Includes section on history of the Floridian Gullah who became known as
Black Seminoles and provides update on their current whereabouts.
Illustrated with black and white photographs and drawings.
Pinckney,
Roger. Blue Roots: African-American
Folk Magic of the Gullah People
St. Paul. Llewellyn
Publishers, 1998. Very informative
history and culture of the Gullah people with a concentration on root workers. Index not sufficiently detailed.
Pollitzer,
William S. The Gullah People and Their African Heritage
Athens. University of
Georgia Press, 1999. Scholarly work
on history and culture of Gullahs divided into five parts.
Maps, tables, black and white photographs.
Very extensive bibliography and index.
Turner,
Lorenzo Dow. Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect Chicago.
University of Chicago Press, 1949. A
pioneering study by one of the leading scholars of Africanisms.
Author studied African, Native American, and European languages as well
as Gullah.
Includes phonetics, syntax, sounds, morphology,
intonation, texts, African and Gullah names, and difficulties faced by
researchers. Provides quotations
from proponents of the British heritage theory of the Gullah language.
Maps of Gullah areas and west coast of Africa.
Chapter notes and thorough index.
Twining,
Mary Arnold and Baird, Keith E. Sea
Island Roots: African
Presence in the Carolinas and Georgia
Trenton. Africa World Press,
Inc., 1991. Thirteen essays by
various authors. Chapter 14 by
Twining is a valuable tool describing the books and articles on the Sea
Islanders published by others. Sources and index.
Walker,
Barbara and Warren, S., editors. Nigerian
Folktales New
Brunswick. Rutgers University Press, 1961.
Divided into demon lovers, pourquoi stories, moral fables, trickster
tales, and fertility tales. Detailed
notes on each section and each story. Extensive
bibliography.
Whaley,
Marcellus S. The Old Types Pass, Gullah Sketches of the Carolina Sea Islands Boston.
Christopher Publishing House, 1925.
Illustrated by Edna Reed Whaley. Introduction
reveals paternatistic attitude but realization that Africans executed a profound
influence on all around them. A
collection of twenty-five Gullah recollections in what seems to be modified
Gullah dialect.
Periodicals
Weatherwise August/September 1998.
Volume 46, Issue 4:13.
AAA.
Alabama, Georgia State Series
AAA.
Florida State Series
AAA.
North Carolina, South Carolina State Series
National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, National Ocean Service, Office of Coast
Survey. United States Atlantic and
Gulf Coasts including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
U. S. Department of Interior, U. S. Geological Survey. Beaufort Quadrangle
U. S. Department of Interior, U. S. Geological Survey. Frogmore Quadrangle
U.
S. Department of Interior, U. S. Geological Survey. Jekyll Island Quadrangle
U.
S. Department of Interior, U. S. Geological Survey. St. George Southwest Quadrangle
U.
S. Department of Interior, U. S. Geological Survey. St. Phillips Island Quadrangle
U.
S. Department of Interior, U. S. Geological Survey. Sapelo Sound Quadrangle
Bundschuh, Werner, writer. Yonder Come Day Del Mar. McGraw Hill Films, 1975. Director and producer Milton Fruchtman. 16mm film and videorecording. Documents the efforts of Bessie Jones, last active member of the original Georgia Sea Island Singers, to pass on the songs, games, and traditions of the Gullah past to new generations. Born in 1902, Ms Jones learned many of the songs from her grandfather, who had been brought from Africa and died at 105. 28 minutes.
Dash,
Julie, writer and director. Daughters
of the Dust New
York. American Playhouse Theatrical Films, a Geechee Girls Production:
Kino on Video, 1992. Cinematographer
Arthur Jafa. A breathtakingly
beautiful film of a multigenerational Gullah family about to leave their Sea
Island home to live on the mainland at the turn of the century. There is conflict between those members who want to retain
the old ways and those who want to move on.
Family
across the Sea South Carolina ETV
Network, distributed by California Newsreel, San Francisco, 1990.
Director Tim Carrier. Narrated
by author and librarian Augusta Baker, film documents the travels of Gullah
South Carolinians to their homeland of Sierra Leone.
Includes scenes from past and present, interviews with historians
including Lorenzo Dow Turner, examples of Africanisms retained in language,
music, folk crafts. 56 minutes.
Jones,
Bessie. Put Your Hand on Your Hip, and Let Your Backbone Slip:
Songs and Games from the Georgia Sea Islands
Cambridge. Rounder
Records Corporation. ROUN11587
compact disc. Thirty-one songs sung by Ms Jones, accompanied by tambourine
and various adult and children singers. Combines
the older albums, So Glad I’m Here
and Step It Down.
An attempt to preserve the rich Gullah heritage.
Jones,
Bessie, Davie, John, and Leecan, Bobby. Georgia
Sea Island Songs New
World Records, 1977. Compact disc.
Web Sites
www.discoversouthcarolina.com/asi/asiafricanamericanculttourism.asp
www.gacoast.com/navigator/quimbys.
Click on Gullah. This is about the Georgia Sea Island Singers.
Annotated
Student Bibliography
Books
Banks,
Sara Harrell. A Net to Catch Time
New York. Alfred A. Knopf,
1997. A picture book depicting a
day in the life of a Gullah family. A
Gullah calendar gives Gullah terminology for times of day according to nature
and activities. Very useful
glossary and author’s note. Illustrated
by Scott Cook.
Branch,
Muriel Miller. The Water Brought Us, the Story of the Gullah-Speaking People
New York. Cobblehill Books/Dutton, 1995.
Eight chapters on the Sea Islands people’s history, culture, impact of
wealthy developers, and the future of the Gullah people.
Extensive bibliography, index. Mistakenly
attributes Laura Towne’s birthplace to Philadelphia.
Illustrated with photographs by Gabriel Kuperminc and old prints.
English,
Karen. Neeny Coming, Neeny Going
Bridge Water Paperback, 1996. A
pictue book about two cousins, one of whom left Daufuskie Island to live on the
mainland. When Neeny returns for
vacation, her cousin is disappointed to see that she has changed.
Illustrated by Synthia Saint James.
Feelings,
Tom. The Middle Passage, White Ships, Black Cargo
New York. Dial Books, 1995. A
collection of textless pen and ink and tempera drawings dramatically depicting
the Middle Passage. Autobiographical
foreward by Feelings explaining his journey to and difficulty with producing
this monograph and its lasting effect on him.
Introduction by Dr. John Henrik Clarke.
Bilbiogra[hy and footnotes. Map
of the African Diaspora in the Americas.
Gauch,
Patricia Lee. Noah New
York. Philomel Books, 1994.
Biblical story of Noah and his family building the ark, gathering the animals,
and weathering the flood. Illustrated
by Gullah artist Jonathan Green.
Hamilton,
Virginia. Her Stories, African American Folktales, Fairy Tales, and True Tales
New York. Scholastic,
1995. A collection of sixteen
tellable folktales and three autobiographical recollections of elderly women.
Includes Gullah stories. Helpful
notes follow each tale. Useful
Sources section at back of book. Illustrated
by Leo and Diane Dillon.
Hamilton,
Virginia. The People Could Fly, American Black Folktales
New York. Alfred A. Knopf,
1985. Twenty-four tellable
folktales divided into three sections. Two
Gullah stories included. Useful
notes follow each story. Extensive
bibliography. Illustrated by Leo
and Diane Dillon.
Hamilton,
Virginia. A Ring of Tricksters, Animal Tales from America, the West Indies, and
Africa New York.
Scholastic, 1997. A
collection of folktales with notes accompanying each story.
Includes a Gullah tale. Lacks
specific sources. Illustrated by
Barry Moser.
Hamilton,
Virginia. When Birds Could Talk & Bats Could Sing: the Adventures of Bruh Sparrow,
Sis Wren, and Their Friends
New York. Scholastic, 1996.
Eight folktales written in cante fable fashion.
Helpful afterword. Illustrated
by Barry Moser.
Haseley,
Dennis. Crosby San
Diego, New York, London. Harcourt,
Brace & Company,
1996. Picture book of a young boy
who is a loner and prefers old and discarded items, rather than buying new.
Illustrated by Gullah artist Jonathan Green.
Hooks,
William H.
The Ballad of Belle Dorcas
New York. Alfred A. Knopf, 1990. A
Gullah folktale of a free woman who seeks help from a conjure woman to ensure
that she and her beloved, who is enslaved, may remain together.
Insightful author’s note. Illustrated
by Brian Pinkney.
Hooks,
William H. Freedom’s Fruit
New York. Alfred A. Knopf,
1996. A Gullah folktale of an
enslaved conjure woman who utilizes her power to obtain freedom for her daughter
and her daughter’s boyfriend. Illustrated
by James Ransome.
Jagendorf,
Moritz Adolph. Folk Stories of the South
New York. Vanguard Press,
1972. A collection of
ninety-five folktales divided into sections according to states.
Foreword by George F. Reinecke. Illustrated
by Michael Parks.
Jaquith,
Priscilla. Bo Rabbit Smart for True, Tall Tales from the Gullah
New York. Philomel Books, 1995. Six
folktales based on Albert H. Stoddard’s work. Good notes on parallel tales and
other versions of the stories. Illustrated
by Ed Young.
Krull,
Kathleen. Bridges to Change, How Kids Live on a South Carolina Sea
Island New
York. Lodestar Books/Durtton, 1995.
Depiction of contemporary children living on St. Helena Island with many
color photographs. Part of A World
of My Own series. Index and
bibliography. Photographs by David
Hautzig.
Lauture,
Denize. Father and Son
New York. Philomel Books,
1992. A picture book depicting a
boy and his father engaged in various activities together in a Gullah setting.
Illustrated by Gullah artist Jonathan Green.
Lester,
Julius. From Slave Ship to Freedom Road
New York. Dial Books, 1998.
Lester’s text written to accompany Rod Brown’s paintings, which have
been displayed as an exhibition entitled “From Slavery to Freedom” in
museums and showings. Text includes three imagination exercises for Whites and
Blacks. Note from author asking
readers to imagine themselves in the paintings.
Lyons,
Mary E. The Butter Tree, Tales of Bruh Rabbit New York.
Henry Holt & Company, 1995.
A collection of six folktales with a note on the stories.
Illustrated by Mireille Vautier.
Lyons,
Mary E. Raw Head, Bloody Bone, African American Tales of the Supernatural
New York. Scribner’s, 1991. Fifteen
folktales divided into four sections with informative explanatory notes
following each story. Includes a
section on the source and variants of the stories as well as
bibliographies of the stories and the notes and a suggested reading list.
McDermott,
Gerald. Zomo the Rabbit, a Trickster Tale from West Africa
San Diego, New York, London.
Harcourt Brace & Company, 1992.
A folktale in picture book format. Zomo
seeks wisdom but must first perform three impossible tasks ordered by Sky God.
Author’s note draws connection between Zomo in Hausaland and similar
folklore figures in the Caribbean and the United States.
Reneaux,
J. J. How Animals Saved the People: Animal
Tales from the South
New York. Harper Collins,
2001. A collection of eight
folktales that include Cajun, Creole, Native American, African American, and
Appalachian. Introduction with
helpful historical tidbits by the author who is African, Indigenous, and
European. Glossary for each story
and notes on every tale. Bibliography.
Illustrated by James Ransome. Touching
memorial tribute to author by Rafe Martin on back cover.
San
Souci, Robert D. Sukey and the Mermaid
New York. Four Winds Press, 1992.
Story of a young girl who is treated harshly by her stepfather and finds
solace and advice from a mermaid. Set
in Sea Islands. Author’s note
very informative. One of few
African American folktales involving a mermaid.
Illustrated by Brian Pinkney.
Sanfield,
Steve. The Adventures of High John the Conqueror New York.
Franklin Watts, 1989. A
collection of sixteen folktales about the trickster folk hero of African
Americans during and after enslavement. Illustrated
by John Ward.
Siegelson,
Kim. In the Time of the Drums
New York. Hyperion
Books for Children, 1999. Story of
an American-born boy and his African-born grandmother who leads the Ibo people
landing at Teakettle Creek to insurrection.
Based on Gullah folklore. Illustrated
by Brian Pinkney.
Siegelson,
Kim. The Terrible, Wonderful Tellin’ at Hog Hammock
New York. Harper and Row Publishers, 1996.
Story of a young Gullah boy who is expected to uphold family tradition
and participate in a storytelling contest.
He fears he won’t live up to memory of his grandfather.
Illustrated by Eric Velasquez.
Sturton,
Hugh.
Zomo the Rabbit
New York. Atheneum, 1966.
Eleven tales of Zomo brought from Hausaland in Nigeria.
Publisher’s note explains background of tales and author’s
modifications. Black and white drawings by Peter Warner.
Van
Laan, Nancy. With a Whoop and a Holler: a
Bushel of Lore from Way Down South
New York. Atheneum,
1992. A collection of rhymes,
riddles, sayings, stories, and superstitions organized into three sections:
Deep South, Bayou, and Appalachia. Illustrated
by Scott Cook.
Tales
from the Land of Gullah for Kids 0014
Charleston. Matrix
Media, Inc. A narrator introduces several characters from the islands:
a root lady, a spiritual leader, and a floosy, in vignettes. She tells a
Gullah Red Riding Hood tale and teaches chants that foster audience
participation to children and teens. She also provides a some history. Grave decorating mentioned.
Tales
from the Land of Gullah for Kids 0015
Charleston.
Matrix Media, Inc. Same narrator from above entry teaches Gullah words, phrases,
and chants and tells Gullah versions of Goldilocks, Three Little Pigs, and Red
Riding Hood to same audience as above.
Daise,
Ron. De Gullah Storybook (fa
Llaarn fa Count from 1 – 10)
Beaufort.
G. O. G. Enterprises. Compact
disc with book. Narrated by Ron and
Natalie Daise. A counting book with
English and Gullah poems.
Daise,
Ron. Little Muddy Waters
Beaufort. G. O. G. Enterprises. Compact
disc with book. Narrated by Ron and
Natalie Daise. Story based on
Gullah folk stories of “Little Eight John” and “Raw Head and Bloody
Bones.” Includes song “Respec
Yo Eldas.”
Web Sites
www.angelfire.com/sc/hjstevens/penncenter
Topics include African Culture, Afro American Web Sites, Gullah Culture,
Gullah Language, Penn Center,
Penn School, and Sea Islands.
www.beaufort-sc.com/penn/
Topics include Gullah.
www.coastalguide.com
Topics include Gullah.
www.encyclopedia.com
Topics include Gullah and Sea Islands.
www.fodors.com/features
Topics include Georgia Coast, Map of Georgia Coast, Map of South Carolina
Coast, South Carolina Coast.
www.fodors.com/features/archive.cfm#fd
Go to Sights, then to Dozen Dazzling Drives, then to South Carolina Sea
Islands for very simple, clear map of some of the Sea Islands.
Appendix
Standards
Arts and
Humanities
1. All
students describe the meanings they find in various works from the visual and
performing arts and literature on the basis of aesthetic understanding of the
art form.
2.
All students evaluate and respond critically to works from the visual and
performing arts and literature of various individuals and cultures, showing that
they understand important features of the works.
3. All students relate various works from the visual and performing arts and literature to the historical and cultural context within which they were created.
Career Education
and Work
2.
All students assess how changes in society, technology, government, and
the economy affect individuals and their careers and require them to continue
learning.
Communications
1. All
students use effective research and information management skills, including locating
primary and secondary sources of information with traditional and emerging
library technologies.
2. All
students read and use a variety of methods to make sense of various kinds of
complex texts.
3. All
students respond orally and in writing to information and ideas gained by
reading narrative and informational texts and use the information and ideas to
make decisions and solve problems.
7. All
students listen to and understand complex oral messages and identify their
purpose, structure, and use.
Environment and
Ecology
2.
All students analyze the effects of social systems, behaviors, and
technologies on ecological systems and environmental quality.
Information
Literacy
1. The
student who is information literate accesses information efficiently and
effectively.
2. The
student who is information literate evaluates information critically and
competently.
9. The student who contributes positively to the learning community and to society is information literate and participates effectively in groups to pursue and generate information.
Copyright 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, American Library Association
Mathematics
2. All
students compute, measure, and estimate to solve theoretical and practical
problems, using appropriate tools, including modern technology, such as
calculators and computers.
Science and
Technology
1. All
students explain how scientific principles of chemical, physical, and biological
phenomena have developed and relate them to real-world situations.
4. All
students explain the relationships among science, technology, and society.
7. All
students evaluate advantages, disadvantages, and ethical implications associated
with the impact of science and technology on current and future life.
Social Studies
1. All
students demonstrate an understanding of major events, cultures, groups, and
individuals in the historical development of Pennsylvania, the United States,
and other nations, and describe the patterns of historical development.
2. All
students demonstrate understanding of themes and patterns of geography, know the
location of major bodies of water, land masses, and nations, and describe the
relationships between geography and historical, economic, and cultural
development.
4. All students examine and evaluate problems facing citizens in
their communities, state, nation, and world by incorporating concepts and
methods of inquiry of the various social sciences.
9. All students demonstrate an understanding of the history and nature of prejudice and relate their knowledge to current issues facing communities, the United States, and other nations.