African-American culture at crossroads

By Matt Wells
BBC News, Gullah-Geechee Corridor

Jamal Toure uses story-telling to keep the culture alive

Its official name is the Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, but what it represents is a lifeline to America's oldest African way of life.

Known as Gullah in the Carolinas, and Geechee in Florida and Georgia, it's a multi-faceted language that blends African tribal dialects with mainly pre-20th Century English.

It's also a coherent culture that melds African village life with the very different surroundings of colonial America, and the forced indignities of plantation slavery.

It has existed on America's south-east coast ever since the first slave ships began arriving.

Last year, Congress passed laws identifying the corridor, and established a budget of $10m, for the nurturing and promotion of Gullah-Geechee sites all along the coast.

In recent weeks, a series of public meetings have been held in the key states, to establish a commission which will oversee the work.

One of those who may well serve is Jamal Toure, a young - but senior - member of the Gullah-Geechee Nation, based in the historic port city of Savannah.

He offered to spend the day with BBC News, to highlight what the culture represents, and the extent to which it permeates African-American life.

"We are a land people, and also a water people," said Jamal. "One of the things that weaves it all together and connects people is the fact of the language."

He also credits the internet for being a primary force in bringing the disparate practitioners of the culture, who were scattered across several states, together.

Jamal wears several official Gullah hats, and also sees his role as bringing America's African heritage fully alive through story-telling and historical revisionism.

'Sickly slaves'

We began the day travelling with a touring choir from the South African province of Kwazulu-Natal, to a beach near Savannah, known as Lazaretto Creek.

There, the young, track-suited members of the "Singing For Joy" troop were told about the creek's blighted past, as a so-called quarantine station for sickly slaves.

Jim Bacote is a practising Muslim, as well as Gullah

Many died there from lack of medical care. The youngsters were visibly moved by the vivid image of thousands of their continental ancestors arriving on shore, to fuel the economy of the old South.

There is no sign-post from the main road that would encourage tourists to stop and remember. There is no monument to the terrible waste of African life.

After listening to a chorus of "Nkosi Sikelei' iAfrika" as the waves lapped on the shore, we said goodbye to the choir, and drove south, towards the town which has the heaviest concentration of Gullah-Geechee speakers in the world.

"It's about making sure that people realise that the epicentre of Gullah-Geechee culture is right here," said Jamal, as we arrived in the driveway of the Geechee Kunda cultural centre and museum.

Kunda is a tribal word for compound, but the centre created by Jim and Pat Bacote in the town of Riceboro Georgia manages to be a living museum, meeting place, artists' gallery, and an excellent place to sample the rice and shrimp-based cuisine of the Southern Low Country.

The culture and language spans several southern states

"It's a close sense of family," said Jim, referring to the whole notion of being Gullah. "It's a spiritual bond that draws you back. We know that this is our holy land."

"This is where we feel protection, and hope," he added.

'Cultural plight'

The Gullah had to keep many of their African traditions alive in secret during the slave era.

Religious life is historically tied to the Christian Bible, but also tribal mysticism. Jamal and Jim are both practising Muslims.

Although much of Gullah vocabulary is English, the heavy patois and varied accents, combined with extraordinary verbal speed, make it impossible to follow for a non-speaker.

The culture will die if we don't do something right now Griffin Lotson, Gullah-Geechee politician

"Nothing moves without the women," said Bethany Campbell, who was preparing delicious mounds of food for any friend of Geechee Kunda who might drop by. More than 30 people ended up eating there that afternoon.

"Because we are all multi-lingual we will go automatically from speaking in our own dialect to whatever's necessary, to suit the person we're conversing with."

At the back of everybody's mind at the Geechee Kunda is the sense of their culture standing at a crossroads. Many of the oldest and best preserved sites are on the coastal islands, which have become prized real-estate for big developers in recent years.

The temptation to sell, and head for a new more materialistic life way inland, has proven too strong for many.

One prominent Gullah-Geechee politician and rural advocate, Griffin Lotson, was among the visitors to drop by the Kunda.

"We're going to lose land," he said.

"The culture will die if we don't do something right now."

He stood for state-wide election last year, and helped bring the culture's plight to national prominence.

Although he did not win, this year he is vying to become the first Gullah-Geechee mayor of one of Georgia's largest cities.

Having done much of the groundwork for it over the last four years, he is hoping that both Jim and Jamal will be chosen to serve on the new corridor commission.

"If we can get true people on that board, then we will be in more control to tell our story - and not let somebody else do it."