Post by Victoria A. Smalls

Today, Executive Director Victoria Smalls gave opening remarks at the documentary screening of “Gullah Roots” at The Joyner Institute for Gullah Geechee and African Diaspora Studies. These are a few of the words she shared to an virtual and in-person audience at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC. “If culture is the shared characteristics of a group of people, which embraces, place of birth or origin, religion, language, cuisine, social behaviors, beliefs, art, literature, and music, then one’s cultural identity is the feeling and a knowing that you belong to that group of people. Gullah Geechee people, We People, are descendants of Africans who were enslaved on the rice, indigo and Sea Island cotton plantations of the lower Atlantic coast of the United States. Our ancestors came from the rice-growing region of West Africa. The nature of their enslavement on isolated island and coastal plantations created a unique culture with deep African retentions that are clearly visible in our distinctive arts, crafts, foodways, music, language, spiritual expressions, and in our everyday lives. I had the special bounty of taking a life-changing journey with a group of people to see the group of people we belong to. Our journey was documented with the aim of sharing our experience with world. ‘Gullah Roots’ reaffirms the ties between Gullah Geechee people and West Africa, talks about the challenges many in the Gullah Geechee community face today, and explores the progress we have made since the first journey to Sierra Leone filmed 30 years ago. During and after the journey, filmmakers with SC ETV interviewed the travelers and shared their moving reactions to the deep connections between Sierra Leonian culture and Gullah Geechee culture. While in Sierra Leone, I was able to see my culture unfold before my eyes. I witnessed where my identity was birthed. ‘Gullah Roots’ aims to raise awareness about the Gullah Geechee community and the strong connections to West Africa.”