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59-501: Bilali Mohammed was an enslaved West African on a plantation on Sapelo Island, Georgia. According to his descendant, Cornelia Bailey , in her history, God, Dr. Buzzard and The Bolito Man, Bilali was from the area of present-day Sierra Leone . He was a master cultivator of rice , a skill prized by Georgia planters. William Brown Hodgson was among scholars who met Bilali. Bilali was born in Timbo , Guinea sometime between 1760 and 1779 to

118-641: A Governor's Award in the Humanities for her cultural preservation work. Bailey died on October 15, 2017, in Brunswick, Georgia, at the age of 72. Gullah The Gullah ( / ˈ ɡ ʌ l ə / ) are a subgroup of the African American ethnic group, who predominantly live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of South Carolina , North Carolina , Georgia , and Florida within

177-604: 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. Gullah culture has proven to be particularly resilient. Gullah traditions are strong in the rural areas of the Lowcountry mainland and on

236-582: A similar colony established in the early 19th century by the American Colonization Society . As it was a place for freed slaves and free blacks from the United States, some free blacks emigrated there voluntarily, for the chance to create their own society. The Gullah people have been able to preserve much of their African cultural heritage because of climate, geography, cultural pride, and patterns of importation of enslaved Africans. The peoples who contributed to Gullah culture included

295-511: A symbol of cultural pride for blacks throughout the United States and a subject of general interest in the media. Numerous newspaper and magazine articles, documentary films, and children's books on Gullah culture, have been produced, in addition to popular novels set in the Gullah region. In 1991 Julie Dash wrote and directed Daughters of the Dust , the first feature film about the Gullah, set at

354-587: 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

413-591: A well-educated African Muslim family. He was enslaved as a teenager, taken to the Bahamas and sold to Dr. Bell, where he was worked as a slave for ten years at his Middle Caicos plantation. Bell was a Loyalist colonial refugee from the American Revolutionary War who had been resettled by the Crown at Middle Caicos. He sold Bilali in 1802 to a trader who took the man to Georgia. Bilali Mohammed

472-464: Is a staple food in Gullah communities and continues to be cultivated in abundance in the coastal regions of Georgia and South Carolina. Rice is also an important food in West African cultures. As descendants of enslaved Africans, the Gullah continued the traditional food and food techniques of their ancestors, demonstrating another link to traditional African cultures. Rice is a core commodity of

531-643: 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

590-601: Is an American musical children's television series that was produced by and aired on the Nick Jr. programming block on the Nickelodeon network from October 24, 1994, to April 7, 1998. The show was hosted by Ron Daise—now the former vice president for Creative Education at Brookgreen Gardens in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina—and his wife Natalie Daise, both of whom also served as cultural advisors, and were inspired by

649-941: 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 Homecoming (in production). The Gullah have preserved many of their west African food ways growing and eating crops such as Sea island red peas , Carolina Gold rice , Sea island Benne, Sea island Okra, sorghum , and watermelon all of which were brought with them from West Africa . Rice

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708-710: Is pronounced "Gwullah" among members of the Akan ethnic group in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire . The primary land route through which captured Dyula people then came into contact with European slavers was the "Grain Coast" and "Rice Coast" (present-day Liberia, Sierra Leone, Senegambia, and Guinea). One scholar suggested that the Gullah-Geechee name could have also been adopted from the Ogeechee River . Sapelo Island ,

767-605: Is under preparation by al-Ahari as national secretary of the Noble Order of Moorish Sufis and long-time researcher on American Islamic history and literature. The concept of a Matn (source text) with several extended commentaries is a traditional genre in Islamic literature. The commentaries may be linguistic, spiritual, and even have the function of relating the text to similar works. Further research on Bilali's life and his influence upon both American Islamic literature and to

826-525: The Journal of Negro History . Since the turn of the 21st century, it has been analyzed by Ronald Judy, Joseph Progler, Allan D. Austin and Muhammed al-Ahari . The Bilali Muhammad Document is also known as the Ben Ali Diary or Ben Ali Journal . On close analysis, the text proves to be a brief statement of Islamic beliefs and the rules for ablution, morning prayer, and the calls to prayer. When it

885-514: The American Revolutionary War , the British did not allow slaves to be taken from Sierra Leone, protecting the people from kidnappers. In 1808 both Great Britain and the United States prohibited the African slave trade . After that date, the British, whose navy patrolled to intercept slave ships off Africa, sometimes resettled Africans liberated from slave trader ships in Sierra Leone. Similarly, Americans sometimes settled freed slaves at Liberia ,

944-676: The Bakongo , Mbundu , Vili , Yombe , Yaka , Pende , Mandinka , Kissi , Fulani , Mende , Wolof , Kpelle , Temne , Limba , Dyula , Susu , and the Vai . 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

1003-560: The Dyula ethnic group of West Africa, from whom the American Gullah might be partially descended. The Dyula civilization had a large territory that stretched from Senegal through Mali to Burkina Faso and the rest of what was French West Africa . These were vast savanna lands with lower population densities. Slave raiding was easier and more common here than in forested areas with natural forms of physical defenses. The word " Dyula "

1062-683: The Geechee-Gullah culture of Sapelo Island, Georgia . Bailey was born on June 12, 1945, to Hicks Walker and Hettie Bryant. She was a descendant of Bilali Muhammad , an enslaved person and a Muslim from West Africa, who worked on Thomas Spalding's plantation. Bilali Muhammad was born sometime between 1760 and the 1770s in Timbo, Guinea. He was 14 when he was captured in tribal warfare, enslaved and taken to Nassau, Bahamas, where white planter Thomas Spalding purchased him and took him to Sapelo Island in 1803. By 1810, he oversaw all activities on

1121-623: The Gullah dialect of English needs to be carried out in order to present a complete picture of this unique historical American Muslim author. Several reviewers of the manuscript have portrayed it as the scribblings of an old man copying from memory lessons of childhood. But, more expert translations of the text have shown it to be an original composition that drew from the Risalah of Abi Zayd of al-Qayrawan. Some accounts, including that of Reverend Dwight York (aka Imam Isa), who claimed that Bilali

1180-625: The U.S. Civil War began, the Union rushed to blockade Confederate shipping. White planters on the Sea Islands, fearing an invasion by the US naval forces, abandoned their plantations and fled to the mainland. When Union forces arrived on the Sea Islands in 1861, they found the Gullah people eager for their freedom, and eager as well to defend it. Many Gullah served with distinction in the Union Army 's First South Carolina Volunteers . The Sea Islands were

1239-581: 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, Georgia . Gullah culture

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1298-459: The 1960s, resort development on the Sea Islands has greatly increased property values, threatening to push the Gullah off family lands which they have owned since emancipation . They have fought back against uncontrolled development on the islands through community action, the courts, and the political process. The Gullah have also struggled to preserve their traditional culture in the face of much more contact with modern culture and media. In 1979,

1357-706: The Bilali Muhammad Society (1988), in Charleston, South Carolina. The research institute has since been renamed the Muslim American Cultural Heritage Institute. It has a new board and is planning to become incorporated as a 503c corporation in Chicago. Cornelia Walker Bailey Cornelia Walker Bailey (June 12, 1945 – October 15, 2017) was a storyteller, writer, and historian who worked to preserve

1416-488: 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

1475-530: The Gullah language is sometimes considered as being similar to Bahamian Creole , Barbadian Creole , Guyanese Creole , Belizean Creole , Jamaican Patois , Trinidadian Creole , Tobagonian Creole , and the Sierra Leone Krio language of West Africa . 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. The origin of

1534-628: The Gullah people. British planters in the Caribbean and the Southern colonies of North America referred to this area as the "Grain Coast" or "Rice Coast"; many of the tribes are of Mandé or Manding origins. The name "Geechee", another common name for the Gullah people, may derive from the name of the Kissi people , an ethnic group living in the border area between Sierra Leone, Guinea , and Liberia. Another possible linguistic source for "Gullah" are

1593-411: The Lowcountry during the rainy spring and summer months when fevers ran rampant. Others lived mostly in cities such as Charleston rather than on the isolated plantations, especially those on the Sea Islands. The planters left their European or African "rice drivers", or overseers, in charge of the rice plantations . These had hundreds of laborers, with African traditions reinforced by new imports from

1652-784: The Oral Traditions of Gullah-Geechee Communities on Sapelo Island, Georgia", published in 2003 by The State University of West Georgia. In the book, which collects oral history interviews that were conducted in 1992, she asks questions of the island's elders and joins them in reminiscences of the ways of the past. Bailey worked with cuisine revivalists to bring Purple Ribbon sugarcane, a strain close to extinction, to Sapelo Island. They planted it on her farm in Hog Hammock as well as at Dr. Bill Thomas and Jerome Dixon's Georgia Coastal Gourmet Farms in nearby Shellman Bluff. Its first yield – 50 gallons of Sapelo Purple Ribbon Sugarcane Syrup –

1711-721: The Sea Islands, and among their people in urban areas such as Charleston and Savannah. Gullah people who have left the Lowcountry and moved far away have also preserved traditions; for instance, many Gullah in New York, who went North in the Great Migration of the first half of the 20th century, have established their own neighborhood churches in Harlem , Brooklyn , and Queens . Typically they send their children back to rural communities in South Carolina and Georgia during

1770-446: The United States from a British attack. Upon Bilali's death in 1857, it was discovered that he had written a thirteen-page Arabic manuscript. At first, this was thought to have been his diary, but closer inspection revealed that the manuscript was a transcription of a Muslim legal treatise and part of West Africa's Muslim curriculum. The first partial translation of the document was undertaken in 1939 by Joseph Greenberg and published in

1829-609: The coastal plain and the Sea Islands . Their language and culture have preserved a significant influence of Africanisms as a result of their historical geographic isolation and the community's relation to its shared history and identity. 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. The Gullah people and their language are also called Geechee , which may be derived from

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1888-516: The community. Her first book, the memoir "God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man: A Saltwater Geechee Talks About Life on Sapelo Island, Georgia," was written with Christena Bledsoe and published in 2000. The book collects stories about her own childhood, as well as tales about her ancestors and the history of Sapelo Island. Bailey was one of the authors, with Ray Crook, Norma Harris, and Karen Smith, of "Sapelo Voices: Historical Anthropology and

1947-570: The enslaved Africans taken in West Africa were processed through Bunce Island. It was a prime export site for slaves to South Carolina and Georgia. Slave castles in Ghana, by contrast, shipped many of the people they handled to ports and markets in the Caribbean islands. After Freetown, Sierra Leone, was founded in the late 18th century by the British as a colony for poor black people from London and black Loyalists from Nova Scotia resettled after

2006-467: The face of a dwindling population and increasing real estate development – a trend bringing wealthy white people to build large vacation homes on the historically black island. She taught crafts she herself had learned from her father: basket weaving, cast net knitting, herb collecting, and midwifery. She was known locally as a griot , a storyteller and unofficial historian of Sapelo Island. Bailey traveled to Sierra Leone in 1989, where she investigated

2065-616: The first place in the South where slaves were freed. Long before the War ended, Unitarian missionaries from Pennsylvania came to start schools on the islands for the newly freed slaves. Penn Center , now a Gullah community organization on Saint Helena Island , South Carolina, was founded as the first school for freed slaves. After the Civil War ended, the Gullahs' isolation from the outside world increased in some respects. The rice planters on

2124-594: The links between Sapelo Island and West African traditions. She noted similar forms of vernacular architecture, as well as similar agricultural techniques and cooking styles. Bailey served as vice president of the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society, which she co-founded in 1993 with Inez Grovner. They began organizing Sapelo Island Cultural Days, held annually in October, which aimed to bring in tourists and generate income to help preserve

2183-416: The mainland gradually abandoned their plantations and moved away from the area because of labor issues and hurricane damage to crops. Free blacks were unwilling to work in the dangerous and disease-ridden rice fields. A series of hurricanes devastated the crops in the 1890s. Left alone in remote rural areas of the Lowcountry, the Gullah continued to practice their traditional culture with little influence from

2242-704: The mainland or the Sea Islands. Because of a period of relative isolation from whites while working on large plantations in rural areas, the Africans, enslaved from a variety of Central and West African ethnic groups, developed a creole culture that has preserved much of their African linguistic and cultural heritage from various peoples; in addition, they absorbed new influences from the region. The Gullah people speak an English-based creole language containing many African loanwords and influenced by African languages in grammar and sentence structure. Sometimes referred to as "Sea Island Creole" by linguists and scholars,

2301-538: The most successful industries in early America. The subtropical climate encouraged the spread of malaria and yellow fever , which were both carried and transmitted by mosquitoes. These tropical diseases were endemic in Africa and might have been carried by enslaved Africans to the colonies. Mosquitoes in the swamps and inundated rice fields of the Lowcountry picked up and spread the diseases to European settlers , as well. Malaria and yellow fever soon became endemic in

2360-463: The name of the Ogeechee River near Savannah, Georgia . Gullah is a term that was originally used to designate the creole dialect of English spoken by Gullah and Geechee people. Over time, its speakers have used this term to formally refer to their creole language and distinctive ethnic identity as a people. The Georgia communities are distinguished by identifying as either "Freshwater Geechee" or "Saltwater Geechee", depending on whether they live on

2419-418: The outside world well into the 20th century. In the 20th century, some plantations were redeveloped as resort or hunting destinations by wealthy whites. Gradually more visitors went to the islands to enjoy their beaches and mild climate. Since the late 20th century, the Gullah people—led by Penn Center and other determined community groups—have been fighting to keep control of their traditional lands. Since

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2478-463: 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. Over the years, the Gullah have attracted study by many historians , linguists , folklorists , and anthropologists interested in their rich cultural heritage. Many academic books on that subject have been published. The Gullah have also become

2537-479: The plantation, including 500 enslaved persons. He also brought the earliest known Islamic text to the Americas through his capture, a 13-page document of Muslim law and prayer written in the early 19th century. Bailey's father, Hicks Walker, often worked for tobacco heir R.J. Reynolds Jr. at Reynolds' mansion on Sapelo Island. The mansion had been the centerpiece of Thomas Spalding's plantation. Bailey grew up in

2596-565: The port. The story of Gullah Jack (an African slave trafficked from Angola to the United States) further supports the theory that the word Gullah originated in Angola. Some scholars also have suggested that it may come from the name of the Gola , an ethnic group living in the border area between present-day Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa, another area of enslaved ancestors of

2655-606: The preservation and interpretation of historic sites in the Low Country relating to Gullah culture. The Heritage Corridor will extend from southern North Carolina to northern Florida. The project will be administered by the US National Park Service , with extensive consultation with the Gullah community. The Gullah have also reached out to West Africa . Gullah groups made three celebrated "homecomings" to Sierra Leone in 1989, 1997, and 2005. Sierra Leone

2714-564: The region. Because they had acquired some immunity in their homeland, Africans were more resistant to these tropical fevers than were the Europeans. As the rice industry was developed, planters continued to import enslaved Africans. By about 1708, South Carolina had a black majority. Coastal Georgia developed a black majority after rice cultivation expanded there in the mid-18th century. Malaria and yellow fever became endemic. Fearing these diseases, many white planters and their families left

2773-473: 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. When

2832-654: The settlement of Belle Marsh on Sapelo Island, one of many communities that traced their heritage back to freed slaves who purchased land on the isolated island. Bailey left Sapelo Island briefly to live with family on St. Simons Island , then settled in Hog Hammock on her return to the island in 1966. Bailey ran a guest house there, The Wallow Lodge, with her husband Julius "Frank" Bailey and their seven children. She took pride in her heritage, which she described specifically as Saltwater Geechee. She worked to preserve and document Geechee-Gullah stories and ways of life in

2891-646: 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. According to Port of Charleston records, African slaves shipped to the port came from the following areas: Angola (39%), Senegambia (20%), the Windward Coast (17%), the Gold Coast (13%), Sierra Leone (6%), the Bight of Benin and Bight of Biafra (5% combined), Madagascar and Mozambique . Particularly along

2950-669: The skills and knowledge needed to develop and build irrigation, dams and earthworks. Two British trading companies based in England operated the slave castle at Bunce Island (formerly called Bance Island), located in the Sierra Leone River . Henry Laurens was their main contact in Charleston and was a planter and slave trader. His counterpart in Britain was the Scottish merchant and slave trader Richard Oswald . Many of

3009-544: The summer months to live with grandparents, uncles, and aunts. Gullah people living in New York frequently return to the Lowcountry to retire. Second- and third-generation Gullah in New York often maintain many of their traditional customs and many still speak the Gullah language. The Gullah custom of painting porch ceilings haint blue to deter haints, or ghosts , survives in the American South. It has also been adopted by White Southerners . Gullah Gullah Island

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3068-491: The turn of the 20th century on St. Helena Island. Born into a Gullah family, she was the first African-American woman director to produce a feature film. Gullah people now organize cultural festivals 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,"

3127-528: The western coast, the local peoples had cultivated African rice for what is estimated to approach 3,000 years. African rice is a species related to, yet distinct from, Asian rice . It was originally domesticated in the inland delta of the Upper Niger River . Once Carolinian and Georgian planters in the American South discovered that African rice would grow in that region, they often sought enslaved Africans from rice-growing regions because they had

3186-599: The word Gullah can be traced to the Kikongo language, spoken around the Congo River 's mouth, from which the Gullah language dialects spoken by black Americans today come. Some scholars suggest that it may be cognate with the name Angola , where the ancestors of many of the Gullah people originated. Shipping records from the Port of Charleston revealed that Angolans accounted for 39% of all enslaved Africans shipped to

3245-428: Was also 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 $ 10 million over 10 years for

3304-472: Was harvested just after her death in late 2017. Bailey and her family worked with Georgia Coastal Gourmet Farms to cultivate Sapelo Red Peas, Sapelo's first commercial crop, and brought their first harvest to market in 2014. She had a wide network of academics, scientists, and chefs who supported her work with farming and food, including food historian David Shields, geneticist Stephen Kresovich, chef Linton Hopkins, and chef Sean Brock . In 2004, she received

3363-408: Was his great-grandfather, have conflated Bilali Muhammad (aka Ben Ali, BuAllah, Bilali Smith, and Mahomet Bilali) with individuals with similar names. He is not the same person as Joseph Benenhaly , or either of the Wahab brothers of Ocracoke Island . The Bilali Muhammed Historical Research Society, named for him, was established in Chicago in 1987; it published a one-issue journal, Meditations from

3422-407: Was purchased by Thomas Spalding and assigned as his head driver at his plantation on Sapelo Island. Bilali could speak Arabic and had knowledge of the Qur'an . "Due to his literacy and leadership qualities, he would be appointed the manager of his master's plantation, overseeing approximately five hundred slaves". In the War of 1812 , Bilali and his fellow Muslims on Sapelo Island helped to defend

3481-413: Was translated, it was found that it had nothing of an autobiographic nature. It could, justifiably, be called the "Mother Text" of American Islamic literature, according to researcher Muhammed al-Ahari , due to it being the first Islamic text written in the United States. A comprehensive extended commentary with citations from traditional Islamic texts and American Islamic texts, and related subject areas,

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