Finding Your Roots – Part 1
September 4, 2024
Want to find your roots? Listen in on why it’s a valuable and important journey to start.
Gullah/Geechee Corridor
Q&A: What is Heirs’ Property?
May 21, 2024
A large part of my conversation with Luana focuses on a concept called heirs property, a form of land ownership that occurs when someone dies without a will, leaving heirs without a clear title to the property. Without definitive proof of land ownership, heirs property owners can’t get home improvement loans, farm loans, and certain kinds of insurance, among a host of other things.
In A Word | Plantations
March 5, 2024
Plantations visually, tend to be strikingly beautiful places that also embody and represent violence, pain and suffering.
The History and Traditions Behind Gullah Foodways
July 31, 2023
Gullah Geechee foodways is one of the oldest practices and traditions that’s still being practiced in America today. At its foundation, slavery and the foodways are deeply rooted in cultural West African ancestral ties, as well as adaptability, creativity and circumstance. The meals were and still are designed to be hearty and provide the necessary sustenance and strength to get one through an arduous and physical day.
The Lowcountry Story of Rice
June 24, 2023
By Luana M. Graves Sellars Enslaved women on a rice barge in Georgetown, SC Any
A Kitchen Table Conversation with Mother Emily Meggett | About Love and Caring One Plate at a Time
May 8, 2023
Being around Mother Emily Meggett is just like being at home, even though she has been honored by the City of Charleston, on countless TV interviews on CBS and other major mediums, but, through it all, she is just as gracious and generous with her time as any great grandmother would be.
First Families of Hilton Head | The Singletons
March 25, 2023
These days, when we think of major developers, we think of the corporations that developed massive communities like Sea Pines, Hilton Head Plantation and Indigo Run, but the Singleton family deserves credit as a major developer as well. Not only did the Singletons play a significant role in shaping island history and “pulled themselves up by their bootstraps,” they created opportunities for the economic growth and prosperity of their neighbors.
The Slave Preacher | Reverend Murchison
November 25, 2022
As the first Mayor of the Historic Town of Mitchelville, the first Black Mayor in the United States and the first pastor of Hilton Head Island’s oldest church, , Reverend Murchison, an escaped slave from Savannah, was also a significant influence on the Civil War effort and countless generations of Gullah families. After establishing the First African Baptist Church in 1862 with 120 members, all of whom were contrabands, Reverend Murchison went on to baptize and marry 1,000’s of freedmen who lived on the island’s Historic Town of Mitchelville.
Seeking | The Gullah Religious Tradition
August 31, 2022
Joining the church, at one time, was an ancestral African tradition called seeking.
The practice was based in the thought that since God and the ancestors communicated through dreams, the interpretation of the dream, represented achieving spirituality.
The Foundation and Richness of Gullah Geechee Heritage
April 28, 2022
To the Gullah, acreage is more than just a lot that has value. It a priceless, tangible and visible daily reminder of the blood, sweat and tears that the ancestors experienced. Sure, land can be assessed and given a price tag, however, for the Gullah, because of all that went into the initial purchase of the land, the ultimate value of it is priceless. The value of which has made historic Gullah land the culture’s greatest asset.
