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.
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.
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.
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.
Campbell has such an incredibly strong connection to his island home, it’s easy to see why the path that he has taken in life continues. Grounded in rich Gullah family traditions and connections to the island that stretch over six generations, it’s no surprise that most of the Campbell family has made an indelible mark on the island, from cultural preservation to civic involvement.
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.
Hilton Head consists of only a few historic neighborhoods that represent the Gullah families that called them home for seven or more generations. Even though the majority of the communities are sprinkled around the northern tip of the island, culturally, boundaries didn’t exist when it came to the overall sense of community that was typical for the Gullah
Join Lowcountry Gullah every week to get a deeper dive into topics and information on culture, history and tradition.
Hosted weekly by Luana M. Graves Sellars, you’ll also get a chance to hear from guests from a variety of backgrounds who are knowledgeable keepers of the culture.
Georgetown County is full of an incredibly rich Gullah Geechee history and cultural attractions that I was very excited about exploring to fill in the gaps to my story.
The Brown family is unique, genealogically speaking, because their family tree has been traced back to 1825, before emancipation. Documenting this kind of information about a black family is truly rare. The Browns’ story reveals a rich history, and includes information and details that paint a clear and beautiful picture of this vibrant family for future generations to treasure.
