The Lowcountry Story of Rice
June 24, 2023
By Luana M. Graves Sellars Enslaved women on a rice barge in Georgetown, SC Any
Lowcountry Heritage Trail
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.
Hilton Head Island’s Historic Gullah Neighborhoods
April 18, 2022
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
The Lowcountry Gullah Podcast
April 8, 2022
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.
The History of the Gullah & the Geechee – A Walk Around Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park
August 14, 2021
© Lowcountry Gullah and www.lowcountrygullah.com, 2021. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express
Historic Mitchelville Freedom Park | What’s the Master Plan?
June 29, 2021
“We believe that Mitchelville is a once in a lifetime story,” adds Ahmad. It’s a place “where African Americans had the opportunity to become citizens and create institutions that continue to exist today,” such as compulsory education “which was a priority.”Names like Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton, Robert Smalls, Secretary of War, Simon Cameron and Abolitionist, William Lloyd Garrison all spent time in Mitchelville. “Folks don’t know who was here and the type of VIP’s who came to Hilton Head.”
Furthering Gullah Culture As A Family | The Campbell’s
November 20, 2020
Maintaining the family business is important, not only because of the financial benefits that it provides, but because it’s a vital part of the preservation of the island and the family’s Gullah culture.
Juneteenth | The Birth of Freedom
June 12, 2020
June 19, 1865, was a day that not only changed the lives of tens of thousands of slaves in the United States, it also marked the change of our country’s history. Slavery was abolished on January 1, 1863, by President Lincoln’s Executive Order known as the Emancipation Proclamation. Even though there was no legal right or justification for slavery to continue after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, many slave owners continued the practice.
Slavery in the Lowcountry | By the Numbers
February 21, 2020
As a result, close to 80% of American Blacks who are descendants of slaves can trace their lineage back to the Gullah Geechee Corridor with the majority of them coming from South Carolina. At one point, the majority of South Carolina’s population consisted mostly of African slaves, with the highest concentrations in the plantation areas of the Lowcountry. By the 1860 census, the population was 703,620, with roughly 57% or 402,000 classified as slaves.
The Lowcountry’s Heritage Trail
November 29, 2019
Bennett envisions a historic trail that links the following sites and historic assets: “Santa Elena, telling the story of European Exploration and Settlement, Penn Center, telling the Gullah Geechee and Reconstruction stories, Beaufort and Port Royal telling the story of Reconstruction, and Hilton Head telling the stories of the Civil War and Mitchelville.”
