“Over 60% from the Rice Coast: What the Numbers Reveal About Who We Are”
By Amadu Massally
Between 1730 and 1808, over 60% of all enslaved Africans arriving in South Carolina came from one part of West Africa — the Rice Coast. This powerful statistic, drawn from ship records and port logs, has been known to scholars for years. But too often, it has been buried in books and academic journals. It’s time we reclaim it. Not just as data — but as truth, as testimony, and as a story about us.
The Rice Coast stretches from Senegal and The Gambia through Guinea, Sierra Leone, and into Liberia — a region where rice wasn’t just food. It was culture. It was science. It was life. For centuries, the people of this region engineered tidal irrigation systems, built dikes and bunds, and passed down sacred knowledge of rice cultivation from mother to daughter, father to son. So when enslavers in Carolina needed labor to farm rice in the hot, mosquito-ridden Lowcountry, they didn’t just go to Africa blindly. They sent word to their agents: “Bring us Africans who know how to grow rice.” And they did. Ship after ship arrived with names and faces from the Rice Coast. We are their descendants. The Gullah Geechee people.
Why This Number Matters
Too often, the story of slavery is told as if people were taken randomly — a faceless, nameless mass shipped across the ocean. But the 60% figure tells a different story. It tells us our ancestors were targeted. For their skills. For their knowledge. For their brilliance. We were not stolen because we were weak. We were stolen because we were strong. The water dikes in Carolina? That’s Mende engineering. The rice fields that fed the colony? That’s Susu knowledge. The sweetgrass baskets? That’s innovation born of survival — and made sacred in our hands.
From Data to Identity
Historians like Daniel Littlefield and Philip Curtin have written about this. But what’s been missing is the voice from the inside — from us. I was born in Sierra Leone, and I’ve spent the last 20 years walking this bridge between Bunce Island and Beaufort, between Freetown and St. Helena. I’ve seen the dikes in my hometown that look just like the ones in South Carolina. I’ve spoken with descendants who feel the rhythm of Africa in their speech, their songs, their soul.
This 60% figure isn’t a statistic. It’s a fingerprint. It’s the evidence of an unbroken chain — even if that chain was dragged through hell.
We Know Who We Are
Today, we see Gullah Geechee children learning their history. We see people from Hilton Head to McIntosh County reclaiming names, dialects, and stories that go back to Africa. The truth is rising. The connection is healing. Let the world know: The Gullah Geechee people aren’t a mystery.
We are the Living Legacy of the Rice Coast.
About the Author:
Amadu Massally is the founder of Fambul Tik, a Sierra Leonean organization dedicated to reconnecting the African diaspora. He led the 2019 Gullah Homecoming featured in the film “Gullah Roots,” and is the author of the upcoming book The Gullah Geechee Saga: Through African Eyes.
Copyright 2025 Amadu Massally
