| Effort to preserve Gullah and Geechee culture moves forward
Saturday, February 24, 2007
Associated Press
ATLANTIC BEACH, S.C. ---- With breakneck development washing over the sea islands along the Southeast coast, a new effort is moving forward to preserve the Gullah and Geechee culture created by West African slaves and nurtured by their descendants.
About 50 people gathered in a community center in this historically black beach town Feb. 15 for the first of a series of meetings to discuss establishing a commission and its efforts to preserve the culture.
The work is not just for the future "but for all the Gullah and Geechee folk of the last three centuries," said Michael Allen, an education specialist with the Department of the Interior.
The effort comes after the Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, which extends from Wilmington, N.C., to Jacksonville, Fla., was designated by Congress last year. The measure was shepherded by South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, now majority whip.
Known as Gullah in the Carolinas and Geechee in Florida and Georgia, the culture generally remained intact because of the scattered sea islands' isolation along the coast. Now those islands are as likely to have golf courses and plush upscale resorts as much as the tiny fishing and farming hamlets unique to the Gullah.
The federal bill was developed after six years of study.
The new heritage corridor is one of 37 established by the federal government, but the only one centered on the black experience and the only one that encompasses parts of four states, Allen said. The area is about the size of the state of Maryland.
"The Gullah-Geechee people remain a testament to human adaptability and survival," Atlantic Beach Mayor Irene Armstrong said.
The federal act calls for spending $10 million over the next 15 years to promote and protect Gullah sites and the creation of a Coastal Heritage Center. The money is seed money and after it runs out, the sites need to be self-sustaining, the audience was told.
Three years ago, the National Trust for Historic Preservation listed the Gullah coast as one of the nation's most endangered historic places.
For more details, visit http://clyburn.house.gov/district-gullah.cfm.
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