“G” for Gullah

“G” for Gullah. The term “Gullah,”or “Geechee,” describes a unique group of African Americans descended from enslaved Africans who settled in the Sea Islands and lowcountry of South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina. Some believe the term “Gullah” derives from “Angola”; or it could refer to the Gola people of Liberia.  The origin of the term “Geechee” (for residents of the Georgia lowcountry) is also uncertain. During the slave trade, Africans from different societies passed through Sullivan’s Island and melded together to form a new African American people. Thus, the process of combining African peoples and languages in the lowcountry led to the emergence of Gullah or Geechee as a common language. The Gullah/ Geechee people of the South Carolina and Georgia lowcountry continue to manifest unique African cultural attributes that have survived for more than three centuries.