The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor stretches from its northernmost point near Wilmington, North Carolina all the way south to Jacksonville, Florida. Created by an Act of Congress in 2006, the ten-year-old Corridor is a work in progress.
Gullah Geechee culture originates from West Africans brought to the United States as slaves and many of their traditions, including the language, continue through later generations.
On this edition of CoastLine, we learn more about the corridor along the southeastern coast of the United States – but just as importantly, we’ll learn about the Gullah Geechee people, their language, and their comparatively-unknown history.
Guests:
- Veronica Gerald, Director of the Joyner Institute for Gullah and Diaspora African Studies at Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina. She is also a Professor of English and Vice Chair of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission.
- David Frank, Senior Linguistic Consultant for SIL, International, a nonprofit that works with ethnolinguistic communities, primarily outside the United States, to facilitate sustainable language development. SIL does this through research, translation, training and materials development. Dr. David Frank is also a member of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission.
