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Who Are the Gullah-Geechee?

Woman Speaking

The Gullah-Geechee people are African Americans who were born, bred, and educated along the coastal regions of North and South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida. They are the descendants of enslaved people brought from West Africa to work on isolated coastal plantations, growing rice, indigo, and sea island cotton. Because they came from many different ethnic backgrounds and spoke different languages, they had to come up with a way to communicate with each other.

The language they created is a unique creole blend of African and European languages. In fact, Gullah-Geechee is the only distinctly African creole language in the United States. The culture that grew in this area incorporated many African elements, which can still be heard in the language and experienced in Gullah-Geechee’s arts, food, and music.

Man is Clapping

The Shouters’ Founders

Throughout the years, members of the McIntosh County Shouters have changed as older family members retire and a new generation steps up. Because of the McIntosh County Shouters’ great pride in the ring shout tradition, there have always been younger people to join our group and keep it alive. The ring shout is the genesis of African American music as it precedes spirituals, gospel, R&B, soul, hip-hop, and rap.