The Gullah Community at Harris Neck, Georgia: Contested Landscape, Contested History
Author(s): Richard Kanaski
Year: 2017
Summary
A small Gullah community once existed on the northern end of Harris Neck, Georgia. This community, like their non-Gullah neighbors, was forced to move when the Department of War acquired the land in order to construct an Army airfield. Since 1979, descendants have sought the return of 2400 acres. Two descendant groups based their claims to this landscape on Margaret Harris' 1865 will, purported failure of the federal government to adequately compensate the Gullah land owners, and verbal promises possibly made by government agents in 1942-1943. The Refuge possesses a complicated and overlapping series of cultural landscapes, of which the Gullah community is just one part. Using several lines of evidence, one can untangle the contested landscape and history at Harris Neck. Though it contains elements of the story told by community members, a richer and more vibrant history of Harris Neck and not one but two Gullah communities emerge.
Cite this Record
The Gullah Community at Harris Neck, Georgia: Contested Landscape, Contested History. Richard Kanaski. Presented at Society for Historical Archaeology, Fort Worth, TX. 2017 ( tDAR id: 435395)
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Keywords
General
Gullah
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Oral History
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Plantations
Geographic Keywords
North America
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United States of America
Temporal Keywords
1865-1945
Spatial Coverage
min long: -129.199; min lat: 24.495 ; max long: -66.973; max lat: 49.359 ;
Individual & Institutional Roles
Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology
Record Identifiers
PaperId(s): 248