Looking at "Uniqueness:" the Importance of the Gullah Geechee in Understanding African American Behavioral Adaptations

Summary

This is an abstract from the session entitled "First Steps on a Long Corridor: The Gullah Geechee and the Formation of a Southern African American Landscape" , at the 2022 annual meeting of the Society for Historical Archaeology.

When compared with other African Americans the Gullah Geechee are generally described as unique and relatively culturally homogeneous. Their uniqueness has been attributed to the operation of a number of forces from their isolated environment to the labor regime forced upon them. As a result of these, and other, forces the Gullah Geechee were able to develop a rich, heavily “Africanized” culture that continues to flourish in their cultural homeland. The investigation of this uniqueness has rarely been the focus of comparative study by historians, cultural anthropologists, archaeologists, or linguists. This paper will present a summary of data collected over the course of a comparative historical archaeological study of two plantation quarters sites: one Gullah Geechee and one from the coastal piedmont of Texas, along with a Gullah Geechee praise house and a plantation church. One goal of this comparative study was to test this “uniqueness” and its development.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• First Steps on a Long Corridor: The Gullah Geechee and the Formation of a Southern African American Landscape   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2022

Keywords

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology