The Legacy of Early African-Americans and the Gullah-Geechee People

FAIN: BH-281283-21

Nobis Project, Inc. (Savannah, GA 31412-9304)
Christen Clougherty (Project Director: March 2021 to present)
Walter Isaac (Co Project Director: July 2021 to present)
Amir Jamal Toure (Co Project Director: July 2021 to present)
Josiah Watts (Co Project Director: July 2021 to present)

Two one-week workshops exploring Gullah-Geechee history and culture in the Lowcountry of Georgia and South Carolina.

This workshop focuses on the history and cultural legacy of Gullah-Geechee people of South Carolina and Georgia, descendants of enslaved people from the West Coast of Africa, who contributed to making America “A More Perfect Union,” even as they were excluded from its benefits. The Gullah-Geechee preserved more of their African traditions than other groups of early enslaved Africans in the U.S. As a result, the Gullah-Geechee people’s history, stories, beliefs, and traditions are central to the establishment of African American cultural institutions and practices, and therefore critical to understanding American society in general. The institution of slavery and the contributions of the enslaved and their descendants is foundational to the formation of the U.S. and has long been undertaught and over-simplified in K-12 curriculum. This place-based workshop grounds teachers with a scholarly understanding of (1) how African Americans, free and enslaved, have strived to realize the nation’s ideal that “all men are created equal” in possession of liberty and certain rights, and (2) how the Gullah-Geechee people, who worked over four centuries to preserve their culture, contributed to this democratic ideal.

Media Coverage

Local Non-Profit awarded NEH Grant for teachers to learn about the legacy of early African Americans and the Gullah-Geechee people (Media Coverage)
Author(s): Savannah Business Journal Staff
Publication: Savannah Business Journal
Date: 11/18/2021
Abstract: The Nobis Project has been awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) "Landmarks of American History and Culture Grant" to offer two teacher workshops that will be held in summer 2022 in Savannah, GA and the Lowcountry.
URL: https://www.savannahbusinessjournal.com/news/education_career/nov-18---local-non-profit-awarded-neh-grant-for-teachers-to-learn-about/article_5e1fee22-4877-11ec-9cdb-370221189b1c.html

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