June 2, Monday – Gullah

On the road again. I had an internal debate as to whether or not to stay close to the main highway or break off and head the 25 miles back out to another barrier island. As I approached the small intersection for the turn off, I kept saying, “decide, decide, decide” a sharp starboard turn onto a narrow country road with the afternoon sun at my back. I saw that I was in a black people country: pulling out of driveways in pickup trucks; sitting on the porch of a country store; running roadside farm stands; fishing in the saltwater streams. History was staring me in the face.
In the early 1700 the English started bring over African slaves to work their rice plantations. Unlike other plantations with small black populations, the barrier island plantations had huge black populations from generally the same rice producing areas in Africa. The slave ships also brought mosquitoes that carried yellow fever and malaria. The whites fled the barrier islands during the disease times on summer leaving the blacks in charge. This population of 10,000 blacks formed the foundation of the Gullah (meaning Angola) Culture that has been recently recognized by the national government. Gullah Culture is found in the “Lowcountry” from North Carolina’s Cape Fear to the St. John River in Jacksonville, Florida. Annually many communities have an African American celebration day with heritage music and dancing. As I drove to Edisto Beach State Park I past a road called Martin Luther King, Jr. No big deal – every city with blacks has avenue or street with that name. I also noticed a sign on the same road announcing Penn Center down the same road.
Alone in my world of RV hood I googled Penn Center. Tomorrow I would explore what I found.