| Date: |
Thursday, January 14, 1999
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| Question/Topic: |
Can you help shed light on the phrase "I'm not Gullah,
I'm Geechee."
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| Answer/Pointer: |
The best was a web site:
http://www.fortunecity.com/millenium/rainbow/71/gullah.html
According to this web site, "The Gullah Culture appears to
have had its beginnings in the coastal southeastern United
States-generally, from Jacksonville, North Carolina to
Jacksonville, Florida-with the arrival of slaves from Africa."
The slaves settled in the coastal islands between these two
places.
Geechee is another word used to describe this culture, and
may actually more accurately describe a very small segment
of it. The aricle on the main web page cited above
indicates that no one is really positive where the word
Geechee originated, but they offer the suggestion that is
the slang derivative of the name Ogeechee River. "...many
of the African slaves resided and their descendents still
live...near Savannah, Georgia's Ogeechee River."
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| Librarian: |
SLF
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| Comments: |
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