Blog 11

Today’s blog will be blog eleven which is about the Gullah people’s history, traditions, and culture. For my viewers who may not know about the Gullah people here is some history. The Gullah people are a distinctive group of black African Americans from South Carolina and Georgia who live in the southeastern area of the United States. The Gullah people live in little farming and fishing communities along the Atlantic coastal plain and on the chain of Sea Islands which runs corresponding to the coast. When watching the video clip about the Gullah people it was said that there ancestors came to the Island on slave ships as slaves to work in the plantations. “Between about 1750 and 1800, Bance Island was one of the major slave trading operations on the Rice Coast of West Africa.” Many Gullah people who come back to visit the Island today see how it’s being taken over with golf, tennis, and other courts for entertainment. The South Carolina and Georgia colonists in due course adopted a structure of rice cultivation that drew deeply on the labor patterns and technical knowledge of their black African slaves. As heard in the YouTube clip Gullah people are being forced to one part of the Island because of the amusement like park it being turned into. One person on the clip stated that she can hear the crying of her ancestors because that can’t rest in peace due to grave cites being dug up to make golf courts. As far as there music culture goes it’s a very abnormal in a way. The actual sing is not of good pitch or harmony but the music has rhythm. There are many membranophones such as different drums, tambourines, and ball like drum that shakes. The Gullah people enjoy lots of dance in the music culture and hand movements to represent there ancestors. They also use poem like lyrics in there music.