A time for heritage

Festival looks at history of race relations, legacy of Gullah culture

Dark gray clouds hung ominously in the sky Sunday as tour guide Al Miller gestured toward the cemetery on Sullivan's Island and discussed one of the more horrific facts about slavery in America.

"A lot of women stayed pregnant," he said. "Some had 10 or 15 babies and would die in childbirth. And women were often blindfolded when they had to have sex with their owners and such, so often they did not know whose child they were carrying."

Seconds after he spoke, the sky burst with big raindrops.

Miller continued the Island History Tour on James Island, throwing little tidbits of history and culture out to his small, attentive audience of about 10 on the tour bus he drove toward the James Island connector.

He discussed the history of the famous opera "Porgy and Bess," Septima P. Clark's work in the civil rights movement and differences in food preferences between the middle-class whites and poorer blacks. While whites ate prime cuts of beef and pork, blacks consumed cheaper parts of these animals, such as pig's feet. They also developed some of the red rice, okra and hush puppy favorites now served widely in Lowcountry restaurants.

"Just goes to show you how the tables have turned, right?" Miller asked. The audience broke into knowing laughter.

The James Island trip included visits to McLeod Plantation and the grave of Sammie Smalls, the vegetable seller who inspired the character of Porgy.

The tour was one of several events in last weekend's whirlwind third annual Island Heritage Festival. Attendees weren't strictly curious locals. Some came from Columbia, Atlanta and beyond.

"I met my sister in Atlanta and then we came here to Charleston together just so we could go to this festival," said Willie Oliver, who came from her home in Maryland.

The events emphasized the history of race relations and the Gullah culture. Although several events took place in peninsular locales, those that delved most deeply into the history of the Sea Island natives were on James Island and Folly Beach.

Saturday's Grits & Gullah breakfast at Folly featured storytelling, history, a couple of sweetgrass basketmakers and, of course, the famous Gullah specialty shrimp and grits.

"We used to fish out here, but we didn't have the fancy fishing pier like you have now," local Gullah storyteller Carolyn White said to breakfast-goers at Folly's Holiday Inn. She painted a picture with anecdotes and filled it with Gullah terms about the days of yore and African drum beats.

"Ain't nothin' but a Gullah story," she said, laughing.

The festival also inaugurated an Island History Trail in a ceremony at Septima P. Clark Corporate Academy. It commemorates the culture and history of the original American Indian tribe that inhabited James Island. It also included an Old Slave Mart Museum tour, a Taste of Gullah celebration at Charleston Progressive Academy and the premiere of "Cross the Color Line," a play by festival founder and Executive Director Eleanor Kinlaw-Ross.

"This festival is Eleanor's baby," said M. Anne Cook, a friend of Kinlaw-Ross who has attended the Island Heritage Festival since its inception. "Every year it's something different, so I always make it a point to go."

She said that even though she is familiar with a lot of history on the Charleston peninsula, where she lives, she doesn't feel as though she knows enough about the Sea Islands.

"Each time that I attend the festival, I learn a little bit more history from the islands," she said. "Every time I go, I find links. … I've always been interested in the history."

Reach Sophia Rodriguez at 937-5538 or srodriguez@postandcourier.com.

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