Utbildningsradion – Over to You 2000/2001 The Gullah People Programnr: 00060/ra 12 SLAVERY – PART ONE THE GULLAH PEOPLE Manus: Carmilla och Calvin Floyd Producent: Claes Nordenskiöld Sändningsdatum: 13/10 2000 Programlängd: 14’30 MUSIC: Marquetta Goodwine “My Spirit Calls Out” Brandon Major: Gullah is … It would be hard to write Gullah. It’s mostly what they used to speak back home and some of the whites couldn’t understand. So they didn’t want them talking to each other too much because since they couldn’t understand them they thought they might try to do something. But they would sing songs and stuff to communicate and speak Gullah. You know at the Gullah festival people speak in Gullah too so people can know more of their heritage and they can have a piece of it with them, no matter where they go or what someone does to them. Claes Nordenskiöld: We’re in southern South Carolina, on a group of islands known as the Sea Islands. The first slaves brought to the United States from Africa entered through South Carolina. This continued in the 16-, 17-, and 1800s and descendants of these slaves still live on the islands. They’re known as the Gullah people because of their specific language. It is a mixture of English and words from different African languages. And this is where Brandon Major lives. Brandon Major: My name is Brandon Major. I’m fourteen. I live in a three bedroom, two bathroom house on the Wallace Plantation which is on St. Helena Island, which is in South Carolina. There’s a lot to be proud of here. You have a lot of natural resources and stuff. Well, not natural resources – but you know things that nature helps provide … Like rich soil for good farmland. We have a nice front yard. We have cows in the back and we have two dogs. I go to high school … I’m going through the tenth grade. I play basketball, baseball and sometimes football but I don’t like football as much anymore. I think my great-grandgrandmother’s mother was a slave and I think she lived through slavery and that’s when she had my grandmother. MUSIC: Bessie Jones (and others) “It Just Suits Me” Claes Nordenskiöld: In 1860, South Carolina had about 400,000 slaves, more than any other state. The slaves on St Helena and other islands off the coast of South Carolina were allowed to work on their own since their owners usually lived on the mainland in the town of Beaufort. The slave-owners were afraid of malaria and the high humidity which was thought to be unhealthy. Thus, African traditions and languages survived longer here than in many other parts of the American South. Brandon Major: The slaves, they were brought here by ships, and they were told they’d be free when they came to America. The slaves thought they were coming here 1 Utbildningsradion – Over to You 2000/2001 The Gullah People Programnr: 00060/ra 12 for a better life but when they got on the boats they were chained and their feet were chained and their arms were chained and they were stacked in little rooms and they were on top of each other. After they got away from land enough they sometimes let the shackles go … and let them come out and come on deck and walk around. But like a few jumped off the boat and stuff. But I don’t think they survived because like sharks or something might have caught them before they reached land trying to swim. MUSIC: Bessie Jones (and others) “It Just Suits Me” Claes Nordenskiöld: No one knows how many slaves came to the Americas, but somewhere around 12 million is a good estimate. Most of them were brought to Brazil and the West Indies, but about 600,000 were taken to the United States. Many of the slaves came from western Africa – Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Congo, and other areas – and were brought across the Atlantic to work on cotton, tobacco and coffee plantations, and in mines. They were part of the so called Slave Triangle – tools, iron, and alcohol were brought from Europe and traded for slaves in Africa. The slaves were then brought to the Americas, and traded for cotton, tobacco, sugar, gold and silver, which in turn was brought back to Europe. Brandon Major: When they were brought from Africa they were taken to Charleston and they were sold. A lot of the plantation owners went up to Charleston and they stood on like booths and stuff and they bid. They auctioned off the slaves and sometimes the children were auctioned off and they were separated from their parents. That’s real sad cause then the kids can’t actually trace their heritage or know what their family was like. Cause some of the kids were very young. Claes Nordenskiöld: Gullah traditions and culture are very much alive on St. Helena. Brandon’s father is a fisherman and he still throws his nets in the same way as fishermen do in Sierra Leone. And of course, his father’s job has influenced Brandon’s taste in food. And when Brandon describes his father he talks of hard work. Brandon Major: I don’t really have a favorite food but I eat all kinds of food. But actually I do. I like shrimp-fried rice, white rice – usually white rice, gravy and either fish or some other type of seafood. I like frogmarsh stew. I like that a lot. It has shrimp, smoked sausages, corn and some other things I cannot remember. Brandon’s father: No. He ain’t got no fisherman in him. What do you think Brandon? What do you think? Brandon Major: What? Brandon’s father: I don’t think you’ll be a fisherman? Brandon Major: No. 2 Utbildningsradion – Over to You 2000/2001 The Gullah People Programnr: 00060/ra 12 Brandon Major: He’s a commercial crabber. He sells his crabs at the market. He goes and he takes his crabs and then he usually comes back home and whatever he needs to do in the yard or whatever kind of work he has to do on his boat or something – he does that. He usually works until dark. I started going out on the river with him when I was real young. Like I used to go for boat rides when I was about five, six and seven. When I turned about twelve and a half I started going with him, grading the crabs and stuff … separating the males from the females and the small ones. You can tell the female and the male by the shape of the underside. The females have orange-red claws and the males have blue. MUSIC: Church music Brandon Major: I go to church every Sunday, especially on third Sundays …that’s the day I usher. I stand by the door and keep the doors closed and help people. My mom, she’s an evangelist. She likes to talk about like life stories and stuff. Women are evangelists … men are usually elders, ministers or preachers. MUSIC: Boisterous church music with clapping from above Claes Nordenskiöld: During the time of slavery, slaves were not allowed in churches even though they had built most of them for the whites. On St Helena the slaves put up small frame shacks known as praise houses, of which only a few remain today. These houses were the only place slaves could meet to worship and to talk without the whites accusing them of planning a rebellion or escaping from their masters. The services were led by people known as ‘ring shouts’ and dancing and singing went on long into the nights. Brandon Major: They say that the holy ghost passes – well, the holy spirit is in the church and when the holy spirit touches people they usually begin to shout. Like the pianist will start playing a little louder and the drummer starts playing a little louder … and people will start clapping. MUSIC: Boisterous church music with clapping from above Claes Nordenskiöld: Hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the Sea Islands every year. Most of them don’t come to observe the Gullah people’s culture and history, but rather for the luxury hotels, the golf courses and the beautiful natural surroundings with clean white beaches. The resorts and residential complexes are encircled by high fences and the entrances are watched by uniformed security guards. At first, most things were built without damaging the environment, but the builders who came later have not been as careful. Pollution is now increasing, even reaching the beaches on St. Helena. In the 60s and 70s, many Gullahs were talked into selling their land too cheaply – today they’re wiser. St Helena is one of the few islands where people have refused to sell their land to hotel chains. Believe it or not, you even have to pay five dollars to enter some of the tourist areas. This is how a guard explains it. 3 Utbildningsradion – Over to You 2000/2001 The Gullah People Programnr: 00060/ra 12 Guard: How many people in the car, two? Alright, just put this on your dashboard and you’re taken care of. It pays for the maintenance. It also covers the security and the shuttle that will bring you down here from the local gate. This is a private community. Everything here is owned, even the harbor. All the slips are owned. They’re not public docking. So for you to enter there’s a fee to come in, just like any country club or any movie theater.