the four sierra leone - gullah homecomings
after many years the participants come together for the first time
What’s Happening in Beaufort, SC, on December 3, 2022?
We will celebrate four historic "homecomings" that the Gullah Geechee people made to the West African nation of Sierra Leone between 1989 and 2019. Two of these visits involved African American families with unique ties to Africa. A family from coastal Georgia has preserved a song in the Mende language of Sierra Leone for more than 200 years. Another family from Charleston can trace their ancestry to Sierra Leone by means of an unbroken document trail starting with records of a 10-year-old girl who was taken aboard the slave ship Hare to Charleston in 1756. Members of these families and other Gullah people who went on their own homecomings to Sierra Leone will tell their stories of going home to lost family and answer questions from the audience. Our event will take place at the Auditorium of the Technical College of the Low Country, 104 Reynolds Street, Beaufort, SC 29902.
“I know where home is now. And er… Before then somebody had described the Negro in America as er… a person without roots. But um, you know, I know I have roots and that’s been healed.” ~ Emory Shaw Campbell, Hilton Head Island, SC (1989)
the four Sierra Leone - Gullah homecomings
In recent years, Sierra Leoneans and Gullah Geechees have taken part in a few “homecoming” visits in order to meet with lost family, and see if their similarities in language, culture, and foodways are as great as scholars have been reporting. As it turned out, the Gullah Geechee visitors were not disappointed. We will explore where it all started with the Gullah Reunion, and work chronologically through each of the homecomings. Namely the “Gullah Homecoming” in 1989; the “Moran Family Homecoming” in 1997; “Priscilla’s Homecoming” in 2005; and the “Next Step Homecoming” in 2019.
Technical College of the Low Country,
104 Reynolds Street, Beaufort, SC 29902
December 3, 2022, @ 2 p.m. EST
The Gullah Homecoming (1989), The Moran Family Homecoming (1997), Priscilla’s Homecoming (2005), and the Next Step Homecoming (2019) illustrate the connections between African Americans and Africans. Revealed in what Sierra Leoneans and Gullah Geechees now know as The Sierra Leone-Gullah Connection
Gullah Geechees in sierra leone:
singing their hearts out about being home
THE FOUR sierra leone - gullah homecomings
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GULLAH HOMECOMING (1989)
During President Momoh of Sierra Leone’s visit to Penn Center in 1988, he invited the Gullah Geechees to visit his country based on family relations he had learned off. They responded in 1989
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moran family homecoming (1997)
After the first Gullah Homecoming a request by some Sierra Leoneans to show evidence of a specific family, researchers, historians and linguists offered this story in 1997
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Priscilla's Homecoming (2005)
When the Moran family visited still some Sierra Leoneans wanted more according to the story. A specific person. Meet Thomalind [Martin] Polite. Descendant of Sierra Leone
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next step homecoming (2019)
In 2019, Gullah Geechees went to Sierra Leone on a historical study tour that was a bit different from the others. It was organized by Sierra Leoneans and Gullahs.