Arely Pellegrino
Writing 100
Professor Brummit
12 November
2012
Saving a Dying Culture from extinction
The ocean has forever been a passageway of
travel, for this it holds many stories old and new including the story of the
Geechee people and their decent upon the shores of Sapelo Island. Many Families have long ago migrated here to
America. However, many people today have
lost sight of how their ancestors arrived in America. A family tree may get harder to trace the
further back in time it traces; therefore, Genealogy is a more in depth way to
trace family history even further back with more precise results. Cornelia Walker Bailey’s memoir: God, Dr.
Buzzard, and the Bolito Man, Cornelia journey’s back in time by telling the
tale of her people, the Saltwater Geechee. The Geechee people who were brought
here in the 1800’s by way of the Atlantic Ocean through slave trade have
endured many hardships. Now over 200
years later they are facing more hardships. They are being faced with the
possibility of losing their precious land to the state of Georgia in a land
rights dispute. If they lose their land, their
culture may fade away with it. In an effort to save the Geechee culture and
their land, Cornelia unlocks some important history with the aid of a
genealogist by the name of Mae Ruth Green (Bailey 283). This information is vital to the Geechee, for
it traces their roots back to slavery. The genealogical research discovered of
the Geechee people is solid evidence of their ownership to Sapelo Island.
It is not every day a culture is found
that is so rooted in its ways as the Saltwater Geechee. Cultures stem from
different backgrounds, but as generations die and new ones are born, keeping
track of the past can be tasking. The
practice of religion, beliefs, and food customs are shaped through family
ancestors through daily living whether it is conscious or subconsciously
shaped. For Cornelia Walker Bailey and her Geechee community their pride in
whom they are and their culture is what has kept their island community strong.
Today the Geechee’s simplistic paradise
is being sought after for commercial gain.
The Geechee started their journey in West
Africa; indeed, tens of thousands of Native Africans were sold into slavery for
their strength and rice growing skills (Bailey 286). Their unique skills set their lineage down a
new path. If they survived the middle passage many were
sold to plantation owners on the Sea Islands (Bailey 3). It is said in their stories
and songs passed down through generations of Geechee that many slaves took wing
and flew away, for they would have rather died at their own hand then be
suppressed by the hand of another. The Geechee people and their survival on
their new land is one of hardship and pain, none the less it is woven into
their history which makes them who they are, and for this it is a historical
period in time that needs attention.
This transition to Sapelo is their first claim to their new island home,
for they were stranded there by water and that is where they would remain.
Although not by choice, the Geechee people are some of the first immigrants brought to America. I recall my Grandfathers memories of his family’s immigration from Naples, Italy in the 1900’s. They were brought by their own will, they were free. They came to America as many did for a better way of life. They arrived in Brooklyn, NY and started a new life, taking up jobs in whatever they could find. They did hold on to their customs from Italy, but adapted new ones in the process mostly by choice. In comparing the Geechee community they were not as fortunate and were forced to conform to the ways of the European slaveholders (Bailey 2). Their souls did not conform no matter how much they were beaten down. They did not lose sight of their African ways, their only connection at that time to their ancestors and their motherland was through their cultural practice. Cornelia warmly recalls that her ancestors “…passed their traditions down so successfully that many of the Geechee ways I learned as a child can be traced directly back to Africa.” (Bailey 3). At the time of slavery a plantation owner by the name of Thomas Spalding owned the Geechee and the land on Sapelo (Bailey 38). They were owned like property for their cultivating skills, so their skills are what made the island prosperous. Spalding’s wealth came solely through the hard unpaid labor of what would today be considered illegal slavery. Bailey’s account of her Geechee past is a true attribute to how important her culture is to her people and why they fight so hard to hold on.
Although not by choice, the Geechee people are some of the first immigrants brought to America. I recall my Grandfathers memories of his family’s immigration from Naples, Italy in the 1900’s. They were brought by their own will, they were free. They came to America as many did for a better way of life. They arrived in Brooklyn, NY and started a new life, taking up jobs in whatever they could find. They did hold on to their customs from Italy, but adapted new ones in the process mostly by choice. In comparing the Geechee community they were not as fortunate and were forced to conform to the ways of the European slaveholders (Bailey 2). Their souls did not conform no matter how much they were beaten down. They did not lose sight of their African ways, their only connection at that time to their ancestors and their motherland was through their cultural practice. Cornelia warmly recalls that her ancestors “…passed their traditions down so successfully that many of the Geechee ways I learned as a child can be traced directly back to Africa.” (Bailey 3). At the time of slavery a plantation owner by the name of Thomas Spalding owned the Geechee and the land on Sapelo (Bailey 38). They were owned like property for their cultivating skills, so their skills are what made the island prosperous. Spalding’s wealth came solely through the hard unpaid labor of what would today be considered illegal slavery. Bailey’s account of her Geechee past is a true attribute to how important her culture is to her people and why they fight so hard to hold on.
The Geechee people are true survivors and
achievers, for they held on through slavery until they were proclaimed free in
1863. However, they still faced an
uphill battle ahead. Cornelia recalls
life on the island after the civil war through stories of her ancestors. She states that “When freedom came, our
ancestors knew the only way to stand on their own two feet and feed their
families was to have their own land. So
as soon as they could, they bought land on the island they had worked the soil
of during slavery days.” (Bailey 10).
They started to rebuild their lives and redefine who they were as free
people. They made great strides when
they were allowed to live free. During
this time Cornelia’s great grandfather, with the help of two other men, raised
enough money to buy land on Raccoon Bluff (Bailey 49). They then formed a land
company called “Hillery and Company, and bought between 700 and 800 acres of
land…They then sold the tracts to seventeen other freed families who had lived
on Sapelo before the war.”(Bailey 49). This very symbolic act marked a legal
ownership to parts of the island. Unfortunately, this also marked the beginning
of the land right battle for the Geechee people.
After the Spalding era ended the Buckra
came to the Island. Cornelia recalls the
name “Buckra” was used in West Africa and is used to describe a white man who
“tries to mess in your business and control your life.” (Bailey 92). That is
exactly what they did, and so began the Reynolds era. Reynolds’s and his people
began to bully people of their land. This land was the same land that the freed
slaves had bought as their first civil liberty. Richard Reynolds owned the lumber mill and
Frank Durant worked for him (Bailey 97). Reynolds couldn’t own slaves, but he
controlled all the jobs which basically meant he had control over the Geechee
people still (Bailey 99). He used his
money, power and authority to wrongfully take away from the Geechee. Most people started leaving the island or
relocating to a single area called Hog hammock and the number of Geechee people
started dwindling. Then in 1969 the
state of Georgia bought the island from the Reynolds foundation and has been
since trying to claim all the land as the states (Bailey 271). Reynolds’s
foundation only existed because of the generations of Geechee labor. The Geechee land rights have come down to a
single land deed and are awaiting a court date (Bailey 272). The tie to the
land is clear, but in today’s society it is disregarded based on legal
technicalities. It is a story as old as
time about the giant versus the humble peasant. History has proven to repeat; therefore, it is
in the history of Geechee people where the evidence may be found. It is the
little pieces of evidence through time that ties the Geechee to the right of
their land. Today the “Buckra” is represented by the state of Georgia, but the
battle is still the same.
In looking back to the 1800’s when this
story first takes place, it is clear that the Geechee are the true rightful
owners of Sapelo. If slavery never
existed they would have remained in West Africa, but instead were stranded on a
new land. The harsh reality of slavery
introduced a new home to the Geechee. As Cornelia stated they “never saw their
families, their loved ones and their homeland again.” (Bailey 317). The fact alone is that generations of
Geechee have walked Sapelo’s soil and been buried on its land. Without the Geechee’s extensive knowledge in
land cultivation Sapelo would not be the lush land that is today (Bailey 310). The Geechee can not only say their ancestors
lived here for over 200 years, but with the help of Cornelia through genealogy
“each family had a written record of its members as far back as the Spalding
era.” (Bailey 283). In studying their
genealogy, one interesting finding is that some of the Geechee was in fact very
light skinned. This indicates that
somewhere along the way their blood was mixed with white blood, and it can
strongly be said that it may be the blood of a plantation owner (Bailey 282).
Since some of their lineage may be traced to plantation owners, this would also
link them to the land the plantation owners had through their blood. Although, this is true the state of Georgia
wants the Geechee gone so that they can do with the land as they please. However, in every way spiritually, morally,
genealogically, and legally they are connected to Sapelo and are a part of
history that should not be further disturbed.
The Geechee people represent an
unbreakable pride in who they are; likewise, we should all be so lucky to carry
pride like theirs and pass it on to future generations. The state must not take their home away, for
if they do, they are destroying generations of culture and history. Instead they should give thanks to the
Geechee for preserving the beautiful island through countless struggles, yet
the state is too concerned with personal gain. The Geechee, selfless in their
ways and their ancestors are true to the earth and their culture, and deserve
to be emulated and protected for their deep rooted ties to Sapelo Island. The Geechee are the
true owners of the island, it is embedded in their genetics, history and oral
traditions.
Works Cited
Bailey, Cornelia W., Bledsoe,
Christena. God, Dr.Buzzard, And The Bolito Man. New York: Doubleday,
2000.Book.
No comments:
Post a Comment