Dr. Karen Boles Grant will explore the culture of the Gullah Geechee people in general and segue into the specifics of the Gullah Geechee people of Richmond Hill. The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of Africans who were enslaved on the rice, indigo and Sea Island cotton plantations of the lower Atlantic coast. Many came from the rice-growing region of West Africa. The nature of their enslavement on isolated island and coastal plantations created a unique culture with deep African retentions that are clearly visible in the Gullah Geechee people’s distinctive arts, crafts, foodways, music, and language. The Gullah/Geechee Corridor extends from Wilmington, North Carolina in the north to Jacksonville, Florida, in the south. The area includes roughly 80 barrier islands and continues inland to adjacent coastal counties, defining a region 30 miles inland throughout the United States Low Country. The Gullah/Geechee Corridor is home to the Gullah people in the Carolinas, and the Geechee in Georgia and Florida. This will be an information/conversation based lecture