Gullah/Geechee status important to our future
Publication Date: 07/12/09
The four-state Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission is the move. Just about three years removed from the creation of this national heritage area by Congress, the commission has started work on its management plan.
The trail honors an African slave culture and its rich history and traditions that moved from the Carolinas south through Georgia to Florida over three centuries. The long-range management plan will define how the history and traditions will be preserved and the educational and inspirational opportunities proposed to bring this culture to the public at large.
Florida's inclusion is of great significance to heritage tourism and in turn, the state's economy.
But a closer look shows that the trail ends about 40 miles north, Jacksonville. St. Augustine was left out. There is no mention either of Fort Mose, the first free black town in what is today the United States in 1738. Fort Mose in St. Augustine, was founded in 1738 by the Spanish to provide African slaves "freedom" in return for fighting the British and converting to Catholicism. The fort was its own seat of government and the northern defense for St. Augustine from foreigners. And it is part of the nation's oldest permanently occupied European settlement in the United States?
How did it get left out?
Michael Allen, the National Park Service Gullah/Geechee Coordinator in Charleston, S.C., could not pinpoint what happened but he admits it was a "mistake." A mistake, he said, that the corridor commission intends to rectify.
Great. But it won't happen without a huge push from St. Augustine and St. Johns County. Our community has to prove its value, worth and our heritage link to the Gullah/ Geechee culture. Allen doesn't see our inclusion a problem.
But we have a lot of work to do. We're not coming in the front door as did other cities along the trail as part of the corridor's inclusion in the National Heritage Areas Act of 2006. A deadline of Aug. 10 looms for public comment on the management plan where we can pitch our community's inclusion.
It should not surprise us that we were left out. We sometimes hear from tour guides who say some visitors tell them they didn't know about St. Augustine until they stopped for lunch on the interstate or saw brochures in the gas station. Worse yet, some still think that Plymouth, Mass. or Jamestown, Va., were settled first. Still, 5 million-plus people visit our historic sites every year. If St. Augustine is slighted, imagine the lack of knowledge about Fort Mose.
Since learning of St. Augustine's exclusion from the Gullah/Geechee trail, Derek Hankerson, a St. Augustine native has worked tirelessly to change that. He asked the city of St. Augustine to join the effort. The City Commission has a resolution on its agenda Monday. Similar resolutions are being sought from other local governments.
Being officially on the trail is so important to our heritage, international recognition, and our economic engine, tourism.
Many people share the vision of increasing African-American heritage tourism in St. Johns County. Being a stop on the Gullah/Geeche trail is a key step in that direction.
How to help
The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor management plan is expected to take three years to complete. But public comment must be in by Aug. 10.
Anyone can fill make public comment. The Corridor Commission is asking how "Gullah/Geechee resources, arts, and traditions should be preserved, interpreted, and managed in the future."
To get more information on the corridor and to make public comment, please log onto
http://parkplanning.nps.gov/guge and follow the links.
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