Description

Photograph of singers performing during the Sapelo Island Cultural Day, held each October on Sapelo Island, Georgia. The singers stand on stage positioned in front of a wooden building. They wear bright orange skirts. The festival celebrates the songs, stories, dances, and food of the Geechee and Gullah culture, which developed on the Sea Islands among enslaved West Africans between 1750 and 1865.Approximately 115 people now reside on Sapelo, either permanently or temporarily, with the majority of them at the 434-acre African American community of Hog Hammock. That community still consists primarily of descendants of Thomas Spalding's slaves. A combination of Christian and Islamic religious beliefs, the Geechee culture on Sapelo Island has remained virtually unchanged, thanks to the island's geographic isolation.

Record Contributed By

New Georgia Encyclopedia

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia