Lowcountry Gullah

What happens when a young filmmaker puts Gullah Geechee culture at the center of a horror story?

On this episode of *Low Country Gullah*, Luana Graves Sellars talks with filmmaker Daunte Brown about *The Boonkey Trail*, a film he is developing in Charleston. Daunte shares why he wants to see more stories from his community on screen and how he is weaving language, spirituality, humor, and respect for the ancestors into the film.

Luana and Daunte also talk shop: the work of bringing a story to life, the challenges of funding a production, and why preserving culture matters as Lowcountry communities face displacement.

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The history of the Gullah Geechee people is not merely a collection of dates, geographic coordinates, or static museum exhibits; it is an ongoing epic of absolute resilience.

The culture however, is not isolated solely along the eastern coastline. From the trail of tears to the search for freedom to the great migration, the culture moved, yet remains anchored by the people who live it everyday. Historic Gullah settlements are all over North America, which is another reason why you can never break the spirit of a people determined to keep our heritage alive.

For generations, depending on where you came from, the thoughts of enslaved people and / or Black Americans tended to be lumped into "traditionally, it's all the same." But, is it? The question should be, why are the Gullah Geechee so different?

America was a slave society and its involvement from the Trans Atlantic Slave Trade to the Domestic Slave Trade might be known, but the details are often overlooked.

The Slave Traders or Brokers were the core and very foundation of the economic engine that kept slavery going.

But, how was it done? Who were the Brokers? What type of people were they?

Slavery is America's dirty little secret, which is why there's so many misconceptions and misinformation that's in history books and circling around society today.

The heirarcy of slavery, the business that it took to make it work and become successful, and the slave societies that thrived as a result of it are all not often talked about. Listen in to a fascinating converstaion that starts with the origins of slavery, to the ships, and then to the plantation. Regardless of which part you look at a slave trader was involved every step of the way.

Years ago, there was this big craze or "discovery" of what was called Ebonics or Black Slang. Well, first of all, its not new. For many reasons, enslaved people chose, out of resistance and as a way of holding on to their cultural identity, to create and speak an indigenous English based Creole language.

Unless you have been living under a rock, you know that slavery was a significant part of American History. Unfortunately, history books have glossed over a lot of the dirty details. Most southern cities were "slave societies" that often dominated every aspect of the area's economy. Let's talk about the business of slavery, from the middle passage experience to slave auctions and how large some of them were, as well as how each of the "players" were that kept slavery operating for centuries in a lot of port cities along the east coast.

The Gullah Seminole connection is something that most people don't know about but, pockets of communities can be found in Bracketville, Texas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Mexico, and several Caribbean Islands.

Find out their incredible history, where they came from, how they got their name, their traditions and more!

A familiar scent from a plant, a flavors on your plate or a common phrase are all powerful connections to the ancestors. They left their voices that continue to whisper to us like breadcrumbs for us to follow in stories and everything that we see, taste and do.

The ancestors left behind so many things for us to learn from and telling their complete and unfiltered story is only one of the duties that we have. Preserving the land where they were enslaved is an important part of that homage, as well as protecting communities that we live in today from industrial polution. Meet twin sisters Jo and Joy Banner from the Descendant's Project, who are doing just that.