Did you know that one of the first Memorial Day Celebrations began as a Gullah holiday?

When your family is facing a crisis, sometimes it's hard to think past your own situation. Heirs' property issues and the potential loss of family land is like that. I feels like "just a me problem". Land loss is very personal; especially when it's your family's heritage. Unfortunately, heirs' property is far too common and the toll that it is taking on Black family structures is in a word, devastating. By now, you might have seen or heard about the documentary, Silver Dollar Road. If you haven't, watch it. In this episode, here's the personal and painful side of the heirs' property story, from one of the family members who's family has been dealing with for years.

Heirs' property issues in America are at a critical point. Most people with heirs' property might not even know that's what they have. The media has started to increase coverage, but documentary films like Gaining Ground | The Fight for Black Land are bringing the conversation and information to broader audiences so that hopefully one day Black land loss will be a thing of the past.

Heirs' property issues in America are at a critical point. For most people that have heirs' property might not even know that's what they have. The media has started to increase coverage, but it's documentary films like Gaining Ground | The Fight for Black Land that is bringing the conversation and information to broader audiences, so that hopefully one day Black land loss will be a thing of the past.

Aunt Pearlie Sue learned early in life that who she was and the importance of her culture was something to be very proud of. Now a Gullah playwright, performer, and Original Gullah Festival hostess, she's been captivating audiences through incredible storytelling and an amazing variety of ways that keeps the culture front and center.

From the hit TV show Gullah Gullah Island, to performances, to books, Ron Daise has been entertaining and sharing the richness of the Gullah Geechee story. Join in on a fascinating conversation about the motivation behind his newest book, Raptor of the Ricefields, and why we need to preserve our culture for the sake of our past, present, and future.

It's every parent's dream for their children to improve upon and go on to do and be more than they did. When a child picks up the family's traditions and culture, that's even better. For Gullah Geechee Chef Emily Megget's children, not only did they learn their way around a Gullah Geechee kitchen, they are taking their mother's legacy of sharing love and kindness through food to a whole other level.

In the DNA and ancestry.com world, just the thought of searching for your ancestors can be an exciting journey of discovery, as well as daunting, especially if your a Black American. Frustration and hitting the 1870s Slave Wall might be what happens, but it is very possible that you can build a tree well into the early 1800s. Finding documents is fabulous, but the importance of discovering the stories that bridge the paper trail can be just as powerful. So, how do you start and grow your family's branches into a blooming tree? Join in on a fascinating conversation with Barbara Cantaloni, Executive Director of the Heritage Library with step-by-step guidance on how to get started.

In the Black Panther movie, Killmonger said "Just bury me in the ocean with my ancestors who jumped from ships, 'cause they knew death was better than bondage." It's a powerful statement and concept that we don't think or about how enslaved people didn't easily submit to their circumstances and simply accept enslavement. Incredibly, resistance came in many forms.

Living day-to-day within the culture is one thing, but making sure that our children understand why we do, what we do culturally is quite another thing. Sharing and teaching cultural traditions, that include langauge, food, and even hoodoo, don't mean anything if they aren't continued by future generations, so that they can understand, and most of all appreciate where they came from.