Maroons and the Gullah people of South Carolina
Coastal Carolina University will present a series of programs in February 2025 about the connection between and complex legacy of rice cultivation in Suriname Maroons and the Gullah people of South Carolina. Events will include sessions at the International Gullah Geechee and African Diaspora Conference, tours and meetings with the Rice Museum and Hasty Point Plantation, public demonstrations during a Community Day on Saturday, February 22, and a free public lecture by Dr. Judith Carney.
The Maroons of Suriname and the Gullah Geechee of the southeastern US seacoast islands have similar contemporary experiences as enclaves of descendant communities of African peoples with agricultural, linguistic, basketry and foodways traditions. However, awareness and knowledge about each other’s adaptive strategies for African Rice Oryza glaberrima is lacking. “Rice, Roots, and Resilience” will bring these groups together in conversation, fostering information and cultural exchange.
The Community Day on Saturday, February 22 will give the public the opportunity to learn about the history of rice as a crop in North and South America. Activities will include demonstrations of traditional Saamaka Maroon rice processing with mortar and pestle and winnowing tray, the screening of short film Diima Doti, posters about the Saamaka Maroons in Suriname, and discussion opportunities with traditional experts and academics. The activities will take place in downtown Conway, along Main Street between 4th and 9th Avenues.
Additionally, Dr. Judith Carney will give a lecture at Coastal Carolina University on Saturday, February 22 on “African Food Legacies in the Americas.” Dr. Carney is Distinguished Research Professor of Geography at UCLA. She has authored over 100 research articles and two books. Black Rice: The African Origins of Rice Cultivation in the Americas (Harvard University Press, 2001) received the Melville Herskovits Book Award; In the Shadow of Slavery: Africa’s Botanical Legacy in the Atlantic World (University of California Press, 2009) was awarded the Frederick Douglass Book Prize.
The goals of the program are for participants, scholars, and cultural representatives to come away with new knowledge and awareness of the role of African Diaspora peoples in New World rice cultivation and of the shared cultivation traditions between Suriname Maroons and Gullah Geechee people from the United States.
The mission of SC Humanities is to enrich the cultural and intellectual lives of all South Carolinians. Established in 1973, this 501(c)3 organization is governed by a volunteer Board of Directors comprised of community leaders from throughout the state. It presents and supports literary initiatives, lectures, exhibits, festivals, publications, oral history projects, videos, and other humanities-based experiences that directly or indirectly reach more than 250,000 citizens annually. South Carolina Humanities receives funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities as well as corporate, foundation and individual donors. The National Endowment for the Humanities: Democracy demands wisdom.
Image: 2011 Seminole-Maroon/Gullah Geechee Tour, photo by Jermyn Shannon