The Gullah Geechee culture is not only rich in history. The gifts our ancestors gave are infinite and inspire us daily but it doesn’t just stop there. No, Gullah Geechee is a living, breathing culture. What we do today continues to shape our community and narrative. From healing work, to activism, music, entrepreneurship, preservation, counseling, parenting, natural hair care and more, Gullah Geechee women continue to “Reach back and get it” and then put their thing down, flip it and reverse it. 🙂
Over the next few weeks I will be sharing a short series highlighting 14 proud Gullah Geechee women who are honoring the entrepreneurial and revolutionary spirits of those who came before us.
Each woman was asked a series of questions ranging from how long they’ve identified as Gullah Geechee to what they believe will be key in preserving and celebrating the culture and community.
In their own words…
Shaniqua Davenport Coaxum, Geechee Gal
I was born in Fort Jackson, SC (military) but raised in Beaufort, SC by way of Burton, SC 
and later St. Helena Island. Honestly, I started to identify as Gullah Geechee at the age of 8, when my mother moved our family across the bridge from Burton to St. Helena Island, SC. My siblings and I went to Penn Center‘s Afterschool Program for Cultural Enrichment for years. I attended until 9th grade. I started to to claim the culture because I knew we were unique as far as traditions, work ethic, the way we ate and cooked–but I really didn’t understand until I got older.
To me Gullah Geechee is a unique culture and way of life; speaking, cooking, eating, and work ethic.
I am passionate about my business and and about educating my clients. Not only do I teach them how to care for their hair; but I educate them about our culture and who we are. So many of them have never heard the words “Gullah Geechee” but will go to Charleston or Hilton Head to eat and enjoy our cultural dishes without knowing anything about the origin.
I am a licensed cosmetologist and owner of Naturelle Beaute’ by Shaniqua in Charlotte, NC. I believe that I’ve been called to counsel and educate, and I do this whenever I stand behind my chair. I am also a wife and an expectant mother!
The work ethic and entrepreneurial skills of my ancestors definitely plays a role in how I handle business. My advice to other women is to stay true to yourself and your brand. Never compete with the next business owner–what’s yours is yours. Customers will come and come and go but loyal clients will be there until the end.
I think to preserve the culture we need to create a group of people who are passionate about the Gullah Geechee culture and community. We should utilize technology and social media. This would bring awareness and eventually help our culture evolve beyond the corridor. Many of us natives no longer live in The Lowcountry but love sharing and celebrating our Gullah Geechee traditions in our various cities.
Check out Shaniqua’s work: Naturelle Beaute’ by Shaniqua !
Tamika Middleton, Geechee Gal
I’m from St. Helena Island, Seaside to be exact 🙂 I have always identified as Gullah 
Geechee. I think maybe it was growing up on St. Helena, spending so much time at Penn Center, having your parents (Ron and Natalie Daise) come do presentations at St. Helena Elementary. I was always clear that I was Gullah Geechee, and that it meant something (even if I didn’t always think that “something” was positive).
Gullah Geechee means ancestral legacy and connection. It means standing in a lineage of resistance and resilience; Gullah Geechee means an indomitable people with an indomitable spirit. It means good food, and family, and Blackness, and land, and culture. Gullah Geechee is self and home.
I am passionate about Black people, and specifically Black women and children. I am passionate about preserving Black legacies of healing and resistance. I am passionate about liberation, and about us all acknowledging how necessary Black liberation is to all liberation.
I wear a lot of hats! I am the Organizing Director for the Atlanta chapter of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. I am a doula and an apprentice midwife. I am a nonprofit consultant, though I like to think of myself as a social movements consultant, because I prefer to consult with organizations that are doing really important work towards liberation. I am an organizer to my core, through and through. I know my purpose is tied into that, because no matter how often I try to step away, I find myself doing it, instinctually. I know I’ve been called to be a healer–specifically in the Gullah Geechee tradition. My ancestors told me this in a dream. So we’ll see where that leads me. Along those lines, I coordinate an organization called Kindred Southern Healing Justice Collective, and we provide a space to talk about the necessity of healing and wellness as a part of social movement work and for addressing collective trauma. I’m a wife and a mama. I’m an unschooler, and I do a lot of thinking, talking, writing, building around self-directed education, and alternative educational models as libratory praxis. I’m working with a dope group of folks on opening the Anna Julia Cooper Learning and Liberation Center in the spring of 2017. I write sometimes, too, when I can get out of my own way. I have a novel in me somewhere. And I perform with a bomb ass Black women performance group called NALO Arts Collective.
I think all of this makes me terribly unsuited for capitalism! lol. Anything I do to earn money is always in the service of Black people. And I tend to lean more toward bartering, sliding scale services, that sort of model. I operate in a way that’s a bit Marxist, in that “to each according to his need, from each according to his ability” sort of way, such that I rarely turn anyone away for doula services or consulting services; I always try to find a way to offer them something, or find someone who can provide them what they need. It’s not the best way to run a business in a capitalistic society, but I always find that my needs are met, because my work is also a way I build community.
I think the advice I would have for other entrepreneurs is to stay true to yourself, stay true to your mission, and stay grounded and connected. It’s the only way to move through the world. And also, find yourself some dope Black women to keep you up. At the same time, for Black women, especially, don’t let people feel entitled to your labor. Despite the fact that I try to show up to the best of my ability, and most folks really appreciate that, there will always be folks who don’t appreciate it, because they feel entitled to it. To paraphrase Zora Neale Hurston, Black women are the mules of the world. People will take your work, eat off of it, THRIVE off of it, and render you invisible. DON’T LET THEM.
How to preserve and celebrate the culture? I think the answer to that question lies in that word “evolution”. There are people who want to make us into ghosts. The world would see Gullah Geechee Culture as a dead or static culture. But we are here. And we are alive. And WE ARE THE CULTURE (despite what some folks would have you think). We have to remember that we are the culture, and the culture is what, who, where we are. We are the ancestors; they are us. We honor the ancestors, the traditions, but we acknowledge that the traditions are alive. We talk to the ones that come after us. My kids are born and raised
in Atlanta, but they will never not know they are Gullah Geechee. So we connect with each other, we build with each other, we commune with each other, we learn the traditions, we pass them on, and we talk about who we are today. There’s a DOPE thread of Gullah Geechee hip hop artists and musicians on Facebook. How do we inherently make hip hop something different because of who we are? As we leave the Corridor, what is it that we take with us? Who have we become? I have an interview project in my head to talk to Gullah Geechee folks under 45. Because really, no-one talks to us, except to put us on display, to have us perform. No-one talks to us as though we are actual, living, breathing, loving people. So I’d like to do that.
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A Village raised me! Huger Street, Eastside, West Ashley, Silver hill and George Legare aka George lagree. My childhood was full of Geechee wonder, surrounded by my elders, spirituality and culture! And I didn’t even know it! With all of this combined, I am and still evolving to be the best me and a stronger Gullah Warrior Ooman.
My closet is full of hats! First Tier; I am Recording Artist, Kyndra Joi, where my music is affectionately known as “Gullah Soul”. I have taken a brief hiatus from the recording scene to do more cultural music and music collaborations. I am the Founder and Director of my nonprofit, I Am My Sister. This nonprofit assists women of color in cultivating wholeness and obtaining balance within self-first through wellness workshops and mentorship. This organization is dear to my heart because the ultimate goal is to assist women in freeing themselves from that mental and societal bondage that has been placed on them. When we are free, we are able to stand upright in our places and the be the strength and protectors of our communities and families that we have been created to be.
My advice that I give to the Queens is just do it! There are always going to be the what if’s, the naysayers, the financial concerns, but just do it. Develop your plan, get a team of at least 2 people and make it do what it do. Ask questions, find a mentor, have a steady self-care plan and then go at it again! Just imagine, if our ancestors didn’t do it, where would be? We are responsible for the generation behind us. They are because We Are!
I was born in New Haven, CT. At 5-years-old I moved to Summerville, SC, where my grandparents lived. I lived there until I was 12 and then I was sent back to Connecticut. I graduated from high school in ’96 and by 1999 I was ready for change. Jacksonville, FL was my next destination. In 2012 I finally decided to move back to SC. I’ve grown up exposed to the city-life as well as the country-living. Moving so often didn’t provide much stability. Because of this, it was easy learning to live without becoming psychologically attached to locations or people.
my body. Spend time with my home. How to help the evolving culture? For the adults: staying involved, assisting in the area that appears to struggle. Getting our youth involved so that they understand and are aware of their identity within their culture. It’s through the youthful energy that the positive evolution of the culture will expand in areas like education, social media advertisement, cultural and community projects. We must advertise and exemplify the phrase “Do Your Part!”
I believe my purpose now is to assist our elders with the work that needs to be completed so that our culture doesn’t become dormant. I do so by showing them how to use technology, typing paperwork, making calls, being an educated face and voice for their affairs and making sure that their needs are met.
knowing came from my mother making sure I knew where I came from. She would tell me about where she was born (Cherokee Plantation in Yemassee, SC) and how everyone took care of each other. My grandfather would also tell us stories. To hear him speak guaranteed you would be aware of the culture. I was and still am proud of such a rich heritage. It means being resilient and proud. Embracing that which is unique and embedded in you that no one else can imitate. We are an original and wise people who prosper from our natural abilities as long as we respect those abilities.
Traditions are meant to form a foundation for us to build the future, not to keep us stuck. We can respect our roots while we continue to grow the rest of the fruit. It’s our job to continue to educate our children about who we are and to celebrate this heritage in our daily lives. Never be ashamed of our story. This is why I created 
because of my grandmother; we picked okra and tomatoes, corn and snap beans. Every Sunday we’d have a big family dinner and you could always expect some “hoppin john” aka peas & rice, cornbread, mac & cheese, turkey wings, potato salad and more. Sundays were literally Gullah Grub day. I was also influenced by the show Gullah Gullah Island. I remember watching this show in kindergarten. It taught me social skills and family lessons through song and also highlighted the Gullah culture. It wasn’t until I attended 
enjoy every minute of it. It’s such a great feeling being able to enhance one’s natural beauty with a simple haircut. My culture certainly influences my barber career. Every style is a revolving cycle of what was worn before my time. Many of the styles have some type of symbolic meaning behind them.
seminars as well as summer 
I’m from Johns Island, SC.
saramakeba 