Gullah Geechee influence is seen all over the US. Why does a notion of isolation prevail?

A new book from leading scholars and historians pushes back against the narrative that Gullah communities were insulated from the mainland US Gullah Geechee culture is sometimes viewed as static – a common narrative suggests that, isolated from the rest of the country, enslaved Africans and their descendants in the Sea Islands, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina, created a language, tradition and society that insulated them from the mainland US. But this limited imagining deprives Gullah Geechee people of receiving full credit for their contributions to the US south and the country at large. Even before the US civil war, Gullah influences were seen in places such as Mississippi, Texas and the Caribbean, showing that the Gullah Geechee didn’t remain remote, but rather migrated throughout the country, leaving evidence of their presence in their new homes. A new book, Gullah-Geechee Diasporas: Knowledge, Culture, and Black Lowcountry Legacies aims to highlight this impact through eight essays by pre-eminent scholars and historians. Edited by Muhammad Fraser-Rahim and Elizabeth J West, the text crafts a wider understanding of Gullah Geechee life and influence, through