Author Archive: Gullah/Geechee Nation
Purposeful Planning of the St. Helena Gullah/Geechee Multipurpose Center
Thirty years ago, I made a conscious decision to ensure that St. Helena Island would be the base of operations for the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition which is the oldest organization in world history that has “Gullah/Geechee” in its name. When I founded, the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition, one of our missions was to ensure that authentic Gullah/Geechee culture would be supported not simply verbally but politically and financially. So, I am sure that the ancestors that were fighting to protect St. Helena from being destroyed by a four to five lane highway expansion and against what I consider “destructionment” were smiling when the Beaufort Open Land Trust purchased the parcel of land at the intersection of Sea Island Parkway and Polowana Road in order to secure it for the St. Helena Island community. That parcel could have been a supermarket, the library location or the post office location since all of these were proposed in the past. Now there is a feasibility study being done for this to be the location of the St. Helena Island Gullah/Geechee Multipurpose Center which many natives of St. Helena Island requested years ago.
Gullah/Geechee Famlee Weekend 2026 Brings the Global Gullah/Geechee Family Home to Historic St. Helena Island, SC
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, invites the community to gather at Penn Center for a powerful weekend of cultural reconnection, creativity, rhythm, foodways, art, ancestral legacy, and Gullah/Geechee family unity The Gullah/Geechee Nation invites the world to the epicenter of Gullah/Geechee culture—historic St. Helena Island, South Carolina—for Gullah/Geechee Famlee Weekend 2026, a two-day …
Gullah/Geechee and SCELP Fighting Racial Discrimination Case to Protect Cultural Protection Overlay District
Queen Quet continued, “I have reviewed the complaint brought by the Plaintiffs in this case and recognize that they seek to destroy and invalidate the CPO so that their “destructionment” can move forward. The lawsuit is being made under the guise of claiming that the CPO is a race-based law. This is inaccurate and a misrepresentation. That accusation is legally unsound, historically inaccurate, and sociologically reductive. It collapses Gullah/Geechee culture into race and thereby erases the very heritage, land-use traditions, spiritual practices, language, kinship structures, ecological knowledge, and settlement patterns that the CPO was designed to protect. No one of any race or culture can violate the CPO law! We have the right to protect the environment and to continue to peacefully exist as native Gullah/Geechees and anyone that has come to St. Helena Island to live benefits from the healthy environment of our beloved island. We binya and ain gwine nowhey!”
Gullah/Geechee Musical Environmental Journeys
Whenever I have an opportunity to stand on the shoreline of the Gullah/Geechee Nation my spirit gets renewed. It is not only the warm Sea Island breeze laced in salt with its unique smell, it is also the rustle in the trees and the sway of the salt marsh that a dancer like me finds kinship with. I can hear an ancestral choir singing to a polyrhythmic beat that tends to be punctuated by the rhythms of crashing waves or the ripples in the river. Tenk GAWD fa de Sea Islands!
Gullah/Geechee June Celebrations!
Git readee fa culturally enriched fun! Jayn we een de Gullah/Geechee Nation een June ya! From the celebrations of Juneteenth to Black Music Month, e gwine be a Gullah/Geechee good time!
Gullah/Geechee Famlee Weekend een de Gullah/Geechee Epicenter een July!
Jayn we een de Gullah/Geechee epicenta fa “Gullah/Geechee Famlee Weekend 2026!” Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation and de Gullah/Geechee Famlee culturally invites you to the heart of the Gullah/Geechee Nation for “Gullah/Geechee Famlee Weekend.” We will gather on the grounds of Penn Center on historic St. Helena Island for two days of powerful cultural reconnection, reflection, and celebration—all under the guiding theme: “Hunnuh mus tek cyare de root fa heal de tree!”
Queen Quet of the Gullah/Geechee Nation Tekin Cyare of de Root
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation launched her 30th anniversary “Save the Sea Islands Tour” in February 2026. She has traversed numerous cities during the first two months of the tour and will continue the journey to additional states in April. She invites everyone to join her in person as she embodies the slogan that she was given in a vision thirty years ago: “Hunnuh mus tek cyare de root fa heal de tree.”
QUEEN QUET OF THE GULLAH/GEECHEE NATION CONTINUES 30TH ANNIVERSARY “SAVE THE SEA ISLANDS TOUR” WITH COLLEGE OF CHARLESTON EVENT
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, will make her next official stop on her 30th Anniversary “Save the Sea Islands Tour,” themed “Hunnuh Mus Tek Cyare de Root fa Heal de Tree.” This powerful cultural and environmental justice tour continues with a special collaborative gathering hosted by the College of Charleston’s Environmental and Sustainability Studies Program on Wednesday, April 8, 2026 at 6 pm in the College of Charleston’s School of Sciences and Mathematics Building at 202 Calhoun Street in downtown Charleston, SC.
Gullah/Geechee CREATE Celebrates Culture, Creativity, and Coastal Stewardship on Historic St. Helena Island
The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition, under the leadership of Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, proudly continues its cultural and environmental work through Gullah/Geechee CREATE, an innovative program in collaboration with South Carolina Sea Grant that merges art, environmental stewardship, and cultural education in the heart of the Gullah/Geechee Nation.
Celebrations of Creativity on Historic St. Helena Island in the Gullah/Geechee Nation
Don’t miss celebrations of creativity in the Gullah/Geechee Nation at the Reconstruction Era National Historical Park on St. Helena Island in the Gullah/Geechee Nation during March 2026! E gwine be a time!