Category Archives: Gullah/Geechee Health and Healing
Gullah/Geechee Nation Coastal Challenge Update
On the South Carolina Coast: A Tree Saved, a Cultural Overlay Challenged, and Data Centers Given a Path Forward
Monday, September 14, 2026 brought a flood of consequential local-government action along the South Carolina coast. The outcomes were not as simple as “win” or “loss.” The Beaufort County Council did not vote on St. Helena Island’s Cultural Protection Overlay, but the latest Pine Island challenge is moving toward the Planning Commission. In Charleston County, a redesign kept the Sol Legare witness tree standing, but the approved driveway will still enter its critical root zone. In Colleton County, Council did not approve construction of a particular data center; it adopted the comprehensive-plan, zoning-text, and zoning-map changes that make future data centers much easier to permit.
Here is what happened, what did not happen, and what you can do next.
HEADS UP! Protect the Gullah/Geechee Nation’s Coast!
Two counties. Two critical meetings. One coast to defend.
Monday, September 14, 2026, is a critical day for the future of the Gullah/Geechee Nation’s coast!
While Beaufort County Council prepares to discuss yet another attempt to remove Pine Island from the Cultural Protection Overlay District protecting St. Helena Island, Colleton County Council will consider regulations that could determine whether massive data centers gain a foothold in the rural ACE Basin.
These meetings overlap. Therefore, we need the Gullah/Geechee famlee, environmental justice advocates, landowners, preservationists and everyone who values the South Carolina Lowcountry to divide forces and fill both council chambers.
We cannot sit silently while destructioneers repeatedly attempt to wear down the laws that protect our land, water, culture and quality of life.
Living Water, Living Legacy and Living Resistance: September in the Gullah/Geechee Nation
September begins with prayer, but prayer must move our feet, strengthen our voices and guide our hands into action. Throughout this month, the Gullah/Geechee Nation will be filled with opportunities to worship, celebrate, learn, remember, organize and defend the sacred Sea Island homeland.
Gullah/Geechees Flow into Living Water and Sacred Responsibility: World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation
This year’s World Day of Prayer observance carries particular significance for the Gullah/Geechee Nation. At Noon Eastern Time on September 1, 2026, Queen Quet, Chieftess and Head-of-State of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, will provide the keynote address for Creation Justice Ministries’ online World Day of Prayer and Season of Creation webinar. Queen Quet will share the spiritual and cultural relationship that Gullah/Geechee people have maintained with water from generation to generation.
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 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.
De Gullah/Geechee Nation’s Queen Quet Announces 30th Anniversary “Save the Sea Islands Tour”
Queen Quet, Chieftess and Head-of-State of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, officially announces her 30th Anniversary “Save the Sea Islands Tour,” a multicity initiative celebrating Gullah/Geechee heritage and advancing the mission of land preservation, cultural continuity, and community empowerment. The tour, themed “Hunnuh Mus Tek Cyare de Root fa Heal de Tree — Celebrating Gullah/Geechee Land & Legacy,” underscores the enduring wisdom that community restoration and sustainability begin with caring for the roots of our culture and heritage.
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, Honored with “Excellence in Education Award” by Planting People Growing Justice
Queen Quet, Chieftess and Head-of-State of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, has been awarded the prestigious “Excellence in Education Award” by Planting People Growing Justice, the leadership and literacy initiative founded and led by Dr. Artika R. Tyner. The recognition celebrates her decades-long commitment to education, literacy, and cultural empowerment across the Gullah/Geechee Nation and beyond.
Envisioning Gullah/Geechee Peace and Sea Island Serenity
I thought about how I was getting dressed to go to my mom’s to tell her that there was going to be a prayer vigil in Beaufort that I was going to go to that evening and I wanted to make sure she would be ready to go too. She was ready the moment I said, I was going to pray. As I talked to her, I realized that where we planned to go was actually the same lot where Junior and I had stood and talked! I looked up and I smiled. I could see his face as he smiled. I could hear his voice again saying, “Cuz, I’m still fishing.”
