Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture

Revised by Jenny Kaemmerlen, intern, October 2005

Gullah Culture and the Sea Islands

Books

 
Adams, Edward C. L. Nigger to Nigger. New York: C. Scribner, 1928. (PS3501.D23 N53 1928) 

American Bible Society. De Good Nyews Bout Jedus Christ Wa Luke Write: The Gospel According

to Luke in Gullah Sea Island Creole with Marginal Text of the King James Version. New

York: American Bible Society, 1994. (BS350S47L81994)

Ames, Mary. She Came to the Island. Edisto Beach: Sea Side Services, 1992. (E185.93S7A511992)

Ball, Charles (Negro Slave). Fifty Years in Chains; or, the Life of an American Slave. Miami:

Mnemsyne Pub. Co., 1969. (E444B181969)

Branch, Murial Miller. The Water Brought Us: The Story of the Gullah-Speaking People. New York:

Cobblehill Books, 1995. (E184G84B731995)

Bresee, Clyde. Sea Island Yankee. Chapel Hill: Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 1986.

(PS3552R3876S41986)

 
Brown, Thomas J. Lessons Learned from the Gullah Experience: Powerful Forces in Educating 
 African-American Youth.  St. Helena Island, SC: KK & G Enterprises, 1998. (LC2717 .B66 
 1998) 

Burn, Billie. Stirrin’ the Pots at Daufuskie. Daufuskie Island: B. Burn, 1985. (TX715B9571985)

Campbell, Emory S. Gullah Cultural Legacies: a Synopsis of Gullah Traditions, Customary Beliefs

Artforms and Speech on Hilton Head Island and Vicinal Sea Islands in South Carolina and Georgia.

Hilton Head, SC: Gullah Heritage Consulting Services, 2002. (E185.93.S7 C27 2002)

Carawan, Guy and Candie. Ain’t You Got a Right to the Tree of Life?: The People of Johns Island,

South Carolina – Their Faces, Their Words, and Their Songs. Athens: University of Georgia

Press, 1988. (E185.93S7C31989)

 
Colcock, Erroll Hay. Dusky Land: Gullah Poems and Sketches of Coastal South Carolina. Clinton, 
 SC: Jacobs Press, 1942. (PS3505.O2577 D8) 

Creel, Margaret Washington. A Peculiar People: Slaves, Religion, and Community-Culture Among

the Gullahs. New York: New York University Press, 1989. (E45S7C741988)

 
Crum, Mason. Gullah: Negro Life in the Carolina Sea Islands. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 
 1940. (E185.93.S7 C85) 

Cunningham, Irma Aloyce Ewing. A Syntatic Analysis of Sea Islands Creole. Tuscaloosa: University

Of Alabama Press, 1992. (PM7875G8C861992) (see also Dissertations)

Dabbs, Edith M. Sea Island Diary: A History of St. Helena Island. Spartanburg, SC: Reprint Co., 1983.

(F277B3D31983)

Dabbs, Edith M. Face of an Island. South Carolina: R.L. Bryan Co., 1970. (E185.93S7M5)

Daise, Ronald. De Gullah Storybook. Beaufort: G. O. G. Enterprises, 1989. (PM7875G8D351989)

 
Daise, Ronald. Little Muddy Waters: a Gullah Folk tale. Beaufort, SC: G.O.G. Enterprises, 1997. 
 (PZ8.1.D1525 Li 1997) 

Daise, Ronald. Reminiscences of Sea Island Heritage. Orangeburg, SC: Sandlapper Pub., 1986.

(F277B3D351986)

Geraty, Virginia Mixson. Gulluh Fuh Oonuh = Gullah for You: A Guide to the Gullah Language.

Orangeburg, SC: Sandlapper, 1997. (PM7875.G8 G47 1997)

 
Geraty, Virginia Mixson. Gullah Night Before Christmas. Gretna, LA: Pelican Pub. Co., 1998.
 (PM7875.G8 G468 1998) 

Gonzales, Ambrose Elliot. The Black Border: Gullah Stories of the Carolina Coast. Columbia: The

State Company, 1992. (E185.93S7G6)

Goodwine, Marquetta L., Editor. The Legacy of Ibo Landing: Gullah Roots of African American

Culture. Atlanta: Clarity Press, 1998. (E185.93.S7 L43 1998)

Graydon, Nell S. Tales of Edisto. Orangeburg, SC: Sandlapper, 1986. (F277B3G731986)

 
Green, Jonathan. Gullah Images: the Art of Jonathan Green. Columbia, SC: University of South 
 Carolina Press, 1996. (ND237.G6169 A4 1996) 

Hayes, James P. James and Related Sea Islands. Charleston: Walker, Evans, and Cogswell Co., 1978.

(F277B3H39)

Hess, Karen. The Carolina Rice Kitchen: The African Connection. Columbia: University of South

Carolina Press, 1992. (TX809R5H461992)

 
Heyward, Dorothy, and Virginia Mixson Geraty. Porgy: a Gullah Version. Charleston, SC: Wyrick, 
 1990. (PS3515.E97 P615 1990) 

Heyward, DuBose. The Half Pint Flask. New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1929. (PZ3 .H5186 Hal)

Heyward, Janie Screve. Brown Jackets. Columbia: The State Company, 1923. (E185.86H62)

Holloway, Joseph E. Africanisms in American Culture. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991.

(E185A261991)

Holloway, Joseph E. The African Heritage of American English. Bloomington: Indiana University

Press, 1993. (PE3102N4H651993)

Holmgren, Virginia C. Hilton Head: A Sea Island Chronicle. Easley: Southern Historical Press, 1986.

(F279A43J691984)

Jackson, Patricia Jones. When Roots Die: Endangered Traditions on the Sea Islands. Athens:

University of Georgia Press, 1987. (F277B3J6751987)

Jacoway, Elizabeth. Yankee Missionaries in the South: The Penn School Experiment. Baton Rogue:

Louisiana State University Press, 1980. (T171P45J32)

Jaquith, Priscilla. Bo Rabbit Smart for True: Folktales from the Gullah. New York: Philomel Books,

1981. (P28.1J35Bo1981)

Johnson, Guy Benton. Folk Culture on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of

North Carolina Press, 1930. (E185.93S7J67)

Johnson, Guion Griffs. A Social History of the Sea Islands with Special Reference to St. Helena

Island, South Carolina. New York: Negro Universities Press, 1969. (F277 .B3J6671969)

Joyner, Charles W. Down by the Riverside: A South Carolina Slave Community. Urbana: University

of Illinois Press, 1984. (F279A43J691984)

Kinlaw-Ross, Eleanor. Dat Gullah and other Geechie Traditions. Atlanta: Crick Edge Production,

1996. (E185.93S7K521996)

Krull, Kathleen. Bridges to Change: How Kids Live on a South Carolina Sea Island. New York:

Lodstar Books, 1995. (F277B3K781995)

Littlefield, Daniel C. Rice and Slaves: Ethnicity and the Slave Trade in Colonial South Carolina.

Baton Rogue: Louisiana State University, 1981. (E445S7L57)

 
Long Journey Home: Folklife in the South. Chapel Hill, NC: Southern Exposure, 1977.  (GR108 .L66 
 1977) 

Martin, Josephine W. “Dear Sister”: Letters Written on Hilton Head Island, 1867. Beaufort: Beaufort

Book Co., 1977. (F277B3S951977)

 
Miller, Edward A. Gullah Statesman: Robert Smalls from Slavery to Congress, 1839-1915. Columbia, 
 SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1995. (E185.97S6M551995) 

Mitchell, Allen. Wadmalaw Island: Leaving Traditional Roots Behind. Roslyn, PA: Boar Hog Tree

Press, 1996. (F277C4M5721996)

 
Montgomery, Michael, ed. The Crucible of Carolina: Essays in the Development of Gullah 
 Language and Culture. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 1994. (PM7875G8C781994 ) 

Normand, Kerry S. By Industry and Thrift: Landownership Among the Freed People of St. Helena

Parish, South Carolina, 1863-1870. Amherst:[s.n.], 1994. (F277B3N671994)

Nichols, Elaine. Last Miles of the Way: African- American Homecoming Traditions, 1890-Present.

Columbia: South Carolina State Museum, 1989. (GT3206L371989)

Opala, Joseph A. The Gullah: Rice, Slavery, and the Sierra Leone-American Connection. Freetown,

Sierra Leone: USIS, 1987. (PM7875G80631987)

Parrish, Lydia Austin. Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands. Hatboro: Folklore Associates, 1965.

(M1670P371965)

 
Pinckney, Roger. Blue Roots: African-American Folk Magic of the Gullah People. St. Paul, MN: 
 Llewellyn Publications, 1998. (GR111.A47 P56 1998) 
 
Plair, Sally. Something to Shout about: Reflections on the Gullah Spiritual.  Mt. Pleasant, SC: 
 Molasses Lane Publishers, 1972. (M1670 .P53 1972) 

Pollitzer, William S. The Gullah People and Their African Heritage. Athens: University of Georgia

Press, 1999. (E18593S7P651999)

Puckett, Newbell N. Folk Beliefs of the Southern Negro. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina

Press, 1926. (GR103P81926)

Puckette, Clara Childs. Edisto, A Sea Island Principality. Cleveland: Seaforth Publications, 1978.

(F277C4P8)

Rhett, Blanche. Two Hundred Years of Charleston Cooking. Columbia: University of South Carolina,

1976.

Rose, Willie Lee Nichols. Rehearsal for Reconstruction: The Port Royal Experiment. New York:

Vintage Books, 1964. (F277B3R61964)

Rosengarten, Dale. Row Upon Row: Sea Grass Baskets of the South Carolina Lowcountry.

Columbia: McKissik Museum, University of South Carolina, 1986. (TT879B3R651986)

Smart-Grovsenor, Vertamae. Vibration Cooking; or, The Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl. New York:

Ballantine Books, 1970. (TX715V471986)

Smith, Reed. Gullah. Columbia: State Printing Co., 1969. (PM7875G8561969)

 
Stoddard, Albert Henry. Gullah Animal Tales from Daufuskie Island, South Carolina. 
 Hilton Head Island, SC: Push Button Pub. Co., 1995. (PM7875.G8 S76 1995)
 
Stoney, Samuel Gaillard, and Gertrude Mathews Shelby. Black Genesis: A Chronicle. New York, 
 Macmillan Co., 1930. (GR103 .S8) 
 

Stuckey, Sterling. Slave Culture: Nationalist Theory and the Foundations of Black America. New

York: Oxford University Press, 1987. (E441S971987)

Townsend, Saida. Sketches in Sepia: Gullah and Other Poems. Mount Pleasant, SC: Continenal Leasing

Co., 1975. (PS3570.O69 S53)

Turner, Lorenzo D. Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1949.

(PM7875G8T81949)

Twining, Mary A. and Keith E. Baird. Sea Island Roots: African Presence in the Carolinas and

Georgia. Trenton: Africa World Press, 1990. (E185.93S7S421990)

Whaley, Marcellus Seabrook. The Old Types Pass: Gullah Sketches of the Carolina Sea Islands.

Boston: The Christopher Publishing House, 1925. (E185.93.S7 W6)

Wood, Peter H. Black Majority: Negroes in Colonial South Carolina from 1670 through the Stono

Rebellion. New York: Random House, 1974. (E445S7W66)

Woofter, Thomas Jackson. Black Yeomanry, Life on St. Helena Island. New York: H. Holt and

Company, 1930. (F277B3W91)

Dissertations

Bost, Dolores. “Using Gullah in Public Life: the Life and Work of a Pastor in the Sea Islands.” 
 Columbia University, DAI, 2001. (PM7875.G8 2001a)

Cunningham, Irma Aloyce Ewing. “A Syntatic Analysis of the Sea Island Creole (Gullah).”

University of Michigan, DAI, 1971. (PM7875G8C861970a)

Day, Virginia Kay. “ ‘My Family is Me’: Women’s Kin Networks and Social Power in a Black Sea

Island Community.” Rutgers University, DAI, 1986. (E185.93S7D391986a)

Derby, Doris Adelaide. “Black Women Basket Makers: A Study of Domestic Economy in Charleston

County, South Carolina.” University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, DAI, 1980.

(TT879B3D471980a)

Guthrie, Patricia. “Catching Sense: The Meaning of Plantation Membership Among Blacks on St.

Helena Island, South Carolina.” University of Rochester, DAI, 1977. (F277B3G81977a)

Haskell, Ann S. “The Representation of Gullah-Influenced Dialect in Twentieth Century South

Carolina Prose, 1922-30.” University of Pennsylvania, DAI, 1964. (PS266S6H371964a)

Hawley, Thomas Earl Jr. “The Slave Tradition of Singing Among the Gullah of Johns Island South Carolina.”

University of Maryland Baltimore County, DAI, 1993. (ML3556H3671993a)

Hoit-Thetford, Elizabeth. “An Educational History of the Gullahs of Coastal South Carolina from 1700-1900.”

East Tennessee State University, DAI, 1993. (LA361H65)

Jackson, Patricia Jones. “The Status of Gullah: An Investigation of Convergent Processes.”

University of Michigan, DAI, 1978. (PM7875G8J321978a)

Jordan, Francis Harold. “Across the Bridge: Penn School and Penn Center (South Carolina Civil

Rights Movement)." University of South Carolina, DAI, 1991. (LC2852S32J671991a)

Joyner, Charles W. “Slave Folklife on the Waccamaw Neck: Antebellum Black Culture in the South

Carolina Lowcountry.” University of Pennsylvania, DAI, 1977. (E445S7J691977a)

McGuire, Mary Jennie. “Getting Their Hands on the Land: The Revolution in St. Helena Parish,

1861-1900.” University of South Carolina, DAI, 1985. (F277BM3221985a)

Nichols, Patricia Causey. “Linguistic Change in Gullah: Sex, Age, Mobility.” Stanford University,

DAI, 1976. (PM7875G8N521976a)

Nixon, Nell Marie. “Gullah and Backwoods Dialect in Selected Works by William Gilmore Simms.”

University of South Carolina, DAI, 1971. (PS2853N591971a)

Oldendorf, Sandra Brenneman. “Highlander Folk School and the South Carolina Sea Island Schools:

Implications for the Social Studies (Civil Rights).” University of Kentucky, DAI, 1987. (JK17590521987a)

Rogers, Nikki L. “The Affinity of South Carolina's "Gullah" African Americans: Biological Tests of 
 Cultural and Historical Hypothesis.” University of Tennessee, Knoxville, DAI, 2000. 
 (E185.93.S7 R644 2002a)

Sledge, Mailande Cheney. “The Representation of the Gullah Dialect in Francis Griswold’s ‘A Sea

Island Lady’ (South Carolina).” University of Alabama, DAI, 1985. (PE3102N42S531985a)

Smith, Franklin O. “A Cross Generational Study of the Parental Discipline Practices and Beliefs of

Gullah Blacks of the Carolina Sea Islands.” University of Massachusetts, DAI, 1973.

(E185.93S75S7641973a)

Thomas, June Sheralyn Manning. “Blacks on the South Carolina Sea Islands: Planning for Tourist

and Land Development.” University of Michigan, DAI, 1977. (E185.93S7T431977a)

 
Watkins, June T. “Strategies of Social Control in an Isolated Community: the Case of the Gullah of 
 South Carolina's St. Helena Island.” Indiana University of Pennsylvania, DAI, 1993. 
 (HM291 .W38 1993a)

Williams, Darnell. “An Investigation of Possible Gullah Survivals in Speech and Cultural Patterns of

Black Mississippians.” Ohio State University, DAI, 1973. (PM7875G8W541973a)