The Gullah/Geechie Culture & Infuence in South Carolina

In 2009, our Baxter/Bonaparte Family Reunion was held at at Myrtle Beach, in South Carolina. However, our South Carolina ancestors were the Gullah/Geechie, of South Carolina, some of whom own and manage Atlanta Beach. For many years the only place blacks were allowed to congregate, was Atlanta Beach.The Gullah/Geechie Culture was formed by descendants of African American Slaves, in the Islands off of South Carolina and Georgia. Nicknamed The Black Pearl, the rich culture of the Town of Atlantic Beach was formed of mostly Gullah/Geechee people, descendants of slaves who lived for 300 years on the Sea Islands from Wilmington, North Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida. In the early 1930’s, defying Jim Crow laws in the segregated south, debunking black stereotypes, and broadening the enterprises of the Gullah/Geechee people, black men and women opened hotels, restaurants, night clubs, and novelty shops in Atlantic Beach.

Many of the slaves in South Carolina arrived through Ports located in Charleston. The slaves labored to build Charleston, and were eventually taken into the interior (up Country). My South Carolina Family Surnames are, Baxter, Bonaparte, Darby, Boyd, Ruth, and Warner, to name a few. They lived in the Low Country, and by the Ogeechie River, in the Up Country of South Carolina.They grew Rice, Indigo, and Cotton, all labor intensive crops. The low country slaves tended to grow Indigo and rice, while Up Country Slaves worked with Cotton. However, there was no hard and fast rules, especially in the beginning of slavery. Rice was grown around the waterways and swamps of South Carolina. The slaves not only grew the crops, they cleared the swamps and planted, and picked the crops. All of the hard, demanding labor was done by slaves, working in inhumane conditions. All of the benefits of slavery went to their owners, whether a person or a Corporation. 

The Up Country ancestors in my family worked the cotton fields for no wages during slavery, and little wages afterward. Along the Ogeechie River and other waterways, the slaves grew rice.  Growing Rice in snake infested water, not to mention Alligators, and every bug known to man, was a feat unto itself. After the Civil War, even those who received lands were relegated to a life of poverty, because of Institutionalized Racism.

One of our ancestors, Great-Great Grandmothers, Leah Warner was born in Guinea in 1818, and lived there the first twelve years of her life. The story passed down from Leah to me (by my mother), is that she was the daughter of a King in Guinea, and they lived along the river. Leah's people were Muslim, and my belief is that her father was an Imam (Muslim Holy man). The tribe she belonged to were the Malinke, and the founder was Sandiata Keita. The Malinke entered Guinea from Mali sometime around 1300 AD, and eventually engaged in a war with the Baga. They were the original inhabitants of Guinea, and fierce opponents of the Mali intruders. The wars between the Baja and Malinke resulted in a merger of sorts. There was an uneasy peace, but Guinea continues to be divided along ethnic lines.

Great-Great Grandmother Leah, stated that they (the Kings' Children), panned for Gold in the River. That is probably where they were the day of the kidnapping. That was the last day Leah saw her home in Guinea. She was then twelve years old, and her siblings were at the river, along with some guards. She stated that the slavers took them five miles down river, and they were brought to America on board a Dutch Ship.

It is amazing to hear the details of her ordeal, given the trauma they endured. The year of 1830 is important; because that is the year, Leah was taken. Yet, selling African slaves in America was outlawed in America. Southern States got around the law by having the slaves, "seasoned" in the Caribbean. Leah and the others on the voyage were taken o Bermuda to be seasoned. There are events that she does not recount, but we can image the ordeal she suffered through there. By the time she was sold in Charleston SC, her name was Leah. There is no mention of what her name was in Guinea.

The man who purchased Leah was Robert Ruth, who owned a small farm in Beaufort District South Carolina. Beaufort is part of the Low Country of South Carolina, which includes Hilton Head Island. In the 1850 census, Robert Ruth has about seven slaves on his farm. There is Leah, and about five children, including my Great-Grandfather, Samuel Ruth. Several of Leah's children belonged to Robert Ruth, and even carried his last name. It was a mixed blessing for Leah to live on a small farm, as she primarily worked in the house. However, that put her in close proximity to the man who owned her, and exploited her.

In 1857, Leah was sold to a Plantation on Hilton Head South Carolina. Her children watched her being sold on the auction block. Then while Leah watched, her children were sold on the auction block in front of her. Leah told of watching as her red haired daughter, was put in a wagon and taken from her. Cousin Ida Ruth-Jones depicted the moment in one of her paintings. Leah is standing in the background with her arms up in the air. Leah was taken to a Plantation in Hilton Head, and would remain there for the next twenty-three years. Although she worked the fields, Leah became part of the Gullah community there.

She married her husband, Jack Warner, and bore two children by him. Plantation life was harsh, but they had the advantage of forming families and communities. Leah meant friends from Guinea, who knew her family, and made friends with other Africans. The Gullah are a cohesive community of people, who maintain the beliefs brought from Africa. In one story Leah tells of being whipped as they went into the fields. Mr. Fields was the overseer, and he ran the slaves into the fields on a horse. Leah often felt the sting of the whip on her back, even though she ran as fast as she could. After slavery ended, Fields continued as if nothing had changed. Finally Leah asked if the end of slavery meant that Fields could not whip them. She was told that, Fields had no right to whip them. Leah waited until the next day, when Fields came after her, and lifted his whip, "She grabbed him, and pulled the whip out of his hand, and he landed on the ground. There she proceeded to whip him, nearly to death. She was stopped by the other slaves, and the whip taken out of her hand. That was the last time she saw Fields."

Leah remained in Hilton Head after the Civil War, in the community she had been a part of building. She learned that her children were alive and well, and made contact with each one. Daniel was married and living in Georgia, as was Emma. Samuel Ruth had been rescued by the 54th Massachusetts United States Colored Troops, and taken to New Jersey, where a black family adopted him. Samuel was thirteen when the Civil War started, and was sold to Savannah Georgia, along with his light-skinned brothers, and sisters. They were house servants there in Georgia, for a wealthy family. Samuel remembers being whipped, and abused by the family they lived with, when he cried for his mother.

In 1889, after the death of her husband Jack, and son Georgy (she said Georgy was killed), Leah moved to Pennsylvania. Samuel Ruth, her son took a trip to Hilton Head on a Rickety Boat to find his mother. When he landed at Hilton Head, he asked for Leah Warner, and the message was passed to his mother. She ran to her son, screaming his name, Sammy, Sammy, Sammy, and fell to her knees. He told her, Momma, you do not have to bow any more. Sammy helped his mother pack her belongs, and say goodbye, and they left for Pennsylvania.

When they arrived in Pennsylvania, Leah met her daughter-in-Law, Maria Pinn-Ruth, and her Grandchildren. Her son Samuel was a prominent Farmer in Chester County Pennsylvania, and built a house for her on his property. Leah lived to be ninety-seven years old recounting her story to her Grandchildren, and Great-Grandchildren. She continued to believe in her Muslim Faith, although her son was a Christian Minister. She died peacefully, sitting on her front porch, and joined the family that she had been taken from as a child.

This is a Black History Tribute, in memory of the Baxter/Bonaparte/Warner/Ruth/ Boyd/Christ Berger, ancestors, who endured so much..., we are Here!