Editing Gullah (section)

{{Short description|African American ethnic group in the Southern United States}}
{{About|the Gullah people and their culture and diaspora||}}
{{Redirect|Geechee}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Gullah
| native_name      = Gullah Geechee
| native_name_lang = gul
| image            = Sweetgrass Basket Maker.jpg
| image_caption    = A Gullah woman makes a sweetgrass basket in Charleston's City Market.
| image_alt        = 
| total            = Est. '''200,000'''<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-hurricane-matthew-geechee-snap-story.html |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |title= The Gullah people have survived on the Carolina sea islands for centuries. Now development is taking a toll |first=Nigel |last=Duara |date=November 4, 2016 |accessdate=July 27, 2021}}</ref>
| total_year       = 
| total_source     = 
| total_ref        = 
| genealogy        = 
| regions          = North Carolina • South Carolina • Georgia • Florida • Liberia
| languages        = [[American English]], [[African-American English]], [[Gullah language]]
| religions        = Majority Protestant; minorities Roman Catholic and [[Hoodoo (spirituality)|Hoodoo]]
| related_groups   = [[African-Americans]], [[Afro-Bahamians]], [[Afro-Trinidadians]], [[Haitians]], [[West Africa#Demographics and languages|West Africans]], [[Black Seminoles]]
| footnotes        = 
}}
{{African American topics sidebar}}

The '''Gullah''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|ɡ|ʌ|l|ə}}) are a subgroup of the [[African Americans|African American]] ethnic group, who predominantly live in the [[South Carolina Lowcountry|Lowcountry]] region of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida within the coastal plain and the [[Sea Islands]]. [[Gullah language|Their language]] and culture have preserved a significant influence of [[Africanisms]] as a result of their historical geographic isolation and the community's relation to its shared history and identity.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-03-10 |title=The Gullah: Rice, Slavery, and the Sierra Leone-American Connection |url=https://macmillan.yale.edu/glc/gullah-rice-slavery-and-sierra-leone-american-connection |access-date=2022-06-25 |website=The Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition |language=en}}</ref> 

Historically, the Gullah region extended from the [[Cape Fear (headland)|Cape Fear]] area on North Carolina's coast south to the vicinity of [[Jacksonville, Florida|Jacksonville]] on Florida's coast. The Gullah people and their language are also called '''Geechee''', which may be derived from the name of the [[Ogeechee River]] near [[Savannah, Georgia]].<ref name="Gomez2000">{{cite book|author=Michael A. Gomez|title=Exchanging Our Country Marks: The Transformation of African Identities in the Colonial and Antebellum South|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tfHU4mOPMmMC&pg=PA102|date=9 November 2000|publisher=Univ of North Carolina Press|isbn=978-0-8078-6171-4|page=102}}</ref> ''Gullah'' is a term that was originally used to designate the [[Creole language|creole]] dialect of English spoken by Gullah and Geechee people. Over time, its speakers have used this term to formally refer to their creole language and distinctive ethnic identity as a people. The Georgia communities are distinguished by identifying as either "Freshwater Geechee" or "Saltwater Geechee", depending on whether they live on the mainland or the Sea Islands.<ref name="Morgan2011">{{cite book|author=Philip Morgan|title=African American Life in the Georgia Lowcountry: The Atlantic World and the Gullah Geechee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VK2crOGw6aAC&pg=PA151-IA17|date=15 August 2011|publisher=University of Georgia Press|isbn=978-0-8203-4274-0|page=151}}</ref><ref name="BaileyHarris2003">{{cite book|author1=Cornelia Bailey|author2=Norma Harris|author3=Karen Smith|title=Sapelo Voices: Historical Anthropology and the Oral Traditions of Gullah-Geechee Communities on Sapelo Island, Georgia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zdLiAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Saltwater%20Geechee%22|year=2003|publisher=State University of West Georgia|isbn=978-1-883199-14-2|page=3}}</ref><ref name="NPS2003">{{cite book|title=Low Country Gullah Culture, Special Resource Study: Environmental Impact Statement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k0o3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA16|year=2003|publisher=National Park Service|page=16}}</ref><ref name="NPS">{{cite web|author1=NPS|title=Gullah Geechee History, Language, Society, Culture, and Change|url=https://www.nps.gov/guge/learn/historyculture/upload/Historical%20Background.doc.|publisher=National Park Service|page=1|quote=Geechee people in Georgia refer to themselves as Freshwater Geechee if they live on the mainland and Saltwater Geechee if they live on the Sea Islands.}}</ref>

Because of a period of relative isolation from whites while working on large [[Plantations in the American South|plantations]] in rural areas, the Africans, enslaved from a variety of Central and West African ethnic groups, developed a creole culture that has preserved much of their African linguistic and cultural heritage from various peoples; in addition, they absorbed new influences from the region. According to the Gullah/Geechee Nation website, many Gullah/Geechees also have some native American or indigenous American ancestry.<ref name="Gullah/Geechee Nation">{{cite web |author1=Gullah/Geechee Nation |title=De Gullah/Geechee Foundation of America |url=https://gullahgeecheenation.com/2017/10/05/de-gullahgeechee-foundation-of-america/ |website=Gullah/Geechee Nation |access-date=11 February 2025 |date=5 October 2017}}</ref> The Gullah people speak an [[English-based creole language]] containing many African [[loanwords]] and influenced by [[African languages]] in grammar and sentence structure. Sometimes referred to as "Sea Island Creole" by linguists and scholars, the Gullah language is sometimes considered as being similar to [[Bahamian Creole]], [[Barbadian Creole]], [[Guyanese Creole]], [[Belizean Creole]], [[Jamaican Patois]], [[Trinidadian Creole]], [[Tobagonian Creole]], and the [[Krio language|Sierra Leone Krio]] language of [[West Africa]]. Gullah crafts, farming and fishing traditions, folk beliefs, music, rice-based cuisine and story-telling traditions all exhibit strong influences from Central and West African cultures.<ref name="Prahlad2016">{{cite book|author=Anand Prahlad|title=African American Folklore: An Encyclopedia for Students: An Encyclopedia for Students|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x92uDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA139|date=31 August 2016|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1-61069-930-3|page=139}}</ref><ref name="ShujaaShujaa2015">{{cite book|author1=Mwalimu J. Shujaa|author2=Kenya J. Shujaa|title=The SAGE Encyclopedia of African Cultural Heritage in North America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ooVNCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA435|date=21 July 2015|publisher=SAGE Publications|isbn=978-1-4833-4638-0|pages=435–436}}</ref><ref name="Berry2012">{{cite book|author=Daina Ramey Berry|author-link=Daina Ramey Berry|title=Enslaved Women in America: An Encyclopedia|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pdH1okuXI5QC&pg=PA120|year=2012|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-0-313-34908-9|page=120}}</ref><ref name="NPS200350–58">{{cite book|title=Low Country Gullah Culture, Special Resource Study: Environmental Impact Statement|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k0o3AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA50|year=2003|publisher=National Park Service|pages=50–58}}</ref>