Gullah-Geechee Part 2: Day 19 cont.Image provdied

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Gullah-Geechee Part 2

Description: During a Piccolo-Spoleto Event in Charleston, South Carolina, our group went to a Gullah-Geechee concert. The group we saw sang multiple songs including some from the opera Porgy and Bess. The concert lasted about an hour and ten minutes and it was lovely. The group sounded amazing and it was cool to see how they value their ancestral roots. There was five different soloist and each soloist did an exquisite job. Listening to this concert really tided in a lot of the trip with the Gullah-Geechee community.  The concert was my favorite part of being in Charleston besides Ft. Sumter.  That can’t there was not only great entertainment but it was also a great way to learn about the Gullah-Geechee community and history with music.

Reflection: Seeing how this Gullah-Geechee community in Charleston still values its ancestral roots shows me that I should value my Polish ancestral roots even in America today.  While listening to the concert I thought to myself that I should also remember my ancestral roots just like is Gullah-Geechee community does today.  When you remember your ancestral roots, you remember your family’s history and where you came from.  Remembering where you came from is key to where you’ll go in the future.  While most people want to go headfirst into the future they must first remember the past to succeed.  While the future holds the change in the world the past holds how we will change the world. I want to be able to remember my ancestral roots just as well if not stronger than the Gullah-Geechee community that the group witnessed while in Charleston, South Carolina.

Analysis: The concert in Charleston, South Carolina is important to the community of Charleston because the Gullah-Geechee community lies at its roots.  Charleston is a port city as we all know, which allowed slave traders to bring a lot of slaves into the city.  When those slave traders brought the slaves and to Charleston, those ladies eventually form their own community called the Gullah-Geechee.  The Gullah-Geechee have been in Charleston for hundreds of years and today that community has dwindled to a very small amount.  The city of Charleston should remember the Gullah-Geechee because the Gullah-Geechee have been in Charleston since its inception.  The Gullah-Geechee community should always be remembered because of its ancestral roots. The concert during the Piccolo-Spoleto event reminded the audience that even though the Gullah-Geechee community in Charleston is small, they are still prevalent in today’s society.  Overall, a concert at the AME church in Charleston featuring the Gullah-Geechee community was a perfect display of how that community is connected to the city of Charleston, South Carolina.