What ethnicity disregards the bridge that brought them over? The answer is “None” that i know of. And thus, West Africans and other Africans boring the weight of chains and bindings and other horrific entrapment, ended their journey in the Low Country of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. They are ancestors to many. The way I explain Gullah/Geechee forever is that African tribes did not speak the same language, yet, they were forced to these shores together. Gullah is the extraordinary vernacular they created in order for communications and coded messages to take place.
My granddaddy was Gullah. My mama and daddy were Gullah but privy to more of the English language influences. I remember many of the words grandaddy spoke; I can hear him even now.
Grandaddy – Dan Ladson
- Yeah/Yeahs – ears
- Oonuh/Hunuh/Una – you
- Oagly – Ugly
- SUH – Sir
- T’ING – Thing, things
- Doggy –
- I’Lord –
- T’INK – Think, Thinks, Thought, Thinking
- TOTE – carry, carried, carrying
- T’ROW – Throw/ throws, threw, thrown, throwing
- TRUTE – Truth
- Deef as tata
- Leek – Always the Leek in (with the tongue)
- No’count – No account, Worthless
- Mout – Mouth
- Teet – Teeth
What people forget their ancestry, whether forced upon them or otherwise? West Africa will always be ‘The Mother Land,’ but there’s history on this side.
And then we came The Geechees…. that’s us!