According to the novel, “The Gullah: Rice, Slavery, and the Sierra Leone-American Connection” by Joseph A. Opala, the Gullah is still predominantly present in South Carolina and Georgia. Many Gullah have broken away from isolation and have left their rural lives for more modernized lives. Younger generations of the Gullah are seeking higher education and high-paying jobs. Most parts of the Gullah cities have been technologically updated including the use of television, telephones, bridges, better roads and ferries. While many of their older customs are not practiced, the Gullah still celebrates their culture. Some uphold their culture by going to family get-togethers along with their children to meet their grandparents, educating the children
Can you imagine yourself being apart of a group or lifestyle, now imagine yourself not fitting in. Maybe some people think you’re weird, but people just like you understand. Many suggest that it’s dangerous while others want to join. Whatever the reason may be you still consider yourself apart of society. As you grow older you realize that many people have different backgrounds and maybe even distinct behaviors. When people feel a deep need for love or respect, values and morals may be forgotten. It’s their customs, rituals, and beliefs that make up their own culture.
Celia, A Slave by Melton McLaurin tells a true story of a female slave who was sexually exploited by her master and the trial she faced as a result. At the young age of fourteen, Celia was brought to Callaway County under her new master, Robert Newsom. Celia later murdered Newsom, in an act of self-defense, and was placed on a trial challenging the institute of slavery and the moral beliefs of anyone involved with slavery in the South. The short life of the young Celia revealed a slave girl who had pushed beyond the ideal limit of a system that denied her humanity and threatened to erode the base of the antebellum southern society.
Since these traditions have become apparent through centuries they are customary and have a tendency to lack individualism, as the group among which a person lives is seen as more important over the individual. In many parts of the world today, you can examine such cultures and see the ways that individuals offer themselves to family and community life.
nature. In their culture they are taught to have reverence for nature and to be
The Gullah is a community that lives in the coastal parts of South Carolina, Georgia, and Virginia where they fish and farm. The ancestors of the Gullah trace back to Charleston, South Carolina, where there was a port for the Atlantic Slave trade, which was the most commonly used port in North America. Gullah is “more than simply the language and name of a people. It encompasses the essence of struggle, spirituality, perseverance and tradition” (South Carolina Business and Industry). Their relatives are West Africans who suffered many hardships and are honored and remembered by a rare preservation of African culture that the Gullah keeps alive. The Gullah truly live by the meaningful words that “If you don’t know where you’re going, you should know where you came from” (U.S. Department of State). They use African names, carry on African folktales, and create African craftwork. The Gullah have been able to maintain their African heritage because they are secluded from other influences because of the isolation of the Sea Islands.
Community, rituals, magical beliefs and practices are very important things to Native American people. Native American people live by these rituals and beliefs, they live around their community; their community isn’t just that, but their family as well. Parents don’t just raise their children but the whole community has a hand in raising all of the children. Family is a very important part of Native American people’s lives, they keep traditions going with their families, parents raise their children the same way that they were raised by their parents.
One of the main things that shapes a person’s cultural identity is their parents. Culture is passed down from generation to generation. In the story Two Kinds Amy Tan tells about a mother and daughter that clash heads because the mother wants her daughter to be something she’s not. They are Chinese, and in Chinese culture children are pushed to excel in everything they do and be better than everybody. The mother tells her daughter “You can be best anything. Of course, you can be a prodigy too”. The mother is pushing the Chinese culture down on her, because that’s the way she was raised. People’s parents were raised one way, which in their mind is the “right” way, so they raise their children the same way implementing
Staying strong to your culture’s beliefs despite the differing values between other cultures can deprive some people of what others may be free to do, but for some it can cost
The Gullahs continue the lineage of the slaves who lived on the coastal islands and low country along the southeastern United States. From their diverse roots in Africa, they developed a distinct culture, incorporating elements from different African cultural traditions, languages and religion. Evidence of this culture in its rural communities is deeply embedded in the rituals, folklore, distinctive arts, crafts, religious beliefs, cuisine, language and music of Gullah. Food has always played an important role in African-American social traditions. Gatherings, and celebrations, are often accompanied by great food.
I was introduced to Gullah Geechee culture through a children's show named Gullah Gullah Island when I was in third grade. Later in high school, I came across a film about a Gullah family living off the coast of South Carolina in 1902 titled Daughter's of the Dust. Since then, I've read several books and watched documentaries about how this isolated community was able to retain several African cultural practices. I often suspect based on what many of my elder family members have said about the elders who have passed on (including my late grandmother), that there may be some connection to the Gullah Geechee through my great-grandfather. Like Prof. Walker, my family is from South Carolina and I've heard stories about the accent my grandmother
Culture is customs, arts, social institutions, and achievements of a particular nation, people, or other social group. It includes behaviors, attitudes, beliefs, values, and norms that is shared by a group of people to sustain their lives. Mexican culture is influenced by their familial ties, gender, religion, location and social class, among other factors. Today life in the cities of Mexico has become similar to that in neighboring United States and Europe, with provincial people conserving traditions more so than the Mexican living in the city. In the United States Mexican includes any person of Puerto
Everyone in the world belongs to a subculture. Each subculture has its own sets of traditions, relics, and artifacts. Relics and artifacts are symbolic, material possessions important to one's subculture. Relics are from the past; artifacts are from the present. These traditions, relics, and artifacts help shape the personalities of individuals and how they relate with others. Individuals know about these items through storytelling in the subculture. Families are good examples of subcultures. My family, a middle-class suburban Detroit family of Eastern European heritage, has helped shape who I am through story telling about traditions, artifacts, and relics.
Culture often means an appreciation of the finer things in life; however, culture brings members of a society together. We have a sense of belonging because we share similar beliefs, values, and attitudes about what’s right and wrong. As a result, culture changes as people adapt to their surroundings. According to Bishop Donald, “let it begin with me and my children and grandchildren” (211). Among other things, culture influences what you eat; how you were raised and will raise your own children? If, when, and whom you will marry; how you make and spend money. Truth is culture is adaptive and always changing over time because
Opala, J. (n.d.). The Gullah: Rice, slavery, and the Sierra Leone-American connection. Retrieved from http://www.yale.edu/glc/gullah/06.htm
Several important themes emerged through this study. These themes are gender and family roles, family structure, and the effect of culture on the quality of family interactions. They will be discussed in the follow pages.