Africa on the South Carolina Coast
(Page 2 of 2)
September/October 2001
By John Tibbetts, Utne Reader
This land is often owned collectively as "heirs property," and while local Gullah families may desperately want to maintain it, heirs who live elsewhere are often eager to sell off what has become increasingly valuable coastal land. "You see heirs fighting each other," says Moketsi. "Some people are selling out their family legacy."
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And when local families do decide to sell, community activists say they often get cheated. "A developer offers elderly landowners what seems a large sum, but it’s really not," says Elizabeth Santigati, director of the S.C. Coastal Community Development Corporation, on St. Helena Island. The developer then subdivides the parcel and makes huge profits.St. Helena Island is a bastion of Gullah culture, and local activists are determined to save it. "We don’t want any zoning loopholes to exist for developers to sneak through," says Marquetta Goodwine, founder of the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition. Island residents have established a "cultural-protection overlay district" as part of the Beaufort County zoning ordinance. The district’s standards prohibit gated communities, golf courses, and resorts. "We’re dealing with zoning regulations because we want to defend ourselves against what’s trying to come onto our island," Goodwine says.Gullah can survive, she adds, but only if the people can hold onto their land and teach their children about their traditions. "Keeping the land is a priority. Yet we also need to keep spirits intact, to nurture and restore minds, to remind ourselves what our language is, what our culture is."Updated from an article in Coastal Heritage (Spring 2000), the magazine of the South Carolina Sea Grant Consortium, which researches environmental and economic conditions in the coastal region of South Carolina. Subscriptions: free upon request from 287 Meeting Street, Charleston, SC 29401. John Tibbetts is editor of Coastal Heritage.
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