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The 28th Annual Gullah Festival was held at the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront in Beaufort, SC. Attended by the people who identify with their ancestral connections to West African and are known as Gullah Geechee.


Geechee Artist Elle Bev  exhibits her ancestor inspired paintings
Geechee Artist Elle Bev exhibits her ancestor inspired paintings

Geographically the Gullah Geechee communities, both past and present day, extend from Jacksonville, North Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida. These communities began to develop their own way of life. They were living in isolated areas that were difficult to get to from outside towns, which made it easier for the community to become close and develop their own culture.  


Gullah Festival  Organizers and Volunteers gather in a Circle of Thanks
Circle of Thanks with Thomas Roy Hicks, President (center wearing orange vest) and the team of dedicated volunteers

Some newly freed people like the Gullah Geechee, formed communities to help each other. The Gullah Geechee people created their own language from a mix of African tribal languages, English, and other European languages. Much of this language, as well as their art, crafts, food, spiritual practices, and storytelling continues today.


A crowd gathered around the great lawn to see the entertainers perform.



Freshly caught soft shell crabs get battered to fry


"During the early 1500's an enslaved labor boom led to what we know now as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. Ships would leave Europe transporting items such as fabric and wine to the continent of Africa where they would trade their goods for enslaved people. After leaving Africa, they would head across the Atlantic ocean. The journey was known as the Middle Passage. Conditions in the ships were dark, cramped, and dirty. Many people on the ships became very sick, making the journey deadly for many. When ships arrived in the Americas, the surviving enslaved people were sold. Empty ships would then be loaded down with sugar and coffee to take back to Europe. Once they were back in Europe the trade cycle would begin again.

The Trans-Atlantic slave trade transported between 10 to 12 million people!"


Handmade Dolls depict their African styles

"The fight for freedom was not over when slavery was outlawed by the 13th amendment in 1865. Many new "freed" people struggled for safety, security, and to make a life for themselves. Many chose to stay in the areas where they still did not have equal rights.

- NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resourses















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Writer's pictureMarla Mossman

Updated: Jul 29, 2023

Voodoo at the Bayou

St John's Eve Ceremony, Bayou St John, New Orleans

Voodoo was introduced to New Orleans by the enslaved West Africans, who merged their religious rituals of nature, spirits, and ancestors practices with those of the local Catholic population. Also known as Voodoo-Catholicism, St. John's Eve is celebrated on the day of the summer solstice in New Orleans each year. Begun in the 1830s by Marie Laveau on Bayou St. John, The celebration is a head-washing ritual combined with a public celebration.


Statue of Maria Laveau at the St. John;s Eve Ceremony, Bayou St John, New Orleans

High Priestess, Sally Ann Glassman makes a Veve. Bayou St John, New Orleans

A Veve is a Louisianne Voodoo symbol which acts as a portal for the Iwa or spirit to enter the ceremony during the rituals. Each Iwa has its own unigue Veve and serves as a its representative during the rituals.



The competed Veve whose symbols of circles and lines are unique to each Iwa or spirit
Veve designs vary according to local customs, as do the names of the loa.

"The ceremonies commonly include drumming, chanting, dancing and the drawing of symbols known as veves (vevers). Just as specific colors, objects, chants and drum beats appeal to specific loa, so to do the veves. The veve used in a ceremony is dependent upon the lwa whose presence is desired. Veves are drawn on the ground with cornmeal, sand, or other powdery substances, and they are obliterated during the ritual." Beyer, Catherine. "Vodoun Symbols for Their Gods." Learn Religions, Sep. 20, 2021, learnreligions.com/vodou-veves-4123236



Shrine to Maria Laveau at the Hotel International annual celebration of St John's Eve
Shrine to Maria Laveau at the Hotel International annual celebration of St John's Eve


Shrine to Maria Laveau at the Hotel International annual celebration of St John's Eve
Shrine to Maria Laveau at the Hotel International annual celebration of St John's Eve


The most famous voodoo queen was Marie Laveau (1794-1881), a legendary healer who is buried in St. Louis Cemetery No.1. As a devout Catholic, Laveau merged her faith with the African rituals to create the modern form practiced today.

 Marie Laveau (1794-1881) St. Louis Cemetery No.1
Marie Laveau (1794-1881) St. Louis Cemetery No.1 New Orleans, Louisiana













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Karamojong Women Moroto, Uganda 2013


Roughly 12 million Africans would be stolen from their homes over the four centuries and transplanted to the violent and harsh plantations in the Caribbean and Americas.

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Enslaved people were sold by their tribal war lords and hunted by greedy white traders. The transatlantic slave trade caused a cataclysmic disruption to the culture, economics and social systems of Europe, Africa and America that resounds through society today.


From the 15th to the 19th century ships carrying human beings as cargo sailed from the West Coast of Africa crossed the Atlantic to the Caribbean and on to the East Coast of the Americas “The system that emerged became known as the triangular trade because it had three stages that roughly form the shape of a triangle when viewed on a map. The first stage began in Europe, where manufactured goods were loaded onto ships bound for ports on the African coast. There the goods were exchanged for enslaved people.

The transatlantic slave trade was the second stage of the triangular trade - the shipment of enslaved people across the Atlantic Ocean. The shipment to Europe of plantation crops and products made from them was the third leg of the triangular trade. Among the most valuable exports to Europe were sugar, tobacco, cotton, molasses, and rum. Transatlantic Slave Trade Causes and Effects The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica

Map showing the primary movement of Enslaved Africans, raw materials, and manufactured goods

National Park Service US Department of Interior


Europe was in need of resources. Poor husbandry methods had depleted its forests, contaminated its water sources and scourged the soil of nutrients. As demands for food and goods grew it was forced to look to the new World to feed the hungry masses. With the discovery of cotton, tobacco and sugar cane the colonial economy flourished. Until it didn’t. The new world crops were labor intensive and death from disease and war wiped out the native Indian labor force.


African slavery was introduced to support the plantation economy. “At its height in the 1780’s an average of 78,000 enslaved people were brought to the America’s each year of this decade. “In what became known as the Middle Passage, “About half the captives are transported from Africa in ships of British merchants. French and Portuguese traders also transport significant numbers of enslaved people.” Timeline of the Atlantic Slave Trade the Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica


The enslaved people brought with them their Africans traditions and found their spiritual beliefs in nature were similar with those of the indigenous people. “Combined with aspects of their Christian masters, a religion evolved into the faith that most Black Americans practice today”. Yeye Teish Ifá Orisha storyteller and teacher.


“New England, Boston, New York City, the Mid-Atlantic, Virginia, Richmond, the Carolinas, Charleston, Savannah, the Deep South, and New Orleans were shaped by the trafficking of African people, but few have acknowledged their history of enslavement or its legacy.” Equal Justice Initiative 2023


The Peace Caravan Project continues its mission of Peaceful CoExistence, and Plurality, by bearing witness to the cultural traditions practiced in America today, by the descendants of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.



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