Climate change, cultural activism motivate Gullah Geechee 

QUEEN QUET

Queen Quet, chieftess of the Gullah Geechee Nation, is an advocate of preserving the barrier islands of the southeastern United States when the culture took root during the transatlantic slave trade for its original occupants. A native of St. Helena Island, South Carolina, Queen Quet is in Charlotte April 15-16 for a climate summit hosted by WFAE.

Queen Quet is on a mission to combat an imminent threat to her heritage – the land Gullah Geechee culture was built on. 

“My elders sent for me to help address land retention issues,” said Quet, chieftess of the Gullah Geechee Nation, a corridor of four southeastern states from Jacksonville, North Carolina to Jacksonville, Florida. “Obeying my elders is a cultural tradition.”  

The Sea Islands, the birthplace of Gullah-Geechee culture, are some 100 barrier islands that hug the Atlantic coast from South Carolina to northern Florida. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration since 1950 the water levels in these areas have risen by 10 inches. Based on current trends, the islands face a bleak forecast. 

“The Sea Islands are literally the front ‘shoreline’ of climate change,” said Queen Quet, who was elected chieftess in 2000 and founder of the Gullah Geechee Sea Island Coalition. “Sea level rise, more intense storms in a hurricane zone and ocean acidification are all things that we are faced with. These threaten human safety, food security and cultural continuation.”

Queen Quet (born Marquetta L. Goodwine) has taken her fight from her native St. Helena Island, South Carolina, to the United Nations. She is on a national “Save the Sea Islands” tour and in Charlotte this week to raise awareness at WFAE’s April 15 “Fireside Chat” program, part of station’s EQUALibrium Live Series. On April 16, she will also speak at the annual WFAE Carolinas Climate Summit. Both events will be hosted at the UNC Charlotte Dubois Center. 

For tickets and information, visit www.wfae.com or www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/fireside-chat-w-queen-quet.

Gullah Geechee are descendants of African slaves and indigenous people originating in the area commonly referred to as Low Country in the late 1600s. In the coastal areas of North and South Carolina, they are known as Gullah; along the coasts of Georgia and Florida they are commonly called Geechee.

Due to the relative isolation of the islands, slaves and their descendants primarily from central and west Africa, developed and maintained a rich, distinct and blended culture which includes a form of English creole that is still in use. 

“We have our own language, spiritual practices, foodways, musical traditions, etc. that grew from the amalgamation of numerous African languages and traditions,” said Queen Quet, whose mission is to stop erosion of the low-lying barrier islands by climate change as well as cultural erasure. 

“In general, a lot of African Americans are battling gentrification issues,” she said. “However, native Gullah Geechees that are property owners are dealing with displacement issues and attempts of genocide at the hands of destructioneers and governmental bodies that assist them with attempts to eradicate our communities.”  

Recent trends support that concern. In the last decade, Charleston and much of the surrounding coastal area, are growing at a rate more than double that of the national average. 
Eagle eyed investors and wealthy, primarily white, builders have been snatching up much of the same land which is simultaneously shrinking into the ocean. 

“Gullah Geechee landowners are the ones that hold on to spaces in which our culture can thrive and where generational knowledge can be passed on,” Quet said. “That is what some people seem to be focused on eliminating.”  

A prime example is Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. Prior to the construction of a bridge attaching it to the mainland in the mid-1950s, Hilton Head was a relatively quiet, rural and agricultural island populated by just a few hundred, predominately Black residents. However, with automobile access, the island exploded into an elite vacation hotspot, land was gobbled up and the Black residents displaced. 

Quet has been actively campaigning and fundraising during her tour to save more Gullah Geechee properties from a similar fate. 

“We do not seek to ‘preserve’ our culture,” she said. “We seek to continue our culture. Part of that continuation is economic support.”

Quet, who encourages supporters to donate directly to the Gullah-Geechee Land and Legacy Fund, is clear about economic activity that is harmful to their cause. 

“Do not come to the urbanized and commercial gated areas of the Gullah Geechee Nation's coast and then feel that you are supporting us,” she said. “In actually, you are then supporting our displacement because you are buying into the very things that the state and the chambers of commerce and tourism bureaus support so that you stay away from the truth and from the actual natives.” 

Quet directs people to visit www.GullahGeecheeNation.com to find out what events are “legitimate,” organized and hosted by Gullah-Geechee people. 

“[This way] the money goes into the hands and pockets of our people,” she said. “They can then pay their land taxes and stay on their land and build generational wealth and continue to fight lawsuits that attempt to take our land and…sacred areas. 

“I am a doer. Therefore, when I see a problem, I seek to address it.” 

On the Net:

www.gullahgeecheenation.com 

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