Personal stories and interviews that preserve voices for future generations.
Much of Gullah Geechee history has been carried by voice: in family stories, church songs, and the memories of elders. The museum’s mission brings together community voices, heirlooms, and oral histories, and its published exhibit themes include oral history recordings and community storytelling.
A Long Tradition of Listening
The linguist Dr. Lorenzo Dow Turner recorded Gullah speakers along the South Carolina and Georgia coast and published his landmark study Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect in 1949. The photograph above comes from his later field work in Nigeria. It shows the wire-recording equipment of the period in use.
Share a Family Story
Do you have memories of Needwood, or of Gullah Geechee life in Glynn County, to share? Let the museum know.
This page introduces the theme online. Please contact the museum to learn what is on view before you visit.