The History

Enslavers intentionally separated captive Africans from the same village or region to reduce the likelihood of rebellion.  Low country enslavers kept many captured Africans on the nearby islands.  Separated from the mainlands, first generation Africans began to construct a unique culture.  They formed a language that was a blend of their native tongues from their respective regions, words they picked up from the buckra (the white men), and words they created.   They brought their culture of foods consisting largely of rice, okra, peas, etc.  They maintained their custom of basket sewing using sweet grass and palms.  They kept their cultural tradition of building flat bottom boats to navigate the low marshy waterways.  The culture they created became known as Gullah Geechee.

Using their keen water navigation skills, they made their way south to Florida. Eighteenth century Florida was a tropical wilderness claimed by the Spanish (Opala, no date).  According to Opala (n.d.), the Spaniards offered refuge to enslaved Black freedom seekers and renegade Native Americans from South Carolina and Georgia.  Thus, the first route to freedom was south to Florida.  

The Gullah people and Native Americans maintained friendly relations and over time came to view themselves as parts of a unique, loose, tribe (Opala, n.d.).  For several generations they lived in close free settlements and intermarried (Opala, n.d.; Wittich, n.d.). Black (Gullah Geechee) men often served in positions of leadership and authority in their blended village (Wittich, n.d.).  The Native Americans became known as Seminoles and the escaped Gullah became known as Seminole Negroes or Indian Negroes (Opala, n.d.).  Over time the name Black Seminoles was given to this unique tribe.   Today there are Native American Seminoles and African Seminoles.

Gullah Communities in the Bahamas

Some African journeyed further south to the Bahamas and settled in a remote area called Andros Islands. There, they created an isolated community on the northwest shore of the island called Red Bays (Howard, 2006; Gallagher, 2013). One obvious Gullah Geechee cultural aspect that remains evident among the African Seminoles in Red Bays is basket sewing (Howard, 2006).  

The art of sewing baskets made of sweet grass began in Africa.  Africans who were kidnapped from their country and sold into Georgia and South Carolina brought the culture of sweetgrass basket sewing with them.  When they dispersed from the Low country into Florida and joined the Seminole Indians, they took that culture and skill with them.  When they left Florida and traveled south to Andros Island, they took that culture and skill with them.

In 2024, I visited the Red Bays community on Andros Island with a group led by Amadu Massally and experienced firsthand the art of basket sewing by  Black Seminoles.  His idea was to create a basket made from the hands of people from four cultures with Gullah Geechee connectivity:  Sierra Leone, Andros, Bahamas, South Carolina, and Georgia. 

According to one of the Red Bay basket artisans, their Florida ancestors used sweetgrass, which is the same material used on the African Continent.  However, when they arrived in Andros, there was no sweetgrass.  Determined not to be deterred, the ancestors tried numerous types of grass and straw to no avail.  Finally, they discovered that the silver palm, which was plentiful on the Island, could be used to create beautifully hand sewn baskets.  

It was both an intriguing and spiritual experience to watch as Bahamian basket sewers worked with the basket sewer from South Carolina as they exchanged baskets so that both techniques are evident in one item.  One unique aspect of the Bahamian technique is sewing colorful fabric pieces into the basket.  One of the baskets they worked on actually began in Sierra Leone when the South Carolina artisian, Nikia Whigfall, was there previously.  Now, skillful Bahamian hands added their artistry; next the basket will travel to Savannah, GA where the final touches will be added by a basket sewer.

Added Note:  The final four-culture masterpiece is housed in the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Center on the Armstrong Campus of Georgia Southern University.  It is the only basket of its type in the world!  It was exciting to be a part of history – a part of a cultural event – a part of a unique African diasporic exchange!