JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The story of America’s History is also a story about Black History, and that includes the undeniable impact of the Gullah Geechee people. They have a rich legacy across our region and country, from the flavorful dishes we enjoy, to the winding marshes that define our coastline.
- Gullah Geechee expertise in rice farming and tidal navigation sustained the coastal plantation economy and shaped regional labor systems.
- Gullah Geechee influenced American cuisine like Shrimp and Grits and music, from Lavilla's 1910 blues performance to Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing.
- Gullah Geechee heritage propelled the Great Migration, reshaping U.S. demographics, honored by parks and kept alive through oral storytelling.
The Gullah Geechee are descendants of west and central Africans who were enslaved on coastal plantations from the Carolinas to northern Florida. They were sought out by their captors for their knowledge of rice farming, navigating tidal waterways, and surviving subtropical climates, which sustained the plantation economy.
“We were the labor that bult much of what this country has become. So without the Gullah Geechee community, there is no America” said Ennis Davis, an urban planner, historian, sixth-generation Gullah Geechee, and author of “Jacksonville’s Gullah Geechee History.”
Davis says the Gullah Geechee settled in neighborhoods across Jacksonville, including Brooklyn, Out East, and Lavilla. Their influence reached well beyond Jacksonville’s borders. Popular cuisine like ‘Shrimp and Grits’ and one-pot meals like seafood boils are tied to Gullah Geechee culture.
Gullah Geechee also influenced American music. “The first documented live performance of ‘The Blues’ in this country actually took place on Ashley Street at the Colored Airdome Theatre in 1910,” Davis said. “So not New Orleans, not St. Louis, not Chicago, not any of these places – right here in Lavilla.”
Lavilla was also home to brothers James Weldon and John Rosamond Johnson. They were and composed “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing,” the hymn that became a rallying cry, inspiring black families to head north and west to escape racism and oppression in the Jim Crow South in the first half of the 20th Century.
“Without the Great Migration, there is no Harlem, you know, there is no Bronzeville in Chicago, there’s no Black Bottom in Detroit, there’s no South Central in L.A. without that coming place. So a movement here in 1916 literally changed the demographics of how we view the U.S.” Davis said.
Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing Park is a tribute to the Johnson Brothers and Lavilla’s history. The park is managed by Gullah Geechee descendant Carla Mechele, who also shares Black History stories on social media. “It’s part of our culture to pass down the stories orally” Mechele said. “We haven’t historically had a written word. It’s just something where you sit at your grandparents’ feet like I did, and so that is what started me sharing my stories on social media about Jacksonville.”
Jones and Davis say Gullah Geechee heritage continues to shape America’s story, and they hope it’s shared for generations to come. “Retaining that culture from Africa, through enslavement. So that is powerful. So the way I internalize it and embrace it is that if they could to that, then imagine what I can do now” Mechele said.
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