By Roderick McClain
12-21-10 – The Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor runs the coastline from Pender County down along South Carolina and Georgia to St. Augustine, Florida. Currently, the commission is developing a management plan to bolster education and further preservation.
Resulting from the trans-Atlantic slave trade, Gullah Geechee culture refers to the first African presence and subsequent descendants along the coastal waters of the southeastern United States.
Michael Allen works for the National Park Service. He says each state along the corridor is at work on a local level to preserve this narrative which has roots dating back to colonial times.
"And what that basically means now is that the commission is trying to find a way to flesh out what objectives will be set, how the mission could be reached, and how the community would then be better protected, preserved, and sustained for the future."
Of the 49 designated Natural Heritage areas that exist in the United States today, the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor is the only area that captures the African-African American experience.
Find out more about the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.