JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The story of America\u2019s 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. <\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were the labor that bult much of what this country has become. So without the Gullah Geechee community, there is no America\u201d said Ennis Davis, an urban planner, historian, sixth-generation Gullah Geechee, and author of \u201cJacksonville\u2019s Gullah Geechee History<\/a>.\u201d <\/p>\n Davis says the Gullah Geechee settled in neighborhoods across Jacksonville, including Brooklyn, Out East, and Lavilla. Their influence reached well beyond Jacksonville\u2019s borders. Popular cuisine like \u2018Shrimp and Grits\u2019 and one-pot meals like seafood boils are tied to Gullah Geechee culture.<\/p>\n Gullah Geechee also influenced American music. \u201cThe first documented live performance of \u2018The Blues\u2019 in this country actually took place on Ashley Street at the Colored Airdome Theatre in 1910,\u201d Davis said. \u201cSo not New Orleans, not St. Louis, not Chicago, not any of these places \u2013 right here in Lavilla.\u201d<\/p>\n Lavilla was also home to brothers James Weldon and John Rosamond Johnson. They were and composed \u201cLift Ev\u2019ry Voice and Sing,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n \u201cWithout the Great Migration, there is no Harlem, you know, there is no Bronzeville in Chicago, there\u2019s no Black Bottom in Detroit, there\u2019s 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.\u201d Davis said.<\/p>\n Lift Ev\u2019ry Voice and Sing Park is a tribute to the Johnson Brothers and Lavilla\u2019s history. The park is managed by Gullah Geechee descendant Carla Mechele, who also shares Black History stories on social media. \u201cIt\u2019s part of our culture to pass down the stories orally\u201d Mechele said. \u201cWe haven\u2019t historically had a written word. It\u2019s just something where you sit at your grandparents\u2019 feet like I did, and so that is what started me sharing my stories on social media about Jacksonville.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones and Davis say Gullah Geechee heritage continues to shape America\u2019s story, and they hope it\u2019s shared for generations to come. \u201cRetaining 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\u201d Mechele said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<<<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n [DOWNLOAD: <\/b>Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks<\/b><\/a>]<\/b><\/p>\n [SIGN UP: <\/b>Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter<\/b><\/a>] <\/b><\/p>\n Click here<\/b><\/a> to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and <\/b>click here<\/b><\/a> to stream Action News Jax live.<\/b><\/p>\n Action News Jax Top Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2014 The story of America\u2019s History is also a story about Black History, and that includes…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":914019,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[7779,5229,265672,23945,1121,369495,369494,69031,960,369488,24745,1449,369486,9815,3188,723,369484,369483,369485,369487,5231,7310,8601,369492,369491,48218,17727,2961,265661,17918,133282,265667,425,132850,6141,369489,362791,369493,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,18047,369490,10890],"class_list":["post-914018","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-africa","tag-america","tag-ashley_street","tag-bronzeville","tag-brooklyn","tag-carla_michelle","tag-carla_michelle_jones","tag-carolinas","tag-chicago","tag-colored_air_dome","tag-davis","tag-detroit","tag-ennis_davis","tag-every","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-geechee","tag-gullah","tag-gullah_geechee","tag-gullah_geecheees","tag-harlem","tag-jacksonville","tag-james","tag-jim_crow_south","tag-john_rosamond_johnson","tag-johnson","tag-jones","tag-la","tag-la_villa","tag-lavilla","tag-lift","tag-lift_every_voice_and_sing","tag-local","tag-new_orleans","tag-park","tag-saint_louis","tag-sing","tag-south_central","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-voice","tag-weldon","tag-west"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=914018"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/914018\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/914019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=914018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=914018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=914018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}