by Emily Moran
In the Spring of each year, members of the Geechee Kunda community come together for The Gathering, a celebration of Gullah Geechee heritage and culture. The Gathering, like many of their other annual events, is a day-long festival that involves presentations, events, vendors, music, foodways, and agricultural traditions. Historians, conjurors, artists, singers, musicians, dancers showcase their talents and share their knowledge with their audience, which include people who have traveled locally and internationally to attend.
Geechee Kunda is a living museum and cultural center along the Gullah Geechee Heritage Corridor in Riceboro, Georgia. Kunda is a Sarakolé word that means “compound” and “home of hope”, which is very much what Geechee Kunda is to many people. The founder and co-director, Jim Bacote, along with many community volunteers, built the center from the ground up on roughly 3 acres of land in 2001. The location of the cultural center is significant because it is the ancestral land of Jim Bacote– it is not only the land where his ancestors were enslaved on the brutal Retreat Plantation, but it is also where his grandparents had lived.
It has since become an invaluable resource for people locally and globally, and it continues to grow. According to historian, Gregory Grant, Geechee Kunda is like old *praise houses where people come to be rejuvenated. People come to learn and to spend time together. For some, travelling to visit Geechee Kunda can be like a homecoming.
There are quite a few things about the cultural center that are unique. In addition to it being the only Gullah Geechee owned and operated center in the world, it has been entirely funded by the Bacotes through their personal funds and fundraising. The Bacote home is a central part of a living history museum, which also includes a research center, arts gallery. The space is also used to host private events and meetings in addition to educational events. Although Geechee Kunda has been grappling with the loss of Jim Bacote since 2018, members of the community continue to organize and continue the vision for the center. They offer tours and host visitors and it is also used as a filming location and place to host office excursions, weddings, educational exchanges, rites of passage programs, and family reunions.
The Gathering event features the Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters, the “African Spirit” performance, among other performances, edutainment, displays, demonstrations, vendors, arts and crafts. Since the cultural center has been funded personally by Jim and Pat Bacote, they must continue to do outreach programs to sustain the center. Not only is this celebration a successful way to bring attention to Geechee Kunda as an intentionally cultivated space, but it is also an opportunity to bring community together to learn more about and celebrate heritage. The Gathering is one of the largest annual events that they host, along with the annual Sugarcane Harvesting Festival and Kwanzaa celebrations, and it is an important opportunity to highlight the center and it’s value to all who attend.
Outreach events are hugely important to the survival of the space, which means that in addition to hosting events, they must be well-attended. While Geechee Kunda does have an internet presence, many people find out about events through word of mouth. Other ways that they advertise are with banners, in newspaper ads, and on local news stations. Annual events are not just outreach, they are also a fundamental part of how and why the cultural center exists. The events are not by an institution for patrons, it is by and for the community. While outreach is needed for the long-term viability of the center, it is also what keeps community together and what keeps legacies alive.
*a praise house is a small meeting place where African American people go to meet and worship. They originated on St. Helena Island in South Carolina during the period of enslavement.
Resources:
https://savannahherald.net/wa-jine-we-jim-bacote-p12839-1.htm
https://www.gofundme.com/f/geecheekunda
https://explorebeaufortsc.com/the-vanishing-praise-houses-of-st-helena-island/