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News Articles: Gullah Geechee

Keep Sapelo Geechee sticker

Tagged as: 

  • News

Attorneys for Georgia slave descendants urge judge not to throw out their lawsuit over island zoning

A lawsuit by Black descendants of slaves that challenges zoning changes affecting their island homes is before a Georgia judge, who must decide whether to allow lawyers to amend the civil complaint to avoid having it dismissed. 

February 20, 2024
|
By:
  • Associated Press
From left to right, McIntosh County Commissioners Davis Poole, William Harrell, David Stevens, Roger Lotson and Kate Karwacki sit for a board meeting at the McIntosh County Courthouse on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023.

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

McIntosh County denies racial discrimination claim about rezoning of historic Gullah Geechee area

A February hearing has been set for a lawsuit about the rezoning of Hogg Hummock.

November 29, 2023
|
By:
  • Benjamin Payne
McIntosh County Manager Patrick Zoucks sits at a meeting of county commissioners at the McIntosh County Courthouse on Sept. 12, 2023.

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

McIntosh County cancels next board meeting, one month after violating Georgia's open meetings law

Commissioners plan to no longer hold public meetings at the McIntosh County Courthouse.

October 04, 2023
|
By:
  • Benjamin Payne
GIP week 3 thumbnail

Tagged as: 

  • News

Georgia in Play: Celebrating President Carter's 99th birthday; the disappearing Southern accent

This week on Georgia in Play, host Leah Fleming celebrates former President Jimmy Carter's 99th birthday, discusses displacement concerns on Sapelo Island, and finds out why the Southern accent is "disappearing."

September 29, 2023
|
By:
  • Leah Fleming ,
  • Natalie Mendenhall ,
  • and 1 more
Residents, landowners and supporters of the Hogg Hummock community on Sapelo Island fill a courtroom, Sept. 12, 2023, in Darien, Ga.

Tagged as: 

  • News

Slaves' descendants seek a referendum to veto zoning changes they say threaten their Georgia island

Lifelong residents of a tiny Georgia island who are descended from slaves are pushing to give voters a chance to override local zoning changes that they say threaten one of the last Gullah-Geechee communities in the U.S. South.

September 28, 2023
|
By:
  • Associated Press
From left to right, McIntosh County Commissioners Davis Poole, William Harrell, David Stevens, Roger Lotson and Kate Karwacki sit for a board meeting at the McIntosh County Courthouse on Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2023.

Tagged as: 

  • Politics

‘A few millionaires will come and build’: County board rezones Sapelo Island's Gullah Geechee area

The rezoning more than doubles the maximum legal size of homes on Hogg Hummock, worrying many that Gullah Geechee descendants will be priced out of their ancestral land.

September 13, 2023
|
By:
  • Benjamin Payne
Sapelo Island, Ga., descendant and land owner Reginald Hall speaks at a news conference outside federal court, Dec. 9, 2015, in Atlanta.

Tagged as: 

  • News

Slave descendants on Georgia island fighting to keep protections that helped them keep their land

One of the few remaining Gullah-Geechee communities in the U.S. is in another fight to hold onto land owned by residents' families since their ancestors were freed from slavery. Residents of the tiny Hogg Hummock community on Georgia's Sapelo Island packed a county government meeting Thursday to oppose a proposal to end zoning protections enacted to protect the enclave from wealthy buyers and tax increases.

September 08, 2023
|
By:
  • Associated Press and
  • Benjamin Payne
The sun rises behind St. Luke Baptist Church in Hog Hammock, a Geechee community on Sapelo Island, Ga., on May, 17, 2013.

Tagged as: 

  • Race

Gullah Geechee community reaches a deal with Ga. county in a fight for services

Residents of Sapelo Island reached a deal with McIntosh County, which will pay $2 million in damages and increase services on the island, where descendants of the enslaved have lived for centuries.

August 19, 2022
|
By:
  • Ben Abrams
Emily Meggett, the author of <em>Gullah Geechee Home Cooking</em>. Meggett published her cookbook at age 89.

Tagged as: 

  • Arts & Life

For this 89-year-old Gullah Geechee chef, cooking is about heart

Emily Meggett has spent decades caring for her community and family with her delicious, traditional Gullah Geechee food from South Carolina. Now, she's sharing that cuisine with the world.

August 15, 2022
|
By:
  • Anastasia Tsioulcas
Shuttered health clinic on Sapelo Island

Tagged as: 

  • Race

Sapelo natives reach agreement in long fight with county over basic services

The community’s legal battles with the state and local authorities began in 2016. The residents received a $19 million settlement from the State of Georgia in 2020 forcing state agencies to upgrade the transportation facilities that the historic Black community residents and descendants rely on to travel to Sapelo.

July 26, 2022
|
By:
  • William Daughtry
Dunbar Creek

Tagged as: 

  • History

Remembering Igbo Landing: The story of rebellion on Georgia's shores

Before St. Simons Island became a quaint beach town, it was a major port of entry for enslaved Africans. In 1803, some of the enslaved rebelled. Now, a new roadside historic marker will tell the story of that rebellion at a spot which you may have passed by without ever really seeing.

 

May 20, 2022
|
By:
  • Natalie Mendenhall
Freddie Palmer, right, leads the McIntosh County Shouters during a recent performance at the Lucas Theatre in Savannah.

In The Ring Shout, Some Of The Oldest African American Music

America’s musical traditions are deeply rooted in African music, and one of the very first African musical traditions to come to North America is what...

April 28, 2020
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship and
  • Cindy Hill
Earnest McIntosh, Sr. cleans a rack of tiny oysters in cages he and his son Earnest, Jr. tend near Harris Neck, Ga.

On The Water: Farming Oysters On The Georgia Coast

There's no future in crabbing. That's the conclusion Earnest McIntosh, Sr. came to when his son, Ernest McIntosh, Jr. said he wanted to work with his...

June 16, 2019
|
By:
  • Grant Blankenship and
  • Cindy Hill
Savannah residents celebrate Juneteenth at Telfair Museums in 2017.

Coastal Ga. Weekend: Savannah, Coastal Events June 6-9

Don't let the rainy weekend get you down — there's a lot you can do in Savannah to beat the bad weather blues. Do Savannah editor Joshua Peacock has...

June 07, 2019
|
By:
  • Kristen Rogers
Image depicting the Weeping Time

Remembering The Weeping Time 160 Years Later

Over two rainy days in Savannah, 436 people were listed for sale to pay off the debts of the man who owned them. The 1859 event, now known as the ...

March 01, 2019
|
By:
  • Cindy Hill
  • Load More

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