Whenever Nikki Williams’ feet touch the soil on Sapelo Island, Georgia, memories of her youth flood back vividly.
Every fall, her grandfather had her work at the drink booth during Cultural Day, where hundreds gathered to celebrate “the heart and soul of Gullah Geechee culture” through arts and live entertainment. It’s a time to “touch the soil, hear the stories, and smell the food.”
This annual gathering is a living testament to the centuries of resilience and strength of Gullah Geechee folk on Sapelo Island, the last intact Gullah Geechee community on the Georgia coast. But, the recent tragedy, coupled with continued threats of displacement and erasure, forces descendants back into a state of high alert. For years, they’ve endured government neglect, property tax hikes, and white developers eyeing the land, known for its beaches and climate, as a place to build luxury resorts and golf courses.
Williams’ lineage to Sapelo Island dates back more than a century. She is a descendant of two of the 44 formerly enslaved families that settled here after the Civil War. There were several Black settlements, but the first Black-owned land purchased by freedmen was in 1871 at Raccoon Bluff, according to the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society. However, by 1965, landowner Richard J. Reynolds consolidated the remaining Black settlements into one: Hogg Hammock.
Once Williams arrived at her grandparents’ trailer, they’d unload groceries. Then, they’d meet cousins at Aunt Jo and Uncle Earl’s house — they were cousins, too, but they called them “Aunt” and “Uncle” because they were much older. While Earl fired up the grill outside, the delicious aroma of traditional Gullah food lingered in the air, drifting from the kitchen. Jo, short for Josephine, served red rice, hoppin’ john, or collard greens, along with a three-layered cake in a domed glass stand.
Today, there’s fewer than 30 original descendants who live on the island.
As an adult, she now understands the struggles.
“I would hear the elders talking about preserving the land and people moving in, but when you’re young, you’re not thinking about that,” she said. “But when I saw it, that’s when I was like, ‘The things that they have been talking about are happening, and I’m looking at this with adult eyes, and I see it now.”