On Dec. 4 Kendal's own Bill McFeely, a retired professor at the University of Georgia, will bring Melissa Cooper and Jim Goodman to Kendal to give a talk on "Making Gullah: Sapelo Island and Sapelo's People." They will focus on the Hog Hammock Community. What's it all about?
Many of the full-time inhabitants of the Hog Hammock Community are African Americans known as Gullah-Geechees, descendants of enslaved West African people brought to the island in the 1700s and 1800s to work on island plantations. The current population of full-time Gullah-Geechee residents in the community is estimated to be 47 (2009). The residents must bring all supplies from the mainland or purchase them in the small store on the island. The children of Hog Hammock take the ferry to the mainland and then take a bus to school, as the island school closed in 1978.
Hog Hammock is also home to the Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society, Inc. (SICARS), a non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve and revitalize the Hogg Hummock Community. SICARS was founded in 1993 by Hogg Hammock residents and non-resident descendants who wanted to enhance the future of their community by educating all visitors to the island about the history and to increase awareness that Sapelo has existed as an African community for over 200 years.
This should be one of the most fascinating programs of the year.
It is Monday, Dec. 4 in the Gathering Room at 7:30 pm.