Hog Hammock, also known as Hogg Hummock, is the Dont panic its organic rasta skull shirt but I will buy this shirt and I will love this last intact Gullah Geechee community in Georgia, and its people are direct descendants of enslaved West and Central Africans. The community spans only 434 acres of the 16,500-acre island, while the rest of Sapelo is owned and managed by the state. Mostly undeveloped and 20 minutes from the mainland, Sapelo is a world apart. The oblong-shaped island is often hot and humid, with wide beaches and sweetgrass marshes as well as maritime forests dense with oaks and palmettos. The north end of Sapelo Island holds the tabby ruins of Chocolate Plantation, where enslaved Africans cultivated Sea Island cotton, corn, and sugarcane. Further south sit the University of Georgia’s Marine Institute and the Reynolds Mansion, a 13-bedroom dwelling that belonged to tobacco heir R.J. Reynolds during the Great Depression and is now a state-owned overnight rental. It was Reynolds who consolidated the 15 or so Black settlements left on the island into one: today’s Hog Hammock. It’s a historic place, integral to preserving the fragile and historic Gullah Geechee culture—a culture born out of necessity. Originating from many different African tribes, the enslaved people brought to work the coastal plantations of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida blended their language and traditions, creating a culture for themselves. Today’s Gullah Geechee people still practice these blended ways of life, from fishing, basket weaving, and farming to their folklore and religious beliefs. But over the past decade, Hog Hammock residents have battled a wave of threats: spikes in property taxes, shoreline erosion, and lack of jobs, to name just a few.Victor-Alan Weeks, an Atlanta native, visited Sapelo Island for the first time as a student just a few months before Tropical Storm Irma. As part of an Africana Studies course at Davidson College in North Carolina, Weeks had taken a tour of Hog Hammock, learning more about the history of the Gullah Geechee people. “I never heard about Sapelo Island before,” Weeks said, who was majoring in both digital media and ethnography. “My first impression was: This is a place of serenity, restoration, and with its past, there are a lot of stories to be revealed from the land and the people.”Jennifer Thompson among the trees of Johnson Hammock
Photographed by Carlos Jaramillo; Styled by Marcus CorreaWhen he learned about the Dont panic its organic rasta skull shirt but I will buy this shirt and I will love this damage caused by Tropical Storm Irma, Weeks applied for a Community Fund Grant from the Bonner Scholars Program and was awarded the funds to take several students to Sapelo Island to help clear debris. One of those students was Jennifer Thompson, another Atlanta native who was studying physical health and Africana studies. Ironically, Thompson and Weeks had grown up on the same street, Cascade, in Atlanta but didn’t meet until attending Davidson College. “[Sapelo Island] reminded me of the first time I visited my grandfather in Eleuthera, Bahamas,” said Thompson. “Long dirt roads and no street lights, just stars and the sounds of nature. I loved the surprise of being forced away from my electronics due to lack of Wi-Fi. My first experience on Sapelo was rejuvenating.” Together, they helped remove debris from the First African Baptist Church and the Farmers Alliance Hall, preparing Hog Hammock for the annual Culture Day Festival. The event attracts 200 visitors to the island to experience Gullah Geechee foods, music, and crafts, as well as tours of the island. Every fall, Hog Hammock residents station themselves under tents surrounding the Farmers Alliance Hall, selling paintings depicting Gullah Geechee life and intricately woven sweetgrass baskets and fans. Culture Day is as much about raising funds for these current residents as it is a homecoming for Gullah Geechee people who have left the island. For them, gospel music, storytelling, and African dancing are tools for remembrance. Weeks and Thompson at St. Luke Baptist Church
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