Lowcountry Gullah

Lowcountry Gullah

Most people don't know about the richly significant contributions from Gullah Geechee culture that's woven into the fabric of the US. Grow in culture and information every week, with cultural influencer and preservationist, Luana M. Graves Sellars on the Lowcountry Gullah Podcast, where Gullah Geechee culture, history, and tradition lives.

Episodes

Telling Our Stories

January 18, 2026 • 40 mins
We know all about the distorted history that has been taught us in the past. And fortunately, "when we know better, we do better". The MLK assassination is a story most of us are very familiar with and the famous picture on the balcony. What we haven't heard is the story from the Kneeling Man, who was there when it happened.
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Call My Name

January 17, 2026 • 56 mins
We often talk about our ancestors, but being able to find and speak their names is a powerful gift to have. Taking the time to do the research on our family tree is often hard to do, but details about their lives paints an incredible image of what they experienced and sometimes, who they were and what they did. Saying their name no only honors them, but enables us to remember their sacrifices.
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Sea Island Cotton

January 11, 2026 • 50 mins
When most people think about slavery, they instantly think that tobacco and cotton were the main crops. And yes, they were, BUT along the sea island's the major cash crops were rice, indigo and sea island cotton. The type of cotton that was grown here was not only difficult to grow, but it was a better more luxurious fiber that Gullah Geechee ingenuity and skills made it sought after worldwide.
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New Years Day

January 4, 2026 • 17 mins
Today, taking time to celebrate the holidays has become tradition. For enslaved people, the coming new year might have been a time of fear, dread or the anxious time that they've been waiting for to escape.
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Watch Night Service | Freedom’s Eve – The Birth of Reconstruction

December 28, 2025 • 12 mins
The Watch Night Service is a tradition the grew out of slavery, yet still is an important part of how, for many African Americans, is the only way that a new year should be brought in. The practice, called “Freedom Night” or named the Watch Night Service, began in 1862, when anxious slaves were waiting on confirmation of their freedom based on the Emancipation Proclamation. Today, the service continues in the church with prayers ...
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The Seven Principles of A Joyous Kwanzaa

December 21, 2025 • 47 mins
For generations, celebrating Kwanzaa from December 26th to January 1st has been a end of the year holiday tradition that's becoming more widely known and practiced. So what is Kwanzaa and why are the seven prinicples so important to our daily living? Intrigued? Here's a deep dive into this valued African American holiday that's based on family, empowerment and economic development.
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A Sea Island Christmas

December 14, 2025 • 14 mins
Living on an island and the isolation that comes with it, made Gullah holidays a little different, but special none the less. Getting ready for the sea island holidays was a year long process which made the seasonal harvests an an important part in the preparation that involved the entire family, from children to the elders.
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Kujichagulia = Self-Determination

December 7, 2025 • 47 mins
Sometimes, we forget that the ancestors left behind all of the tools that we need for success. Through creative storytelling, proverbs, and skills, they passed us all a toolbox full of ways that they, even though they were beaten, found ways not to be broken.
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Keeper of the Culture | Matthew Raiford

November 30, 2025 • 67 mins
West African tradition says that one should speak for themselves and for the ancestors who came before you. Gullah Chef, author and 6th generation farmer, Matthew Raiford is doing exactly that! He has taken his love for the culture, his roots and food and incorporated all of it into a lifestyle and business that is surly making the ancestors proud!
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Keeper of the Culture | Chef BJ Dennis

November 23, 2025 • 65 mins
In Gullah culture, the food is deeply rooted in rice and seafood dishes that grew out of the diaspora and its West African influences. Gullah Chef BJ Dennis has built a reputation for not just amazing flavors, but for spreading knowledge about the ingredient's origins. His Gullah cooking may be what he's known for on a national stage but to him, its important to continue to use the techniques of the ancestors when he's blending h...
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Keeper of the Culture | Michael Twitty

November 16, 2025 • 74 mins
There aren't a lot of Culinary Preservationists out there who have a depth of knowledge on West African food, culinary practices and flavors, especially one who can't break it down like Michael Twitty can. The author of a few incredible culinary based history books, including the Cooking Gene, Michael Twitty captivates as he educates you when he takes you on a culinary tour and shares some fascinating stories and foodways that come...
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The Impact of Gullah Food in America

November 9, 2025 • 21 mins
Every day Americans are using Gullah traditions in what we say and eat. The culture and its foodways can be traced directly back to West Africa for several centuries. Things like one pot meals is just the beginning of some of the cultural flavors, ingredients and Gullah impacts that we enjoy today.
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So What is Soul Food?

November 2, 2025 • 53 mins
Where did the meals that are connected to Black people and culture that we call soul food or southern cooking come from? Yes, some of the dishes came straight out of the Diaspora, but what are the true origins of all of the rich variety of foods and flavors? And how did they become what has influenced the popular foodways of the South that we enjoy today?
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What Is Hoodoo | Conjure?

October 26, 2025 • 85 mins
When we don't know a word or what something is, it's easy to let assumptions, misunderstandings or even misinformation lead us to label it as bad and not to be liked. Well, Hoodoo and Conjure have had a bad rap for exactly those reasons. So, here's a crash course on what this ancient ancestral traditions are from a Priestess who not only practices the religion, but sheds a light on why culturally we do a lot of the things that we ...
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Markings Left Behind

October 19, 2025 • 59 mins
Everyday, as we move through life, we come across markings that our ancestors left behind for us. From the beautiful kente cloth designs, to the mud cloths to the Adrinka symbols that can be found everywhere; sharing wisdom with us; reassuring us that we're not alone; communicating tribal messages and so much more. The symbols are not just random pictures, they're our history, our identity, our genealogy, our culture and our roots...
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Keeper of the Culture | Dr. Jessica Berry

October 12, 2025 • 54 mins
Some people say that the Gullah Geechee language is dying. Well, it's not! Finding out how many people are speaking Gullah or Geechee might be difficult because speakers are code switching. So, what is code switching? And why are bi-lingual Gullah's changing how they speak in public if their first language is Gullah? Join me for an energized and educational conversation on language, culture and how the language will be able to sust...
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The Cost of Slavery

October 6, 2025 • 54 mins
Let's face it. Slavery was all about "the dollar dollar bill ya'll". It offered free labor and an incredible economic growth that we are still seeing today,,,,,,,hundreds of years later. The impact that we don't talk about is the human cargo that was the largest "crop" that was grown out of slavery and the humanity that was affected in order to enable it to thrive.
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Homeland

September 28, 2025 • 26 mins
Years ago, I would have never even thought to define or try to distinguish between what is a birthplace and where is your homeland; that is until I traveled to Africa. There are distinct differences between the two and regardless of how much you love the country of your birth and are accustomed to life there, your homeland has special connections and strong ties that are, well, unbreakable.
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The Black Tax

September 21, 2025 • 69 mins
Black land loss is at a critical point in America, but especially in the South. Since emanipation, the deck has been stacked against Black land owners, who by 1910 had 16 million acres. At last count, the number was around 6 million and dropping fast. Author Andrew Kahrl of the book, The Black Tax: 150 Years of Theft, Exploitation, and Disposition in America sheds a bright light not only on the problem as we know it today, but also...
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Coming Back Home

September 14, 2025 • 66 mins
Ancestrial roots can be a funny thing. They show up in a variety of ways. That comfy feels like home feeling when visiting a place or the memory of the familiar, when everything around you, you thought was new to you. It's a soft and consistent prodding thought. A desire to go somewhere and the need to stay - just a little longer. And regardless of what we try to do, or how we try to resist, those roots are tethered enough and str...
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