Give she a red wun

O'please Geechee family don't leave me hanging on disya wun!   Who remember chilly bears?  Bae bae lookya I bun the chilly bear queen of 'merica street heah!  I loved the red (cherry) wun and the yella (lemonade) wun.  My chilly bear lady stayed in Reed st housing (I may not have the name exactly right), God bless ee heart I can't call her name and I'm shame because many a day she put her futs under our dinner table and broke bread with us.   Anyhow, she would bring a whole carton of 'em soon as she knew I bun home. That bun the best treat ever!  I stayed in the freeza.  Who knew little Dixie cups filled with kool aid would bring a child so much joy.  My cousins and I would destroy a carton full in a day or two.  I'm sure other places in the sowt have something similar but just call them by a different name, but if ya Geechee and from chasstun then you ONLY knoh 'em by chilly bears.  What I would give now to hear Miss Ma'am yell shru mi screen door "chillee beah" and we come a flyin down the stairs.  Then when I/we got old enough we would walk our lil  boonkys right on up the street and get our chillee beahs ourselves. Just another fond memory growing up geechee.

Story by Pentherapee

Ring Shout

Ring Shout

A ring shout is a religious ritual, used by African slaves, to declare a oneness to God, call out to the ancestors, and to speak to each other. It's a counterclockwise dance-like movement, call-and-response singing, and percussion consisting of hand claps, and a stick beating the rhythm on the ground or the floor. 

The ring shout was often performed after the slave owner's Christian service. It is said that the Gullah/Geechee, of Georgia and South Carolina, ring shouters made a circle around the church building. Often times, the slaves went into the woods at night to perform shouts, for hours, until they were exhausted. 

A ring shout is performed when a songster begins or sets a song starting off slow, then speeds up the tempo. The singers, or basers answers the songster in a call-and response. There is a stick-man, who sits next to the songster, will beat a simple rhythm with a wood stick, sometimes a broom, the basers will use hand clapping and foot patting to add rhythm. 

The earliest known records of the ring shout are circa 1840. Today, the shouting that is done in some churches come from the ring shout. 


Below you can watch the McIntosh County Shouters perform a traditional ring shout

Njoy sum Geechee Black Histree Munt you tubes

http://youtu.be/JNgyGHjgbfk

http://youtu.be/dWpHNWLeKP4

http://youtu.be/No5HrBHkfzs

http://youtu.be/zg_UevpsyQA

http://youtu.be/r3gr1ghQExs

http://youtu.be/VxIJ4Jn3QFE

http://youtu.be/JNgyGHjgbfk

http://youtu.be/z3e5G3T6lWI

http://youtu.be/abgc1Y94iq8

http://youtu.be/D4Wl1KvBH7s

http://youtu.be/a5N7cbK85bY

QUEEN QUET/GULLAH NAYSHUN is such a great solid resource for geechee culture old and new! There's is so much of mi own culture and histree I still don't know (sighs) but I gwan ta lurn.  Hunna gwan knoh the ins & outs of mi culture wun dey.  Gud ting bun I'm intertwined simplee cus I bun born an dud alodda raysun, with boat sides of mi famalee bein frum chasstun...I literally have NO immediate famalee (like most charlestonians) from another part of da sowt so mi geechee ties, despite me living in Cali for years are strong up heah!  I'm so proud to be a geechee gal but I'm seeing dares alot I must lurn...I godda go deepa!!!

Happy Black Geechee Histree Munt!!!

PENTHERAPEE shufflin she futs ta da chasstun clap

If on twitter follow @moregeechee and @geechie101 (she tweets in authentic geechee language). Alot of fun!!

Every Geechee should be aware...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/06/0607_wiregullah.html

Please read the above link.  It's a devastating truth.  How blessed we are that with the World Wide Web and other technology we have been able to keep our heritage/culture alive, but I feel like the Gullah nation is on life support.  Thank God for soldiers like Queen Quet and a few others that has put in their all to preserve our history.  Young Gullah Nation STAND UP!!!!!

Story posted by Pentherapee
Credit goes to National Geographic News

Help a Geechee Out

Hey Geechee Fam!

    A member of our Geechee Family is collecting hygiene products, healthy snacks, and puzzle books for Luvkits! The Luvkits will be handed out on Valentine's Day to Charleston, SC area hospitals, to bring a little comfort to those who are visiting love ones in the hospital.

Please send contributions to: Geechie Gurl Inc

                                             P.O. Box 71061

                                                   N. Chas, SC 29415

Please have contributions to the above address by February 7, 2013. If you aren't able to collect, and send items you can donate to service@geechiegurl.org.

Any help is greatly appreciated! 

King Street

Being from Charleston, SC their are a lot of places to see and a lot of places to visit. Most cities have that one street that everyone knows about well in Charleston we have that kind of street. The name of the street is called King Street. It's a long street with a lot of stores before I get to some of the stores let me give you a break down of what I remember about King Street

I grew up in the 80's going into Charleston was always beautiful. My mom would go downtown often. I would always notice that their was a white side of King Street and then their was a black side. On the black side you would see stores like (forgive my spelling it's been a long time since I have been down there) leon's variety store where I got my first ears pierced and my mom bought endless stockings from there with the designs. Bluestiens where every man from Charleston has shopped for that colorful Easter suit. On the white side you had the Talbot Company where a lot of rich white people would go in and buy fancy digs for work. You also had brooks brother where they sold nice clothes that my mom use to make because she worked in a factory that made the pants. I had heard talk about how black people don't cross the white side and vice versa but my mom being the dare devil that she was took me into talbot company for the first time when I was around 8 or 9. I remember it clearly the white people seemed like they stopped what they were doing and just stared at us. My mom went right in and browsed some sweaters and asked a sale lady if they had a certain size. The lady helped us and my mom ended up buying the sweater. Some years later my mom was able to obtain a Talbot card and that became her favorite store she even sent all of her friends in there to shop. Now I don't know if black people ever went in the store before but this was the experience I had when we first went in.

Through the years King street has grown when I got to high school their was a pizza joint downtown that we would skip school to visit and to this day they are the best pizza I have had. I don't know if any of the stores are still there but I sure do miss that King Street. Last time I was home their were many new stores even my favorite firehouse subs. What do you remember about King street?

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Geechee Profile: Philip Simmons

Photo Credit: http://southcarolina1670.wordpress.com/

Philip Simmons was born June 9, 1912 on Daniel's Island, South Carolina. Mr. Simmons lived on the island with his grandparents until he was 8 years old. He was then sent to live with his mother in the city of Charleston. At the age of 13, Mr. Simmons began to apprentice under a blacksmith by the name of Peter Simmons (no relation), a former slave. After a 5 year apprenticeship, at the age of 18 Mr. Simmons became a full blacksmith. 

Mr. Simmons began his 77 year career making simple things such as horseshoes. His first commissioned work was for Jack Krawcheck, during WWII, where he had to use scrap iron to make a gate because wartime materials requirements made it impossible to get iron. 
 

Mr. Simmons created all types of ironwork including fences, gates, balconies, fireplace pokers, and various tools. Much of his work can be seen in and around the city of Charleston. 

Philip Simmons has been awarded the National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment of the Arts, a Lifetime Achievement Award by the South Carolina General Assembly, the Order of the Palmetto, and the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Governor's Award.  Mr. Simmons has been inducted into the South Carolina Hall of Fame. Mr. Simmons’ work has been on display at the Smithsonian.

 Mr. Simmons, after retiring from blacksmithing, continued to teach his craft until he was no longer able. Philip Simmons died June 22, 2009, at the age of 97. He is truly a Charleston icon.

 I had the pleasure of meeting, and speaking with Mr. Simmons on several occasions, and he was one of the sweetest people I've ever met. 

To learn more about Mr. Simmons visit: Philip Simmons Foundation, Inc

Biography:  Charleston Blacksmith, The Work of Philips Simmons by John Michael Vlach

Documentary: Keeper of The Gate by David Flander
Interview:http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-philip-simmons-11873

If you are ever in Chaleston here is list of places that you can see Mr. Simmons' work:

• The gazebo at the Charleston International Airport
• Gates outside the Charleston Vistors Center
• The egret gates at Waterfront Park
• The Gadsden house gate at 329 East Bay St.
• The gate at 2 st. Michael’s Alley
• The railings and window grilles at 45 Meeting St.
• The heart gates at St. John’s Reformed Episcopal Church at 91 Anson St.

Picture Source: http://fycharleston.tumblr.com/post/40688453488/philip-simmons-a-charleston-legend-1912-2009