Akua Page sought to change the knowledge surrounding a forgotten group of people.
Page is utilizing TikTok to spread education and pride for the culture to people who otherwise wouldn’t know about it.
The South Carolinian content creator has almost 60,000 followers, and it continues to grow as she spreads her messages and experiences.
@geecheegoddessbook me link in bio ✨️♬ original sound – Geechee Experience
Page told NBC in an interview, “Gullah is now considered an endangered language because my generation and younger — you’re not going to find us fluent in speaking actual Gullah,” expressing the importance of the work she does on TikTok.
@geecheegoddess #duet with @douglabwoy ♬ original sound – TAY MULETTI
“I love TikTok. It has been so instrumental in the work I’m doing,” Page credited. She continued to conclude that “her goal is to pass the torch, so that her culture, which has survived for hundreds of years, can keep going.”
The Gullah Geechee encompassed the ancestors of enslaved peoples from Central and West Africa who were forced into the southeast coast states. They have a unique and distinctly remarkable culture because of the nature of their history. Their enslavement revolved around the production and growth of rice in isolated coastal areas with the proper climate. This led to the high retention of African traditions even after their displacement; it thrived within their music, language, arts, and cultural normalities.
It isn’t a tiny population either. NBC reported, “A 2005 environmental impact statement estimated there were 200,000 Gullah Geechee people in the southeast region of the U.S. That number has likely shifted as the community continues to spread. There are large concentrations of Gullah Geechee people in cities like Jacksonville, Florida; Savannah, Georgia; and Charleston — which are close to the isolated islands where the culture was created.”
