The National Park Service (NPS) and the State Historic Preservation Officers (SHPO) for the States of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina are pleased to announce the establishment of the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission. A press conference will be held on Monday Oct. 29, 2007 at 10:00 AM in the Mckinley Washington Auditorium located at the Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture at the College of Charleston, 125 Bull Street, Charleston SC.
The Secretary of Interior was charged with establishing the Commission to oversee development and management of the new Heritage Corridor. This Commission includes four individuals nominated by the State Historic Preservation Officer (SHPO) of South Carolina and two individuals each nominated by the SHPOs for Florida, Georgia and North Carolina. Two individuals from South Carolina and one individual each from Florida, Georgia and North Carolina who are recognized experts in historic preservation, anthropology, and folklore were nominated by the National Park Service.
The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor (Heritage Corridor) was designated by Congress in September, 2006, to recognize the important contributions made to American culture and history by Africans and African-Americans who settled in coastal areas of Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. The Gullah/Geechee people represent the descendents of enslaved Africans from west and central Africa who were brought to these coastal areas to work plantations. The Heritage Corridor will preserve and interpret their unique language, arts and crafts, religious beliefs, folklore, rituals and foods.
The cultural resource experts and alternates are:
Commissioner
FL
Antoinette T. Jackson
Alternate
FL
Anthony E. Dixon
Commissioner
GA
Jeanne C. Cyriaque
Alternate
GA
Patricia Barefoot
Commissioner
NC
John H. Haley
Alternate
NC
David B. Frank
Commissioner
SC
Emory Shaw Campbell
Alternate
SC
J. Herman Blake
Commissioner
SC
Marqueta L. Goodwine
Alternate
SC
Nicole Green
The 10 state representatives and alternates nominated by the state historic preservation offices and selected by Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne are:
Commissioner
FL
Glenda Simmons Jenkins
Alternate
FL
William Jefferson
Commissioner
FL
Ralph Johnson
Commissioner
GA
Charles H. Hall
Alternate
GA
Amir Jamal Touré
Commissioner
GA
Althea Natalga Sumpter
Alternate
GA
Deborah L. Mack
Commissioner
NC
Shirlean Spicer
Commissioner
NC
Eulis Alexander Willis
Alternate
NC
Lana Carter
Commissioner
SC
Ronald Daise
Alternate
SC
Danny Cromer
Commissioner
SC
Louise Miller Cohen
Commissioner
SC
William Saunders
Alternate
SC
Veronica D. Gerald
Commissioner
SC
Willie B. Heyward
For additional information regarding this event or the Gullah Geechee Heritage Corridor Commission please call Michael Allen, Educational Specialist at Charles Pinckney NHS at 843-881-5516 ext 12.
Source: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service
