2007 Gullah Commission Announcement

Date: October 23, 2007
Contact: Michael Allen, [phone] x 12

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 October 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.