-
Preface
- University of Georgia Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
In the early summer of 2006,I led a group of residents from the community of Pin Point, outside Savannah, to Ossabaw Island to look at the remains of the North End Plantation,including three tabby cabins that the Georgia state archaeologist has described as the best preserved in the state. As head of an education alliance,I knew that some of the community members were descended from enslaved people who had labored on the plantations of this island, now a heritage preserve with twenty-six thousand acres of marsh and maritime forest accessible only by boat.We were not prepared for their reactions. Several of the older members became excited when they stood before those tabbies constructed of oyster shells,lime,sand,and water.They had lived in the cabins as children during the 1940s, when their parents had worked for the owners of Ossabaw, and pointed out details of the living arrangements that re-created for us a way of life that seemed closer to another time. They retain a strong feeling for this island, which has been a part of their families for over two centuries. In an interview, Bo Bowens told how people often asked him about his accent and whether he was from the Caribbean. He would reply, “No! I am from someplace special and beautiful . I’m from Ossabaw!” On the coast of Georgia,the eighteenth century is closer than one would think. Pin Point has ties to the enslaved people who first came to the islands from Africa in the 1760s to grow indigo, herd cattle, and build oceangoing vessels. My work in helping to interpret the stories around the North End Plantation provided an essential spur to this book. Motivated by this experience, I pulled together a symposium about African American life and culture in the Georgia Lowcountry from the eighteenth century to the twentieth. Out of that effort came a gathering of distinguished scholars, an audience of several hundred people,and a book that fills a gap in the subject matter. What also emerged were close working relationships with people who have extended extraordinary help to me in this enterprise. Preface x preface I would like to thank Todd Groce and Stan Deaton of the Georgia HistoricalSociety ,whotogetherhaveredefinedpublichistoryintheSouthwhile stimulating primary research.Deaton’s unfailing encouragement helped me over the initial hurdles and kept my focus on the principal theme. Neither the symposium nor this book would have materialized without the support of John Inscoe, Saye Professor of History at the University of Georgia and former editor of the Georgia Historical Quarterly. His friendship helped me to concentrate on significant issues in local history, and his willingness to come to Ossabaw Island and think about how to tell the story of the tabby cabins was one of the seeds that led to the symposium. Philip D. Morgan served as the editor of the book that came out of the symposium on African American life on the Georgia coast. Assisting him throughout the process was worth at least one and maybe two graduate courses. His accessibility meant much, and our brief conversations about the relationship of the Caribbean and the Lowcountry were vital to shaping this work. Erskine Clarke, who knows the coast of Georgia through his exploration of the thousands of letters of the Charles C. Jones family, imparted his wisdom and extraordinary sensitivity to people and their feelings while advising on an Ossabaw project funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Serving on the advisory council of the University of Georgia Press gave me a great appreciation for the work of its staff and most especially Nicole Mitchell, Nancy Grayson, Derek Krissoff, John Joerschke, and Beth Snead. Their craftsmanship, hard work, passion, and energy provided inspiration. Craig Barrow, owner of Wormsloe Plantation in Savannah, continues his family’s legacy of nurturing and supporting the press. His commitment to the history of the Georgia coast serves as a model, and his friendship brought me into contact with relevant scholars through his new initiative, the Wormsloe Institute for Environmental History. Others who have influenced the shape of this work include Betty Wood, Jacqueline Jones, Allison Dorsey, and Charles Elmore, historians; George McDaniel, director of Drayton Hall; Deborah Mack, museum consultant; Emory Campbell, chair of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Corridor Heritage Commission; and Dan Elliott, archaeologist.The anonymous reviewers gave me much more than their honorariums commanded. I am grateful for their professionalism. The Ossabaw Island Foundation accorded me...