Gullah/Geechee Seminole Maroon Reunion at International Festival in Florida

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) July 24, 2010 -- ****FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE****
CONTACT: Ms. Barksdale GullGeeCo@aol.com 843-838-1171

Gullah/Geechee Seminole Maroon Reunion:
International Celebration in Florida

(21 July 2010-Ft. Lauderdale, FL, USA) The Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival™ is traveling down the coast of South Carolina through the Golden Isles of Georgia into Florida for this year’s celebration. The theme of the event this year is the ”Gullah/Geechee Seminole Maroon Reunion.” This will be the first time in history that these groups that were once all connected in the Carolinas reunite in Florida.
Many that are called “Seminoles, Black Seminoles, and Afro-Seminoles” in the Bahamas, Texas, Mexico, and Oklahoma are Gullah/Geechees. They formed maroon villages in the the coastal areas of Florida and became allies with many different indigenous nations. However, some are only now becoming aware of their history between Jacksonville, Florida and Jacksonville, NC which is now the “Gullah/Geechee Nation.” The Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival™ 2010 will bring them back together in a powerful series of events.

Thursday, August 19, 2010, a bus tour will leave historic St. Helena Island, SC with passengers heading to Nassau County, Florida where they will united with others from Jacksonville and surrounding counties of Florida and Georgia. They will conduct traditional ceremonies to pay homage to their ancestors in Nassauville and American Beach. The Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Committee of Northeast Florida in conjunction with Blacksonville will conduct a tour through Fernandina to Kingsley Plantation for the group.
The group will take time to visit Kingsley Plantation National Historic Site due to its historic connection with Gullah Jack and to conduct a ceremony for the spirits of those that suffered at this plantation and built the tabby homes that still stand there. The procession will continue to Fort Mosé National Historic Site where a Gullah/Geechee and Seminole Reunion ceremony will be held at the new interpretive center. The group will also tour the site before continuing southward to Ft. Lauderdale where the rest of the activities of the weekend will take place.

Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, who is a co-founder of the Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival, was the first to bring a national conference to St. Augustine 15 years ago to make people aware of the historic connections between the Gullah/Geechees and Fort Mosé. However, there were few people that took an interest in Gullah/Geechee and even Black history at that time. Queen Quet and the Wisdom Circle Council of Elders for the Gullah/Geechee Nation fell that “it was crucial to return and reconnect the people with the history of our ancestors and to pay tribute to those that lived, fought, and died in St. Augustine.”

Friday, August 20, 2010 will be the “Seminole Reunion Journey” bus tour from Ft. Lauderdale to Hollywood and Miami, Florida. The bus will return to Ft. Lauderdale in the evening so that participants can prepare for the Noon to 7 pm activities that will be held at the African American Research Library & Cultural Center and Samuel Delevoe Jr. Park on Saturday, August 21, 2010. Both of these locations are major sponsors for this year’s events. Activities there will include Gullah/Geechee traditional libation ceremony, panel discussions, films, dramatic and musical presentations, exhibitions, drumming circles, and traditional crafts by Gullah/Geechee and Seminole artists.
Sunday, August 22, 2010, the participants will board a cruise liner from Ft. Lauderdale and journey to Grand Bahama Island where they will have a closing ceremony to bring the reconnection full circle. The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, which is a sponsor for the event, will host the group as they did three years ago when the entire festival was held there.

All activities are open to the public. Registration details for the tours and cruise can be obtained by e-mailing GullGeeCo@aol.com or AMPTurnItUp@aol.com. For information on the events in Fort Lauderdale, please e-mail or call 843-838-1171 or go to www.gullahgeechee.info.

E gwine be a time fa tru! E time fa de famlee cum toggedda! Jayn wi!

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