Gullah-Geechee settlement patterns from slavery to freedom: Investigation of a Georgia plantation slave quarter

Abstract

Gullah-Geechee is a creole culture that emerged among enslaved African Americans in the coastal Southeastern United States. Modern material expressions of this culture include a distinctive settlement type, the family compound, consisting of loosely clustered residences and outbuildings. The arrangement of these settlements resembles colonial slave quarters but differs from antebellum “slave rows.” Gullah-Geechee family compounds existed by the mid-20th century, but their origin, time depth, and evolution from linear quarters are unclear. Archaeological study of the Wilson–Miller plantation slave quarter near Savannah, occupied over most of the 19th Century, indicated that the Gullah-Geechee residential compound appeared soon after Emancipation. The study also suggested that communal outdoor space was important in maintaining cultural practices that were expressed in both colonial and post-Emancipation settlement patterns.