CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) - A plan to preserve the sea island culture of slave descendants along the Southeast coast is nearing completion after years of work. The management plan for the Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor is expected to go out for public comment next month and receive final approval by year.
The culture is known as Gullah in the Carolinas and Geechee in Florida and Georgia.
The Gullah and Geechee have preserved a culture based on farming and fishing with, among other things, their own creole language, cooking and arts such as weaving sweetgrass baskets.
But scholars warn the culture is threatened both by coastal development and modern media that make even those in the culture lose contact with their roots.
The plan envisions educating people, documenting cultural sites and encouraging economic development.
