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Cornelia Walker Bailey and Sapelo Island: The Last Gullah Geechee Stronghold

Cornelia Walker Bailey (1945–2017) — born on Sapelo Island, Georgia, to descendants of enslaved Africans who had worked on the island's plantation — was the most important voice in documenting and defending the Hog Hammock community, one of the last remaining Gullah Geechee settlements. Her memoir God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man (2000) documented the specific culinary traditions, the specific plants, and the specific knowledge that the Hog Hammock community maintained on Sapelo Island.

The Sapelo Island culinary tradition — its specific techniques and its survival story.

AFRICA TO AMERICA — WA4: THE DEEPEST DIVE

Gullah Geechee tradition broadly (Sapelo is the most intact surviving community), Puerto Rico's food sovereignty movement (same island community defending culinary heritage against development pressur