Descendants of Islamic African slaves stolen from Senegal, Sierra Leone, and Liberia. Most Geechee live on Sapelo Island, a South Sea island off the coast of Savannah, Georgia. Unlike many other African Americans , the Geechee were able to maintain much of their West African culture and traditions. Their language is a mixture of English and an African based Creole language.
Nearly 24,000 West Africans were brought to the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia as slaves in the years between 1804 and 1807. The meeting of these African people, each with their own dialects, and English speakers led to the language known as Gullah--similar in some respects to Creole English. Gullah is still spoken by many of the inhabitants of the Sea Islands. In fact much of the speech and social customs of these descendants remained remarkably intact due to the social isolation and the Gullah people's strong sense of cultural heritage and communal life.
While the Gullah vocabulary is based in English the grammar and pronunciation derive from a host of African languages including Yoruba, Mandinka, Ewe and Twi. When the President of Sierra Leone visited the sea islands in 1980 and addressed crowds in his native language, many of the islanders had no problem understanding him.