2022 Schedule

Horry County Museum Auditorium

Dance, Storytelling, and Musical Performances

All Day: Storytelling and Art Pop-Up
Bruce Ingram, Gullah Geechee Artist

10 a.m.: Opening Ceremonies, Horry County Museum (livestream)

10:30 a.m.: State of the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor

11 a.m.: Dennis McNett, Visiting Artist on Community and Student Collaboration

1 p.m. : Check out the processional that will kick off at the intersection of 5th and Main

12 p.m.: Aunt Pearlie Sue

2 p.m.: Moving Spirits AfroLatin Dance Performance
See also their 11 a.m. workshop

3 p.m.: Jazz Combo and Big Band Performance (CCU Music Department)

4:30 p.m.: Closing Ceremonies

Join us as we hold a feedback session and meditation on the day and its future directions. 

Horry County Museum Classroom

Workshops and Talks

10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.: Grant Writing Workshop
Barbara Habhegger, Grantwriter

12:30 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.: Uncovering Porgy & Bess

“I Heard the Angels Singing”: Documenting the Gullah Geechee People of Wadmalaw Island who Inspired Porgy & Bess
Heather Hodges, Director of External Relations, Historic New Orleans Collection

Recovering Catfish Row: Toward Centering Gullah Culture in the Gershwin’s and Heyward’s Porgy and Bess
Andrew Kohler, Instructor of Musicology and Managing Editor of the George and Ira Gershwin Critical Edition, University of Michigan

2:30 – 3:30 p.m.: Preserving the Past and Purpose of Spirituals 

Past, Purpose, and Providence: The Praise House in Gullah Geechee Communities
Kevin J. Hales, Visiting Assistant Professor of Communication, University of Missouri-Columbia

Lost in (Mis)Interpretation: Challenges to Preserving Gullah Geechee and Afro-Latin Language, Religion, and Music
Anthony Sanchez, Independent Composer, Pianist, and Musicologist

Horry County Memorial Library Classroom

Arts Workshops

Capacity is limited to 15-20 individuals.

10:30 – 11:10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Clay Basketmaking Workshop
Ashlyn Pope, Associate Director, Joyner Institute for Gullah and African Diaspora Studies

Limited to 15 people per session

12:15 – 1:30 p.m. |  Block Printmaking Workshop
Ashlyn Pope, Associate Director, Joyner Institute for Gullah and African Diaspora Studies

Limited to 20 people.

2:30 – 3:10 p.m. and 3:15 – 4 p.m. | Dollmaking Workshop
Zenobia Harper, Founder, Gullah Preservation Society and Community Outreach Coordinator, Joyner Institute

Limited to 20 people per session.

Bryan House, Horry County Historical Society 

Storytelling Workshops, Performances, and Talks

All Day: History Harvest with The Athenaeum Press

All Day: The Art of the Haitian Voodoo Altar Installation
Susan Kwosek

Outside: 12:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3:30 p.m.: Breath and Yoga Workshops
Mandisa Armstrong, Certified Holistic Health Coach and Yoga Instructor

10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.: These Stories Matter: Making Gullah Geechee Visible

Wake Work in the Lowcountry: A Theory for Making Invisible Gullah Geechee Literary Culture Visible
Raven Gadsen, Doctoral Candidate, University of South Carolina

Stories Matter: Towards the Development of a Gullah Geechee Preservation Model
Shellae Versey, Social Psychologist and Gerontologist

11:45 a.m. – 1 p.m.: Reflections of a Geechee Woman’s Southern Journey: Preservation Project of Family Heirs Property over 100 Years
Sandra Lesibu, Independent Author, Spoken Word Artist, and Oral Herstorian

1:30 – 2:45 p.m. | Let the Ancestors Speak: Using Our Stories as a Foundation for Poetry, Prose, Screenplays, and Fiction
Stephane Dunn, Professor of Creative Writing, Morehouse College
Ifetayo Ojelade, Clinical Psychologist

3 – 4:15 p.m.: Catching the Learning and Having Our Say: Septima Poinsette Clark and the Sea Island Citizenship Schools
Annette Teasdell, Assistant Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, Clark Atlanta University

Conway City Hall

History, Archaeology, and Cultural Heritage Talks and Workshops

11 a.m. – 12 p.m.: Archaeology and Remnants from Our Enslaved Pasts

11 a.m. | Racialized Tabletalks: Foodways, Materiality and Inscribed Discourses
Scott Alves Barton, Faculty Fellow in Race and Resilience at Notre Dame

11:30 a.m. | Genetic Ancestry and Analysis from Hagley Plantation
Kalina Kassadjikova, Graduate student, University of California, Santa Cruz

11:45 a.m. | Split Down to Timbers: How the Discovery of Shipwrecks from Black History Impacts Local Life, Memory, and Archaeology
Khamal Patterson, Cultural property attorney and researcher

12:30 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.: Regional Projects Making Changes

12:30 p.m. | Who can get to the water: Investigating environmental justice issues around public and private coastal infrastructure in South Carolina
Jeffrey Beauvais, Doctoral Student, Integrative Conservation and Ecology, University of Georgia

12:45 p.m. | Gullah Geechee Seafood Trail
Marilyn Hemingway, Founder and CEO, Gullah Geechee Chamber of Commerce

1:15 p.m. | Plantersville Cultural Collaborative
Ray Funnye, Director, The Village Group and Plantersville Cultural Center
Craig M. Sasser, Manager, Waccamaw National Wildlife Foundation

1:45 p.m. | North Carolina Gullah Geechee Greenway – Blueway Heritage Trail Project
Brayton Willis, Project Director

2:30 – 3:30 p.m.: Resiliency and Freedom

Resilient and Strong: Gullah Strategies of Reconciliation, Repair, and Healing
Charen Glasgow, Doctoral Candidate, International Conflict Management, Kennesaw State University

Black Freedom Struggles and the Gullah Geechee Corridor: A Place of Settlement
Latif A. Tarik, Assistant Professor of History, Elizabeth State University

The Hut
First United Methodist

Film Screenings and Musical Performances

We pay tribute to the immense work of Betsy Newman, SCETV documentary producer. Her work has brought significant attention to the culture and issues facing the Waccamaw Neck and Grand Strand.

10:30 – 11:30 a.m. | Saving Sandy Island
SCETV Documentary (Betsy Newman, producer)

11:30 a.m. | Dani Gainey (singer/songwriter)

12:30 – 1 p.m. | Between the Waters
SCETV Documentary (Betsy Newman, producer)

1 p.m. (outside): Processional Kick-off

2 p.m. | Charlie’s Place Documentary Screening

2:30 – 3 p.m. | Q+A with Betsy Newman

3 – 4 p.m.: Gullah Roots Documentary Screening

Conway Visitor’s Center
5th and Main

Vendor Market and Information

Vendor and Craft Market (see our growing list of vendors)

2 – 4 p.m. | Craft Pop-Up and African Tribal Facepainting
Academy for Technology and Academics – ATA (HCS) Students and Friends, Marjorie McIver, Marlo Frazier, Gwen Alston, and Michelle James

Join ATA Students and Friends, Joyner Board member and community leader Marjorie McIver, Marlo Frazier, and other community artists to paint “Sole Pendants” and have mask-friendly tribal face painting.

The Town Green
2nd and Laurel

Food Trucks, Cooking Demonstrations, Dance Workshops, Musical Performances

10:30 a.m. – 4 p.m.: Chef Cooking Demonstrations
Latanya Allen of Tastee Treats, Austin Jefferson of Jennie Mae’s, Laura Herriott of Wilma’s Cottage, and Kamal Fraser of Caribbean Jerk

11 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.: Food Trucks (see our list of food trucks)

11:00 a.m. | AfroLatin Dance Workshop
Moving Spirits Dance Company

1:30 p.m.: Processional Arrival and Ceremony

2:00 p.m.: CCU R&B Ensemble