Descendants fight to maintain historic Black communities. Keeping their legacy alive is complicated
Descendants fight to maintain historic Black communities. Keeping their legacy alive is complicated
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef and preservationist. The sixth-generation native of Daufuskie Island, a once-thriving Gullah community, remembers relatives hosting meals and imparting life lessons on the next generation. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., reacts in front of her childhood home Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef, preservationist, and a sixth generation Gullah resident. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., looks into the kitchen of her childhood home, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. “I was born in this very house, as many generations of family have been as well,” said Robinson, a chef and tour guide. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., drives her automobile across the island Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. “There were at one point over a thousand people living on this island,” Robinson said. Long dirt roads were once occupied by a bustling community that had its own bartering system and a lucrative oyster industry. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
According to Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., an old Gullah home “that needs restoration” is seen Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
According to Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., an old Gullah home “that needs restoration” is seen out of a tour bus window, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef, preservationist, and a sixth generation Gullah resident. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., give tours at the The FirstUnion African Baptist Church, as seen, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef, preservationist, and a sixth generation Gullah resident. Researchers estimate fewer than 30 historic Black towns are left, compared to more than 1,200 at the peak about a century ago. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., sings in The FirstUnion African Baptist Church, where she often gives tours, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef, preservationist, and a sixth generation Gullah resident. Researchers estimate fewer than 30 historic Black towns are left, compared to more than 1,200 at the peak about a century ago.(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
ADDS CONTEXT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE HOME - Sallie Ann Robinson, a sixth generation Gullah resident, stands in front of the home she rents from the family of Francis Jones, in Daufuskie Island, S.C., Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. Jones was a teacher and the principal at the Mary Fields School on Daufuskie. The home was originally a one-room cottage, likely built in the mid-19th century by Jones’ great-grandmother, a freedwoman. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
The captain drives as a passenger sleeps on a ferry headed to Daufuskie Island in the early morning, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. The incorporated towns were founded by formerly enslaved people and often had their own churches, schools, stores and economic systems. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
A person walks through the Saint Helena Parish Chapel of Ease Ruins on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Rev. Kenneth Hodges, owner of LyBensons Gallery speaks to the Associated Press on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. The incorporated towns were founded by formerly enslaved people and often had their own churches, schools, stores and economic systems. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Seretha Tuttle-Wynn stands on the stepsof the Coffin Point Community Praise House on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Researchers estimate fewer than 30 historic Black towns are left, compared to more than 1,200 at the peak about a century ago. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
The inside of the the Coffin Point Community Praise House on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. The incorporated towns were founded by formerly enslaved people and often had their own churches, schools, stores and economic systems. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Kitty Green of Gullah Geechie Mahn Tours speaks during an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Researchers estimate fewer than 30 historic Black towns are left, compared to more than 1,200 at the peak about a century ago. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Gravestones are seen on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Vacant land that once belonged to the Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School is seen past homes in Eatonville, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. Established in 1887, Eatonville was one of the first incorporated self-governing Black municipalities in the U.S. The Hungerford school opened ten years later to educate Black children and became a focal point of community life for generations. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Julian Johnson, 30, who founded the 1887 First organization to protect the property where Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School once stood, poses for a picture in front of the closed former school grounds in the heart of Eatonville, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. Named for the year that Eatonville was incorporated as a self-governing Black municipality, the organization has since broadened its mission to include both historic preservation and community strengthening. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Eatonville’s oldest building, the Historic Thomas House, sits between its second oldest, the Moseley House Museum, right, and St. Lawrence African Methodist Episcopal Church, left, a congregation that predates the town’s 1887 incorporation as a self-governing Black municipality, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Eatonville, Fla. The Thomas House building first served as a house of worship, shared between St. Lawrence AME Church and Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, then the town’s first library and a “juke joint” for entertainment, before being purchased by the Thomas family as a residence. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Third-generation town resident NY Nathiri poses for a picture on her family’s lakeside property in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. Nathiri, founder of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, smiles as she reminisces about her idyllic childhood and her family’s history in the town, from her grandfather moving there at the beginning of the Great Depression, to her aunts’ close relationship with author Zora Neale Hurston. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
NY Nathiri, left, and Julian Johnson, who lead separate organizations working to preserve the town’s heritage and culture, and boost its economy, talk together as they walk past the town’s oldest remaining structure, known as the Historic Thomas House, in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Barber Glenn Paige, right, who grew up in neighboring Winter Park, Fla. and chose to open his business in Eatonville, rubs shaving cream onto client Pastor Walter Harris, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, as he prepares him for a shave at Blessed by the Best barbershop in Eatonville, Fla. Paige treasures Eatonville’s unique history as a self-governing Black municipality, and preserved two bricks from the now demolished Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School which he plans to decorate with the school’s name and dates of operation and display in his shop. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Barber Glenn Paige, 69, displays an old family photograph showing his father, left, and mother enjoying a band at Club Eaton, which opened during segregation and in its heyday became a venue for the country’s most celebrated Black musicians, as Paige waits for his next client at Blessed by the Best barbershop in Eatonville, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. Paige treasures Eatonville’s unique history as a self-governing Black municipality, and preserved two bricks from the now demolished Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Anthony Dinkins, a third-generation town resident, stands in front of his family’s lakeside home in the historically Black town of Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. Dinkins said the family lost two thirds of their property when Interstate 4 was built through the heart of town in the late 1950s, and his grandmother’s house had to be relocated nearby. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Students from Thomas Leadership Academy play on the school’s playground in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. “There are four things that have kept Eatonville: its faith, its family, its education and its civic pride,” said NY Nathiri, a third-generation Eatonville resident and founder of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Church volunteer Abner Jackson Jr. places a box of donated groceries into the car of a visitor to the food pantry at The Life Center Church in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Jamari Baugh, 15, shoots a basketball past a friend as they play on a court next to a mural of author Zora Neale Hurston, who grew up in Eatonville and depicted a fictionalized version of the historic Black town in her work, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, at Elizabeth Park in Eatonville, Fla. Descendants of the community work to boost its economy and preserve the local heritage and culture, put on display at the town’s annual ZORA! Festival (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
NY Nathiri, a third-generation town resident and founder of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, walks through the Moseley House Museum, the restored home of Matilda Clark Moseley, niece of town founder Joe Clark and best friend of author Zora Neale Hurston, in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Cars drive down East Kennedy Boulevard through the heart of Eatonville, Fla., which incorporated in 1887 as one of the country’s first self-governing Black municipalities, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. “There are four things that have kept Eatonville: its faith, its family, its education and its civic pride,” said NY Nathiri, a third-generation Eatonville resident and founder of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef and preservationist. The sixth-generation native of Daufuskie Island, a once-thriving Gullah community, remembers relatives hosting meals and imparting life lessons on the next generation. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., speaks during an interview with The Associated Press, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef and preservationist. The sixth-generation native of Daufuskie Island, a once-thriving Gullah community, remembers relatives hosting meals and imparting life lessons on the next generation. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., reacts in front of her childhood home Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef, preservationist, and a sixth generation Gullah resident. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., reacts in front of her childhood home Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef, preservationist, and a sixth generation Gullah resident. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., looks into the kitchen of her childhood home, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. “I was born in this very house, as many generations of family have been as well,” said Robinson, a chef and tour guide. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., looks into the kitchen of her childhood home, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. “I was born in this very house, as many generations of family have been as well,” said Robinson, a chef and tour guide. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., drives her automobile across the island Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. “There were at one point over a thousand people living on this island,” Robinson said. Long dirt roads were once occupied by a bustling community that had its own bartering system and a lucrative oyster industry. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., drives her automobile across the island Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. “There were at one point over a thousand people living on this island,” Robinson said. Long dirt roads were once occupied by a bustling community that had its own bartering system and a lucrative oyster industry. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
According to Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., an old Gullah home “that needs restoration” is seen Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
According to Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., an old Gullah home “that needs restoration” is seen Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
According to Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., an old Gullah home “that needs restoration” is seen out of a tour bus window, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef, preservationist, and a sixth generation Gullah resident. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
According to Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., an old Gullah home “that needs restoration” is seen out of a tour bus window, on Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef, preservationist, and a sixth generation Gullah resident. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., give tours at the The FirstUnion African Baptist Church, as seen, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef, preservationist, and a sixth generation Gullah resident. Researchers estimate fewer than 30 historic Black towns are left, compared to more than 1,200 at the peak about a century ago. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., give tours at the The FirstUnion African Baptist Church, as seen, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef, preservationist, and a sixth generation Gullah resident. Researchers estimate fewer than 30 historic Black towns are left, compared to more than 1,200 at the peak about a century ago. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., sings in The FirstUnion African Baptist Church, where she often gives tours, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef, preservationist, and a sixth generation Gullah resident. Researchers estimate fewer than 30 historic Black towns are left, compared to more than 1,200 at the peak about a century ago.(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Sallie Ann Robinson, of Daufuskie Island, S.C., sings in The FirstUnion African Baptist Church, where she often gives tours, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Robinson is a chef, preservationist, and a sixth generation Gullah resident. Researchers estimate fewer than 30 historic Black towns are left, compared to more than 1,200 at the peak about a century ago.(AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
ADDS CONTEXT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE HOME - Sallie Ann Robinson, a sixth generation Gullah resident, stands in front of the home she rents from the family of Francis Jones, in Daufuskie Island, S.C., Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. Jones was a teacher and the principal at the Mary Fields School on Daufuskie. The home was originally a one-room cottage, likely built in the mid-19th century by Jones’ great-grandmother, a freedwoman. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
ADDS CONTEXT ABOUT THE HISTORY OF THE HOME - Sallie Ann Robinson, a sixth generation Gullah resident, stands in front of the home she rents from the family of Francis Jones, in Daufuskie Island, S.C., Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023. Jones was a teacher and the principal at the Mary Fields School on Daufuskie. The home was originally a one-room cottage, likely built in the mid-19th century by Jones’ great-grandmother, a freedwoman. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
The captain drives as a passenger sleeps on a ferry headed to Daufuskie Island in the early morning, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. The incorporated towns were founded by formerly enslaved people and often had their own churches, schools, stores and economic systems. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
The captain drives as a passenger sleeps on a ferry headed to Daufuskie Island in the early morning, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2023, in Daufuskie Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. The incorporated towns were founded by formerly enslaved people and often had their own churches, schools, stores and economic systems. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
A person walks through the Saint Helena Parish Chapel of Ease Ruins on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
A person walks through the Saint Helena Parish Chapel of Ease Ruins on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Rev. Kenneth Hodges, owner of LyBensons Gallery speaks to the Associated Press on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. The incorporated towns were founded by formerly enslaved people and often had their own churches, schools, stores and economic systems. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Rev. Kenneth Hodges, owner of LyBensons Gallery speaks to the Associated Press on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. The incorporated towns were founded by formerly enslaved people and often had their own churches, schools, stores and economic systems. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Seretha Tuttle-Wynn stands on the stepsof the Coffin Point Community Praise House on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Researchers estimate fewer than 30 historic Black towns are left, compared to more than 1,200 at the peak about a century ago. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Seretha Tuttle-Wynn stands on the stepsof the Coffin Point Community Praise House on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Researchers estimate fewer than 30 historic Black towns are left, compared to more than 1,200 at the peak about a century ago. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
The inside of the the Coffin Point Community Praise House on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. The incorporated towns were founded by formerly enslaved people and often had their own churches, schools, stores and economic systems. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
The inside of the the Coffin Point Community Praise House on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. The incorporated towns were founded by formerly enslaved people and often had their own churches, schools, stores and economic systems. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Kitty Green of Gullah Geechie Mahn Tours speaks during an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Researchers estimate fewer than 30 historic Black towns are left, compared to more than 1,200 at the peak about a century ago. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Kitty Green of Gullah Geechie Mahn Tours speaks during an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Researchers estimate fewer than 30 historic Black towns are left, compared to more than 1,200 at the peak about a century ago. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Gravestones are seen on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Gravestones are seen on Tuesday, Sept, 19, 2023, in St. Helena Island, S.C. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Vacant land that once belonged to the Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School is seen past homes in Eatonville, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. Established in 1887, Eatonville was one of the first incorporated self-governing Black municipalities in the U.S. The Hungerford school opened ten years later to educate Black children and became a focal point of community life for generations. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Vacant land that once belonged to the Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School is seen past homes in Eatonville, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. Established in 1887, Eatonville was one of the first incorporated self-governing Black municipalities in the U.S. The Hungerford school opened ten years later to educate Black children and became a focal point of community life for generations. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Julian Johnson, 30, who founded the 1887 First organization to protect the property where Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School once stood, poses for a picture in front of the closed former school grounds in the heart of Eatonville, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. Named for the year that Eatonville was incorporated as a self-governing Black municipality, the organization has since broadened its mission to include both historic preservation and community strengthening. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Julian Johnson, 30, who founded the 1887 First organization to protect the property where Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School once stood, poses for a picture in front of the closed former school grounds in the heart of Eatonville, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. Named for the year that Eatonville was incorporated as a self-governing Black municipality, the organization has since broadened its mission to include both historic preservation and community strengthening. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Eatonville’s oldest building, the Historic Thomas House, sits between its second oldest, the Moseley House Museum, right, and St. Lawrence African Methodist Episcopal Church, left, a congregation that predates the town’s 1887 incorporation as a self-governing Black municipality, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Eatonville, Fla. The Thomas House building first served as a house of worship, shared between St. Lawrence AME Church and Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, then the town’s first library and a “juke joint” for entertainment, before being purchased by the Thomas family as a residence. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Eatonville’s oldest building, the Historic Thomas House, sits between its second oldest, the Moseley House Museum, right, and St. Lawrence African Methodist Episcopal Church, left, a congregation that predates the town’s 1887 incorporation as a self-governing Black municipality, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, in Eatonville, Fla. The Thomas House building first served as a house of worship, shared between St. Lawrence AME Church and Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, then the town’s first library and a “juke joint” for entertainment, before being purchased by the Thomas family as a residence. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Third-generation town resident NY Nathiri poses for a picture on her family’s lakeside property in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. Nathiri, founder of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, smiles as she reminisces about her idyllic childhood and her family’s history in the town, from her grandfather moving there at the beginning of the Great Depression, to her aunts’ close relationship with author Zora Neale Hurston. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Third-generation town resident NY Nathiri poses for a picture on her family’s lakeside property in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. Nathiri, founder of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, smiles as she reminisces about her idyllic childhood and her family’s history in the town, from her grandfather moving there at the beginning of the Great Depression, to her aunts’ close relationship with author Zora Neale Hurston. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
NY Nathiri, left, and Julian Johnson, who lead separate organizations working to preserve the town’s heritage and culture, and boost its economy, talk together as they walk past the town’s oldest remaining structure, known as the Historic Thomas House, in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
NY Nathiri, left, and Julian Johnson, who lead separate organizations working to preserve the town’s heritage and culture, and boost its economy, talk together as they walk past the town’s oldest remaining structure, known as the Historic Thomas House, in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. Historic Black communities have dwindled from their once-thriving existence in the United States and efforts to preserve what’s left encounter complicated challenges. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Barber Glenn Paige, right, who grew up in neighboring Winter Park, Fla. and chose to open his business in Eatonville, rubs shaving cream onto client Pastor Walter Harris, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, as he prepares him for a shave at Blessed by the Best barbershop in Eatonville, Fla. Paige treasures Eatonville’s unique history as a self-governing Black municipality, and preserved two bricks from the now demolished Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School which he plans to decorate with the school’s name and dates of operation and display in his shop. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Barber Glenn Paige, right, who grew up in neighboring Winter Park, Fla. and chose to open his business in Eatonville, rubs shaving cream onto client Pastor Walter Harris, Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023, as he prepares him for a shave at Blessed by the Best barbershop in Eatonville, Fla. Paige treasures Eatonville’s unique history as a self-governing Black municipality, and preserved two bricks from the now demolished Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School which he plans to decorate with the school’s name and dates of operation and display in his shop. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Barber Glenn Paige, 69, displays an old family photograph showing his father, left, and mother enjoying a band at Club Eaton, which opened during segregation and in its heyday became a venue for the country’s most celebrated Black musicians, as Paige waits for his next client at Blessed by the Best barbershop in Eatonville, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. Paige treasures Eatonville’s unique history as a self-governing Black municipality, and preserved two bricks from the now demolished Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Barber Glenn Paige, 69, displays an old family photograph showing his father, left, and mother enjoying a band at Club Eaton, which opened during segregation and in its heyday became a venue for the country’s most celebrated Black musicians, as Paige waits for his next client at Blessed by the Best barbershop in Eatonville, Fla., Thursday, Aug. 24, 2023. Paige treasures Eatonville’s unique history as a self-governing Black municipality, and preserved two bricks from the now demolished Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Anthony Dinkins, a third-generation town resident, stands in front of his family’s lakeside home in the historically Black town of Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. Dinkins said the family lost two thirds of their property when Interstate 4 was built through the heart of town in the late 1950s, and his grandmother’s house had to be relocated nearby. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Anthony Dinkins, a third-generation town resident, stands in front of his family’s lakeside home in the historically Black town of Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. Dinkins said the family lost two thirds of their property when Interstate 4 was built through the heart of town in the late 1950s, and his grandmother’s house had to be relocated nearby. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Students from Thomas Leadership Academy play on the school’s playground in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. “There are four things that have kept Eatonville: its faith, its family, its education and its civic pride,” said NY Nathiri, a third-generation Eatonville resident and founder of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Students from Thomas Leadership Academy play on the school’s playground in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. “There are four things that have kept Eatonville: its faith, its family, its education and its civic pride,” said NY Nathiri, a third-generation Eatonville resident and founder of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Church volunteer Abner Jackson Jr. places a box of donated groceries into the car of a visitor to the food pantry at The Life Center Church in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Church volunteer Abner Jackson Jr. places a box of donated groceries into the car of a visitor to the food pantry at The Life Center Church in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Jamari Baugh, 15, shoots a basketball past a friend as they play on a court next to a mural of author Zora Neale Hurston, who grew up in Eatonville and depicted a fictionalized version of the historic Black town in her work, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, at Elizabeth Park in Eatonville, Fla. Descendants of the community work to boost its economy and preserve the local heritage and culture, put on display at the town’s annual ZORA! Festival (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Jamari Baugh, 15, shoots a basketball past a friend as they play on a court next to a mural of author Zora Neale Hurston, who grew up in Eatonville and depicted a fictionalized version of the historic Black town in her work, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023, at Elizabeth Park in Eatonville, Fla. Descendants of the community work to boost its economy and preserve the local heritage and culture, put on display at the town’s annual ZORA! Festival (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
NY Nathiri, a third-generation town resident and founder of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, walks through the Moseley House Museum, the restored home of Matilda Clark Moseley, niece of town founder Joe Clark and best friend of author Zora Neale Hurston, in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
NY Nathiri, a third-generation town resident and founder of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, walks through the Moseley House Museum, the restored home of Matilda Clark Moseley, niece of town founder Joe Clark and best friend of author Zora Neale Hurston, in Eatonville, Fla., Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Cars drive down East Kennedy Boulevard through the heart of Eatonville, Fla., which incorporated in 1887 as one of the country’s first self-governing Black municipalities, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. “There are four things that have kept Eatonville: its faith, its family, its education and its civic pride,” said NY Nathiri, a third-generation Eatonville resident and founder of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
Cars drive down East Kennedy Boulevard through the heart of Eatonville, Fla., which incorporated in 1887 as one of the country’s first self-governing Black municipalities, Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2023. “There are four things that have kept Eatonville: its faith, its family, its education and its civic pride,” said NY Nathiri, a third-generation Eatonville resident and founder of the Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)
DAUFUSKIE ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Sallie Ann Robinson proudly stands in the front yard of her grandmother’s South Carolina home. The sixth-generation native of Daufuskie Island, a once-thriving Gullah community, remembers relatives hosting meals and imparting life lessons on the next generation.
“I was born in this very house, as many generations of family have been as well,” said Robinson, a chef and tour guide. “I was raised here. These woods was our playgrounds.”
Long dirt roads were once occupied by a bustling community that had its own bartering system and a lucrative oyster industry.
“There were at one point over a thousand people living on this island,” Robinson said. Now, she and several cousins are the only ones of Gullah descent who remain.
Historic Black communities like Daufuskie Island are dying, and descendants like Robinson are attempting to salvage what’s left of a quickly fading history.
“The towns are the authentic source or sources of much of our culture, our history, our physical expression of place,” said Everett Fly, a landscape architect who uncovered more than 1,800 Black historic settlements through his research.
Scholars define a historic Black community or town as a settlement founded by formerly enslaved people, usually between the late 19th- and early 20th-century. The enclaves often had their own churches, schools, stores and economic systems.
Fly and other researchers estimate there are fewer than 30 incorporated historic Black towns left in the United States, a fraction of more than 1,200 at the peak between the 1880s and 1915.
“The ones that do remain are extremely rare. They’re extremely important,” Fly said.
The eradication of these neighborhoods can be traced back to their creation when white supremacists terrorized Black people, destroying whole blocks of homes and businesses or driving them out of town, as seen with the Tulsa Race Massacre in 1921 and the Rosewood, Florida, massacre in 1923.
But in more recent times, the dwindling of Black strongholds is due in part to the culmination of amended ordinances, uneven tax rates, home devaluations, and political challenges that leave communities vulnerable to developers and rampant gentrification.
“Something as simple as, they change or they rezone areas,” said Elizabeth Clark-Lewis, the director of the public history program at Howard University. “People with political power can make determinations that will ring the death bell for these towns.”
“We’ve seen gated areas, golf courses and planned unit developments directly linked to increasing the taxes and displacement of native Gullah-Geechees throughout the coast,” said Marquetta Goodwine, known as Queen Quet, the leader of the Gullah-Geechee nation.
On St. Helena Island in South Carolina, massive banners dot driveways and sidewalks reading “Protect the culture, protect the history, protect the land.”
The governing Beaufort County council blocked a golf course on Gullah-Geechee land after the developer, Elvio Tropeano, requested to remove the 503-acre (204-hectare) plot from a zoning district on the island. The zoning district bans gated communities and resorts in locations considered culturally significant. Tropeano has since filed two legal actions against the county to appeal the decision, and is now considering building homes on the property.
A local group, Community Coalition Action Network, supports the plan to build a golf course on the unoccupied land. Co-founder Tade’ Oyeilumi said she was originally against it; then she went to a listening session.
“When I heard Mr. Tropeano speak about the development and what he wanted to do with the development, the purpose of the development and how that was going to contribute to the community that we live in, I was blown away,” Oyeilumi said.
She fears the housing plan that the developer is now considering will instead have jarring results.
“It’s going to change the infrastructure to our community. It’s going to bring in that gentrification factor that people are saying they don’t want, faster. The golf course, on the other hand, minimizes that,” Oyeilumi said.
Residents of Hogg Hummock, a tiny Gullah-Geechee community on Sapelo Island in Georgia, filed a lawsuit in October to halt a zoning law they say will raise taxes, forcing them to sell their homes. McIntosh County commissioners voted in September to double the size of houses allowed in the community, also known as Hog Hammock — a move locals believe will draw in wealthy outsiders who want to build vacation getaways. Only a few dozen Black residents still live in the enclave of modest homes along dirt roads.
“My ancestors were forced to work on that land, and then they fought for the right to have that land,” said 23-year-old Keara Skates, a descendant who spent her last birthday speaking against the zoning law alongside state legislators in Atlanta, the state capital. “Sapelo Island has historically never seen the level of growth that’s being proposed. Where does that leave the descendants?”
McIntosh County Commission Chairman David Stevens said the community’s landscape is changing because some native owners have sold their property.
“I don’t need anybody to lecture me on the culture of Sapelo Island,” Stevens said, adding: “If you don’t want these outsiders, if you don’t want these new homes being built ... don’t sell your land.”
Research by Brookings Institution fellow Andre Perry finds that homes in majority Black neighborhoods are appraised at significantly lower values than homes in neighborhoods where Black people are the minority. Perry says that developers can buy these homes at lower costs and sell them for a much higher price.
“A lot of people will call that a major tool of gentrification,” said Perry. “The people who live in those areas may be priced out ultimately, and then the companies or individuals who purchase those properties get profit as a result.”
Attorney Rukaiyah Adams runs a nonprofit called “Rebuild Albina” based in Portland, Oregon. The organization aims to educate, invest and restore homeownership to Black people in an area that used to be a thriving Black neighborhood.
“We cannot continue to extract and exploit to the breaking point,” said Adams. “We’re trying to create a new model for what that might look like, how we might live together.”
In Florida, one of the first incorporated self-governing Black municipalities in the U.S. was Eatonville, established in 1887. Located just 24 miles (39 kilometers) north of Disney World, the key challenge for present-day residents is the Orange County Public School Board, which owns 100 acres (40 hectares) of property in the middle of town.
The land was once home to Robert Hungerford Normal and Industrial School, established in 1897 as a school for Black children. In 1951, it was sold to Orange County Public Schools.
In March, a private developer interested in building commercial, office and residential units on the land terminated a sales contract with the district after protest from residents.
The school system said in a statement in March that it wouldn’t consider any further bids for the land. The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community has sued the school district to safeguard the land for educational purposes.
“There are four things that have kept Eatonville: its faith, its family, its education and its civic pride,” said NY Nathiri, a third-generation Eatonville resident and founder of the association.
Nathiri smiles as she reminisces about her idyllic childhood and her family’s history in the town — from her grandfather moving there at the beginning of the Great Depression, to her aunts’ close relationship with author Zora Neale Hurston.
Descendants of the community work to boost its economy and preserve the local heritage and culture, put on display at the town’s annual ZORA! Festival.
“As long as you know your story, you know how to tell your story, and you are welcoming to people, they are going to spend money with you,” said Nathiri.
Back on Daufuskie Island, Robinson is working to restore 10 empty homes that used to be filled with her extended family. Her biggest challenge is finding people to help her write grants to help fund the restoration of her community.
“I’m not asking people to go out of pocket. I’ll just say help me understand the other methods of getting funds that are out there for you,” said Robinson.
Down the street from her grandmother’s house, Robinson walks through Mary Field Cemetery where many of her relatives are buried and remembers what’s possible.
“There goes my baby sister, my cousin Marvin. This is my great-grandfather,” Robinson said while pointing at headstones nestled between tall grass. “If something looked impossible, it wasn’t. They didn’t live like that. If it could be done, they made a way.”