du Maurier Downtown Jazz Festival w/ Mavis Staples, Maceo Parker, and more, June/July 1996
Various Toronto venues, Call Ticketmaster (416) 872-1111

Lesbian Pride Dance 1996, June 30, 1996
Multicultural Womyn In Concert fundraiser for Camp SIS
benefiting children and women w/ DJs Vashti, Amita and Sherry
58 Cecil St (E. of Spadina, S. of College, (416) 963-9946

Alpha Yaya Diallo, July 1, 1996
part of Heineken Canada Day celebrations
York Quay Centre, 235 Queen's Quay West, (416) 973-3000

Afrofest, July 4 to July 7, 1996
with JP Buse and the Toronto All-Stars (inc. Tariq Abubakar),
Majek Fashek, Jamo, Geoffrey Oryema, Lizzy Mahashe and more
The Bamboo and Queen's Park, (416) 504-6868

Burning Spear and the Burning Band , July 7, 1996
with Canadian JUNO Award nominees Lazo and Fujahtive,
The Government (formerly RPM Warehouse), (416) 870-8000

Cypress Hill, August 11, 1996
with the Fugees, D'Angelo, Ziggy Marley, Spearhead, and Bass Is Base
Kingswood, (905) 832-8131 or (416) 870-8000

Harry Belafonte, October 11, 1996
Roy Thomson Hall, (416) 872-4255

Al Green, November 22, 1996
Roy Thomson Hall, (416) 872-4255

Reel Caribe & Black Images,
a Black & Pan-Caribbean Festival of Film and Video,
July 18 to August 11,1996 Toronto, Canada.
Contact Multicultural Research ACTION Committee, (416) 593-7650.

Two of a Kind - An Evening with Richardo Keens-Douglas and Paul Keens-Douglas, July 27, 1996
presented by the Caribbean Community Resource Centre (CCRC)
& ckln 88.1 fmat Bickford Centre, Toronto.
For more info (416) 531-3414 or (416) 977-0605.


Lillian Allen, June 23, 1996
performs at the Womenfolk Festival, a celebration
by, for and about women, Sauble Beach, Ontario,
Ticketmaster (416) 870-8000 or (905) 526-6000

1996 Black Women's Conference, June 21 to June 23, 1996
organized by Reclaiming The Sisterhood
volunteers needed to help with childcare and registration
York University, 4700 Keele St, (416) 618-2717


New Kenya Network Benefit, June 28, 1996
featuring Toronto's African sound, Kenyan band Tikisa
St. Christopher House, 248 Ossington Ave, (416) 861-0919


Caribana 1996, July 18 to August 5, 1996
including Junior Carnival Parade, cruises, King & Queen Bands
Competition, dances, The Caribana Parade and parties
Various Toronto venues, (416) 465-3811

Welcome to NetCal! ... check out events happening in other parts of the world and maybe even add a few yourself!

The Word on the Web ... the Net sister of Toronto's Black Culture magazine. To receive a copy of their mag call (416) 588-9673

The Hog Hammock Community Gullah Festival takes place each year on Sapelo Island just off the coast of Georgia, near the Florda border. The festival is a popular annual event which now takes place on the third weekend in September. The festival draws visitors from across the US. Against the romantic island setting and beautiful ocean beaches, visitors from across Georgia, other states and countries enjoy traditional Gullah cooking, crafts, historical tours, storytelling and musical performances.

Who Are Gullah People?

Gullah people originate on the Sea Islands off the coast of North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia, USA. Gullah people and their mainland cousins Geechee people are descendants of Africans once enslaved as plantation workers on the Sea Islands and in other parts of the Caribbean and USA.

Sapelo Island - Historical Points

Pre-1500's - Sapelo is a favourite hunting ground for Native peoples

Early 1500's - First Europeans arrive

1570-1686 - Franciscan Spanish mission, Zapala - a Native word, established. (The name Sapelo derived from this by British)

1760 - English buy Sapelo from Native Princess known as Mary Musgrove

1760-1802 - Sapelo owned by various British and French planters

1802-62 - Thomas Spalding buys Sapelo. Begins Ante-Bellum Plantation period with extensive Sea Island cotton and sugar operations. Spalding established Sapelo's first African slave homestead, Behaviour Community in 1803. During this time Spalding buys Muslim agriculturalist Belali Mohamed and his family from Bahamas. Spalding dies in 1851. Conservative estimates suggest that Spalding's family owned as many as 400 slaves at one time.

1869-95 - Spalding family expand agriculture and cattle farming on Sapelo

1912 - Howard Coffin, auto company executive, buys Sapelo and begins dairy and commercial fishing industries

1934 - Richard J. Reynolds, tobacco tycoon, buys Sapelo

1950 - Sapelo Island Research Foundation founded by Reynolds. During the 1950's Reynolds encouraged Sapelo's African descendants to move into Hog Hammock community. Prior to this they lived at Raccon Bluff, Lumber Landing, Bell Marsh, and Shell Hammock.

1954 - Marine Institute opens on Sapelo

1969 - State of Georgia buys north 3/4 of Sapelo as Reynolds Wildlife Refuge; 1976 State buys South End property

1975 - Hog Hammock Community Foundation established by local community

Gullah Arts and Crafts

Fanna or Sweet Grass Baskets - for fanning rice
Grass Dolls - for children
Red Grass Brooms - sweeping floors
Bateau - handmade wooden boats
Hand-Carved Wood Mortar and Pestles
Downfall - a trap for catching small animals
Jack Jumper - for catching birds
Box Trap - for catching small animals
Castnet - for catching fish

Sapelo Island Today

In 1863 slavery was abolished in the United States. Sapelo Island today is the home of a handful of people, including about 69 Black folks living in Hog Hammock Community. They are struggling to preserve and re-vitalize their African culture, heritage and property rights. Recent developments include: a co-operative clam farm; restoring Black artifacts and buildings; marketing locally made arts and crafts; encouraging young Gullah families to return to Hog Hammock Community; establishing new businesses like providing modest vacation spots and historical tours for visitors.
COMPACT

Sources & Contacts

For lodging and craft info on Sapelo Island

Cornelia Bailey - lodgings, tours storyteller and craftperson (912) 485-2206
Nancy Banks, lodgings, tours (912) 485-2212
Stanley Walker - tours, storyteller, netbuilder, artist (912) 485-2257
Stanley Walker also owns a small campground open year-round

Reading Material and Audio-Visual Resources

Early Days on the Georgia Tidewater by Buddy Sullivan

Drums and Shadows by The Georgia Writers' Project;
published by the University of Georgia

Daughters of the Dust, a popular dramatic film by Julie Dash, based on the history of Gullah people ans set at the turn of the 20th century

Family Across the Sea, a short documentary which compares culture and linguistic similarities and differences of Gullah, contemporary West African and Caribbean peoples, originally aired on PBS.

Sapelo Island Coastal Georgia Barrier Island Retreat ... info about the Gullah community of Hog Hammock located on Sapelo Island just off the Georgia coast
.