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In 1862, while the American civil war spread across the country, formerly enslaved people on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina were imagining a new future and envisioning new possibilities. They began organizing themselves and eventually created the first self-governed, autonomous city for freed people. It was called Mitchelville, named for the Union army Maj Gen Ormsby Mitchel, who led what would become known as the Port Royal Experiment, a model for how the country might transition away from slavery that served as a precursor to the Reconstruction period.
The freed people, who would come to be known as the Gullah Geechee, built their own homes, elected their own officials, created their own economy and, for the first time in US history, mandated education for their children. Each individual made their own decisions, from what they would wear, to whom they would see, to where they would go – decisions that they were prevented from making when they were kept in bondage.
The Spirit We Move With, a new documentary set on Hilton Head Island, explores the story of the historic Mitchelville and its connection to Gullah Geechee descendants today. The film underscores the notion that Gullah Geechee people don’t just have a past; they are also the pioneers of their future. While their history is a central theme of the film, the Gullah people and families who are featured in the short ensure that viewers come away understanding their resiliency and their continued impact on the island they have called home for generations.
The short, directed by Andrew Maguire and executive-produced by Lola Campbell, who is also featured in the film, was developed by the island’s Gullah community and made in partnership with the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton chamber of commerce. After premiering in early February at Mitchelville Freedom Park, the film will be shown in festivals, including the Rapport festival in Brixton, London, on 28 March.
For Campbell, a sixth-generation Hilton Head native islander whose family traces its ancestry back to an enslaved person who was brought to the island around 1820, the documentary is valuable to outsiders and to Gullah Geechee people themselves. Ancestors understood the importance of storytelling, and now their descendants must continue on the tradition. “It started there: let’s get some stories of people,” Campbell said. “We won’t always have everyone around, so we want to capture as many stories as possible. And then it kind of weaved its way into an overall story of resilience.”
Through stories of family, food and land, the film explores specific Gullah Geechee traditions on Hilton Head Island. “Capturing stories and making sure that the culture remains and that people know that it is still here and thriving, but also get a backstory of where it started, is important for me,” Campbell said. These communities can sometimes be forced into an awkward position: outsiders are keenly interested in their history, but that interest comes at the expense of acknowledging that they are a living, continuously developing people.
Further, outsiders have threatened Gullah Geechee people’s ways of living. Many Gullah people have been forced to assimilate by speaking English over preserving their own language, and some have also been persecuted for selling palmetto roses, a traditional Gullah art form. Gullah Geechee people have had to fight to preserve lands their families have occupied for generations as developers encroach.
That notion is especially tangible on Hilton Head, where Gullah Geechee land loss is particularly prominent: in 1880, Hilton Head Island was about 98% Black; today it is about 77% white. Since 1995, Gullah Geechee land ownership on the island has decreased by about 70%.
Maguire, who is not a descendant, brought a “respect and sensitivity” to his coverage of the community, Campbell said. “There was definitely a huge responsibility put on me,” Campbell said. “I started with a blessing from that group of what the overall theme of this could be.”
Instead of using a large crew, Maguire and an assistant served as the camera people. That allowed for intimacy to easily be fostered. “We basically filmed a Sunday family dinner and I got to be right in the middle of it,” Maguire said. “I had chills the whole time. It was so special and such a unique experience that I’ll take with me for ever.”
He added: “This family was so open to me just being in their living room with a camera. I thought it really speaks to the film as a whole. It speaks to the way the community approached the film, their acceptance, of wanting to tell their story.”
Ensuring members of the community of all ages know their history is a key theme of the documentary, and a function of the project itself. “Storytelling is one of the most important parts of preservation for our culture,” Campbell said. “It’s the way that we pass down from generation to generation. It does come through in the film because that is the only way that our culture can really sustain or survive, and that’s exactly what we’re doing.”
She continued: “We’re still here. We are surviving. We may look a little bit different than before, but we continue to pass those overarching themes, the significant things that describe our culture. We pass those on.”
