The Last Gullah Sermon?
Photo Credit: The Guardian, Tom Silverstone
Queen Chapel is a historic African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church that was founded in 1865. It sits on the north end of Hilton Head Island, with its back up against the airport. The sound of aircraft engines can be heard in the distance along with Pastor Alston, the longest serving preacher in the congregations history, preaching the gospel.
Pastor Alston has been at Queen Chapel AME for over 30 years. He speaks often in the Gullah language and reads from “De Nyew Testament”, the New Testament that was translated into Gullah by Emory Campbell and a committee of others for 26 years, between 1979 and 2005. To date, De Nyew Testament has sold over 47,000 copies and was used to swear in the SC congressman, Jim Clyburn, as US House majority whip. Clyburn’s late wife had Gullah ancestry and he has been an advocate in Washington DC for Gullah cultural preservation.
Under AME laws, Pastor Alston (age 75) will retire later this year leaving the future unknown if anyone will be able to carry out the tradition of reading and speaking from De Nyew Testament in Gullah. Pastor Alston is believed to be the last remaining Pastor who speaks and reads Gullah in the 475-mile the Gullah-Geechee corridor.
Photo Credit: The Guardian, Tom Silverstone
As quoted in an article in The Guardian, “If the person who replaces me [is] not able to speak or read the scriptures in Gullah, there’s a gap and a loss for the culture of the island,” Pastor Alston, said after the service. “Reading it is a matter of history, of embracing our culture.” Linguists now list Gullah language as endangered.
The Gullah community on Hilton Head Island, once thought to be as many as 40,000 strong, is now estimated to be at around 1,500 people. The community has been steadily declining as Hilton Head Island has undergone gentrification, land seizures, and even climate change, according to one article on MSNBC News.
If you have followed Binya for some time, you know that part of the mission of Binya is to educate all people about the Gullah culture and preserve it for future generations. We find the impending retirement of Pastor Alston and potential loss of the Gullah language at Sunday service particularly heavy. It’s our hope with Binya’s efforts that we will find a way for continued speaking of Gullah language and use of it in churches and our community.
Lola Campbell, at Queen Chapel AME on Hilton Head listens to Pastor Alston. Photo Credit: The Guardian, Tom Silverstone
For more detail, refer to the article written in The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/news/article/2024/aug/03/gullah-gospel-readings-bible-language