Women’s History Highlights
Louise Cohen
Since childhood, Louise Cohen learned all Gullah heritage had to offer from her family. She learned of tradition, music, food, and most importantly, community. She grew up knowing she had been chosen by a higher power to continue the beauty of the Gullah Culture, and since then she has done just that. Ms. Cohen is currently a museum curator in “The Little House,” a small wooden home that was constructed in the 1930s by Georgianna Jones Bryan for her brother. Restored in 2010, it serves as the Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island. Ms Cohen has had many achievements in her career, In 2010, she was awarded the Governor’s Award from the South Carolina Palmetto Trust and in 2018, she was one of 11 notable Palmetto State residents featured in the South Carolina African American History Calendar.
Sallie Ann Robinson
Sallie Ann is a sixth generation native of Daufuskie Island. She loves her heritage, home, and people. She grew up learning the ways of the Gullah traditions, especially in the kitchen! To her, the Gullah people represent a community of bonded folks that worked for what they had, held their family close, and respected all. To this day, she honors what her ancestors stood for by carrying on one of the most important stepping stones of heritage; food and recipes. She has several cookbooks available at Binya!
Queen Quet
Queen Quet is a published author, computer scientist, and lecturer. Among her many achievements and strengths, she is the founder of the premiere advocacy organization for the continuation of Gullah/Geechee culture. Queen Quet is honored in the Gullah culture and has stood to be an integral spokeswoman. She was chosen by her people to be the “Queen Mother” of the Gullah people. In 2021, Governor Henry McMaster presented Queen Quet with the highest honor, Order of the Palmetto Award. This award is the greatest achievement for someone in South Carolina, and is all because of the tremendous work she has done and continues to do, for the Gullah people and their heritage.
Susie King Taylor
Susie King Taylor was an important part of history, not just because she was the first educated African American woman nurse in the civil war, but because she helped to pave the road for so many to come after her. She attended two secret schools that were taught by black women, and her mind, literacy, and willingness to learn would drive her into helping the other African Americans during the war. Susie King Taylor never gave up helping people, and during her last working years she worked with the Woman’s Relief Corps, an organization dedicated to helping female Civil War Veterans. Her memoir was one of the first honest accounts of the Civil War from a Black person’s perspective.
Mary Jackson
Mary Jackson is an artist who creates and teaches others how to weave beautiful handmade sweetgrass baskets. As a descendant of traditional Gullah basket weavers, Ms Jackson uses what she knows about the tradition to reach new and improved contemporary heights. She has managed to keep this longstanding tradition of the Gullah people alive, and continues to gain recognition from it as well. She was awarded a MacArthur Foundation fellowship in 2008 for her designs, and she was awarded in 2010, the National Heritage Fellowship. Mary Jackson started weaving baskets at just the age of four. Taught by her mother and grandmother, she sought to keep this tradition alive after she heard from her loved ones that it was dying off. Ms Jackson, and all her efforts within the Charleston Community Center, has kept sweetgrass basket weaving alive!
Septima Poinsette Clark
Septima Poinsette Clark was an African American educator and civil rights activist. She was a driving force behind civil rights and voting rights for African American people. Martin Luther King Jr., referred to her as “ The Mother of the Movement.” After graduating high school, Clark was unable to afford college. She decided to take an exam at age 18 to allow her to educate. South Carolina did not let her fulfill her teaching job due to her color, but she was able to find one on John’s Island. During this position, Clark uncovered pay discrepancies between the African American school she taught at, and the white school close by. She sought to fix the wage gap by taking part in pay equalization. This is what started her movement in civil rights.
Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor
Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor was born into a Gullah family and spoke Gullah growing up. Vertamae Smart had many accomplishments throughout her life such as; poet, food writer, and a broadcaster. She also performed on Broadway and was active in the Black Arts Movement. She was born as a premature baby and her twin brother died in birth. Her family was kept close to her, as is standard in Gullah Culture. The traditions of Lowcountry cuisine were also kept close. Vertamae Smart would experiment with food . Though her family had close to nothing, her mother never complained. Due to her love for experimenting with food, she began writing her own cookbooks, which took inspiration from her grandmother’s oysters, and other memories she had growing up in later books.