Harvard University Teaching Fellow and Charleston native, Sunn m’Chaeux, the “Gullah Teacha,” will give a presentation at 6 p.m. Thursday on the Gullah language at the historic Penn Center’s Frissell Community House on St. Helena Island.
The second of two community presentations offered by Mr. m’Cheaux, the event is especially designed for community members, teachers, and Gullah Geechee folk.
The Gullah language is the only distinctly African creole language in the United States. Gullah began as a simplified form of communication among people of different languages including European and diverse African ethnic groups.
The cost of admission at is $15 for adults, $10 for teachers and $5 for students, ages 8-21.
While in residence, Mr. m’Cheaux will engage in a private Gullah class with area youth participating in Penn Center’s Summer Enrichment Camp. Camp teachers, counselors and students are extremely excited to discover more about their our Gullah language. Penn Center believes that this opportunity will empower the youth to appreciate their own language.
Penn Center is delighted to present these opportunities to the community, to discover and learn more about the Gullah Geechee people. For 157 years, Penn Center has been an epicenter of African American education, historic and cultural preservation, and social justice, for tens of thousands of descendants of formerly enslaved West and Central Africans living in the Sea Islands, known as the Gullah Geechee people. The Gullah people are remarkable for being the African American community that has preserved more of its African cultural heritage than any other.
For more information about Penn Center’s programs visit www.penncenter.com, call 843-838-8554 or email info@penncenter.com.
