Help SICARS Save Sapelo Geechee Land & Culture

Hello - we are SICARS (Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society), a community based non profit 501 c3 committed to the preservation of the Geechee culture, land, and community on Sapelo Island Georgia.

We humbly ask for your support in reaching our goal to raise $400,000, which will enable us to match the first refusal clause to save an important and significant property in the Hog Hummock Community of Sapelo Island, GA - as described in greater detail below.

 

We are talking about a people who are literally alone on an island.  Though the Geechee Community of Hog Hummock is surrounded by a number of different entities from the county and state, historically they have to fight these battles alone and with little to no resources. Sapelo Island is populated by the last intact Geechee community of Hog Hummock on the eastern seaboard.  The residents of Hog Hummock are the direct descendants of Africans that were enslaved and survived the Middles Passage to the Caribbean and Americas since the early 18th Century.  They literally walk and live on the same ground that their ancestors were enslaved and survived on. The very dirt can tell the stories of their people from centuries past to present.

Today the community faces many threats; but none more important than the land itself.  The one thing that holds their stories and means more than any other possession.  The land.  The land holds their stories and their people; but most of all it is the essence of what is central to the sustainability of the community itself physically and historically.  The Hog Hummock Community was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.  It is recognized by the National Park Service as “the only intact, viable, historic African American settlement remaining on a Georgia coastal island…with preserved cultural traditions, variations of the Geechee language, and other aspects of life that grew out of the slave and African heritage," (Pg. 6 - National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, 1996).

The Geechee folklore and way of life is connected to the land; connected to the very dirt under our feet. It is incumbent upon all of us to help support keeping land in the hands of the people. For every piece that slips away there is a little piece of the culture that we will never get back.   This is what’s at stake here.   The existence of a community; of a people.   Of the last intact Geechee community on a coastal Georgia island.

There is opportunity for us to help save a particular parcel of land.  This land descended from the family of former matriarch of the community Cornelia Walker Bailey.  It came from her father; Mr. Hicks Walker.  In other words; this land comes from one of the most significant historical and cultural family legacies on Sapelo Island.  Our hope is that with your help we will be able to preserve and protect this piece of property by saving it from falling into non-descendant hands.  That we can find a way to keep it within the community by supporting the community nonprofit Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society in purchasing the land by meeting it's Right of First Refusal in the original deed contract.  We hope that if you are able to help support us by saving this property that we can begin on a journey to fundraise and save others.   The people and Geechee culture are connected to the land just as much as the land is connected to the Geechee people.   The loss of this property would diminish both the cultural and historical significance of a community that is already fighting the tide of development.  We humbly ask for your support in our quest to save what we have left to preserve a culture that is at risk every day.

Our hope is that we will exceed our fundraising needs. In the case of any additional funding that is raised we want donors to know that the funds will be put to significant use to deter land loss.  SICARS will take the following specific and targeted steps with the funds:

 

1) the purchase of other properties made available through First Right of Refusal;

2) offer assistance to descendants of enslaved people on Sapelo Island, GA, with payments of property back taxes and legal expenses in land litigation to help retain their land in the Hog Hummock & other communities

3) create a project-based community program so that community members who are descendants can apply for funds with projects related to home repair assistance

4) capacity building and minor office and community building repair as needed

 

There are truly no words how important this fundraiser is.  It can literally help to not only preserve the very history of the community, but also help to prevent land loss.  You see; every piece of land that is lost from the community more than likely becomes a piece of developed land that not only affects the environmental ecosystem of the island from sea life, to access to waterways, to worsening sea level rise.  But land loss also significantly inhibits the ability of other original descendants to hold on to their own family lands. When land is lost it opens the door to rising property taxes.  This can be from the development and building of properties outside of historical code to simply significantly larger homes.  So, the property taxes of those that have lived on the island begin to face the prospects of land loss because their income can’t keep up with rising taxes.  Keep in mind that many Geechee residents are seniors and wouldn’t be able to afford significant rises in property taxes.  Part of these additional funds would be used to help residents to pay any back taxes to prevent the possibility of more land loss.

 

We realize that this is a significant goal, but we come to you with the determination and resilience of our ancestors long gone from this place physically, but with us to this day in spirit.  It is because of their determination.  It is because of their resilience.  It is because of them that we humbly ask you to support us on this continued quest to protect our land, our homes, our people, our history, and our legacy.  We are the Saltwater Geechee people of Sapelo Island.  And we’re still here.  We ask that you help us to make sure we can always occupy this space that is rightfully our home.  Hopefully our presence can help to liberate and support other communities that face the same challenges as we do.

Thank you for every dollar that you decide to give.  There is no gift too large or too small for the monumental task that lies in front of us.  But we are grateful that we are not on this journey alone.  We have allies.  We have you. So please share our GoFundMe with colleagues, friends, and family that you believe may be able to support us in this quest.

 

Thanks in advance for your support!

 

SICARS