Gullah Geechee Herbal Medicine Traditions Preserved by Modern Teachers
The Gullah Geechee people, descendants of West and Central Africans enslaved on coastal plantations of the American South, maintain a distinct cultural heritage that encompasses language, foodways, spiritual traditions, and ancestral healing practices. Among these traditions are herbalism and Hoodoo healing, which combine African botanical knowledge systems with Indigenous American and European influences.
Traditional Gullah Geechee healing practices, often conducted by herbalists referred to as root workers, historically integrated botanical knowledge with spiritual elements, including symbolic rituals and community-oriented practices. Developed partly out of necessity due to historically restricted access to institutional healthcare, these methods rely on regional flora. Plants traditionally utilized in these practices include sweetgrass, mugwort, and sassafras.
Contemporary cultural educators and practitioners, such as South Carolina herbalist Angela Jenkins, work to preserve these botanical traditions through workshops, youth education, and community outreach. Preservation efforts face challenges, including coastal development, urbanization, and environmental degradation affecting the native habitats of traditional plants, alongside cultural misconceptions regarding Hoodoo traditions.
Today, the study and documentation of Gullah Geechee ethnobotany serve as both cultural preservation and historical reclamation within African diasporic traditions.