How Two Activists From Atlanta Are Helping Preserve the Traditions of a Remote Georgia Island

Preparing for the Culture Day Festival was an experience that left Weeks and Thompson asking what else they could do to help the people of Hog Hammock. “Growing up in Atlanta and then experiencing a Black community on Sapelo, we saw similarities in [how our communities were] disadvantaged: food, access to health care, transportation,” said Thompson. “But we also recognized our places of privilege, being at Davidson and the resources that meant we had access to. We thought about what it meant for us, young black people, to assume these spaces that aren’t meant for us and to redirect those resources back to our communities in the best way possible.”

A few days after Weeks and Thompson left the island, Hog Hammock suffered another loss.

Cornelia Walker Bailey, widely known as the matriarch of the community, passed away on October 15, 2017. She was an author, historian, and preservation advocate, representing the last of the Gullah Geechee descendants to be born, raised, and educated on Sapelo Island. In 1993, she helped found Sapelo Island Cultural and Revitalization Society (SICARS) with the mission of preserving and revitalizing Hog Hammock.

Culture Day Festival was canceled so the island could mourn. As the Hog Hammock community reeled from her passing, Cornelia’s son, Maurice Bailey stepped in to preserve his mother’s legacy—with help from Weeks and Thompson. “If we don’t take interest in preserving something that we love, nobody else will,” said Maurice, who also grew up on the island, but left for school. He recalls seeing how the gentrification of Sapelo Island and the increasing lack of jobs caused the population to drop. According to him, there are now only 30 African descendants living in Hog Hammock. “If we not careful, we’re going to be erased,” he added. “We already know our history was not told correctly.”

It had been Cornelia’s dream to reintroduce an heirloom crop to Sapelo, using it—along with the story of the Gullah Geechee people—to raise awareness of the island and its plight. After she passed away, Maurice partnered with the University of Georgia, continuing the relationship his mother built there and hoping to bring that dream to fruition.