Gullah Geechee in the Economist and the Super Bowl Pandas

This week’s Economist reports on the ratio of golf courses to Gullah / Geechee preservation along the Georgia and South Carolina coast.

Briefly, Gullah is a culture unique to the lowlands and barrier islands of South Carolina. Geechee is more or less the same thing, but in Georgia. Due to its relative isolation, the Gullah / Geechee culture is the “most” African in North America.

Their way of life is and has been under threat from development for quite some time.

Anyway, one of Joel Chandler Harris‘ characters, Daddy Jack, is Gullah.

He’s significant because his dialect is faithful to the Gullah dialect and completely different from that of Uncle Remus, who is from middle Georgia.

At the time of publication, Uncle Remus and Daddy Jack were seen as refreshing changes of pace from the typical and offensive portrayal of blacks so common in the 19th century. The sensitivity devoted to their dialect is pretty remarkable.

These days though, it’s easy to lump them all together.

For example, yesterday evening, the editorial board of the New York Times likened the offenses of “worst commercial of the Super Bowl” to that of Uncle Remus.

It’s not like Harris drew a couple of pandas and gave them ching chong accents to shill for whatever it is they’re selling. Nor did Disney’s Song of the South do anything to Uncle Remus like Salesgenie did to these pandas.

Am I saying we should be seeing Uncle Remus commercials at the Super Bowl? Well no, of course not.

And I see the guy’s point in mentioning Uncle Remus, kinda. But in my mind, Uncle Remus was exactly what the pandas aren’t. Thus, no need to bring it up.