About Us

About Us

In 2010, the Jacksonville Gullah Geechee Nation Community Development Corporation (JGGNCDC) was established as a 501(c)(3) organization in Jacksonville, Florida. With Jacksonville being the largest city at the southernmost point of the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor (which extends as far north as Wilmington, NC), JGGNCDC was compelled to preserve and disseminate information on the history and culture of the Gullah/Geechee people to the surrounding communities.

The Gullah/Geechee people are descendants of enslaved Africans from various ethnic groups of west and central Africa. Brought to the New World and forced to work on the plantations of coastal South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina and Florida, Gullah/Geechee people have retained many aspects of their African heritage due to the geographic barriers of the coastal landscape and the strong sense of place and family of Gullah/Geechee community members.  People who identify as Gullah or Geechee represent the many ways that Africans in the Americas have held on to and amalgamated the traditions of Africa with the cultures they encountered both during and after enslavement.