Lessons Learned from the Gullah Experience: Powerful Forces in Educating African-American Youth

The authors have extracted some vital information from the years African-Americans spent in bondage. From that information, they present powerful suggestions designed to improve the human condition for us all, and to assist parents and

teachers in elevating the achievement levels of African-American youth from mediocrity to excellence.

Thomas J. Brown, Executive Director of Brown & Associates - Educational Consultants, specializes in helping teachers liberate learning potential of the poor and children of color. He began his teaching career in Baltimores public schools in 1960. After ten years of teaching at the elementary school level, he received a one-year fellowship funded by the Rockefeller Foundation and designed specifically to enhance opportunities for minorities to enter school administration. His major area of focus dur- ing that fellowship, a focus that continues today, was to identify or devise more effective teaching strategies for use with those students who, historically, have benefited least from schooling. After accepting an elementary school principalship in Howard County, Maryland in 1973, he went on to serve as the administrative head and instructional leader for five schools in that system. Tom has written several resource books for parents and teachers. This joint effort with Kitty Green is a continuation of the work begun in 1970.

Kitty Green began her campaign to tell the Gullah story in 1988 when she became one of the founders of Gullah Festival USA, an annual event held in Beaufort, SC. In 1991, she created on St. Helena Island, the now famous Gullah House Restaurant which expresses and celebrates the Gullah heritage through food and ambiance. In 1993 she established Gullah-N-Geechie Mahn Tours which offers historical tours of the island that focus on the Gullah experience. Kitty still resides on St. Helena Island and is actively involved in education, economic development, and the preservation of the islands history.