Brigadier General James Monroe Williams

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Marquetta L. Goodwine is a non-sovereign, elected monarch who serves as Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah Geechee Nation.[2][1] She is an author, preservationist, and performance artist.

Biography

Goodwine was a native of St. Helena Island, South Carolina. She attended Fordham College at Lincoln Center and double majored in computer science and mathematics.[5] In 1996 she left Fordham and founded of the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition.[5][6] In 1999 she became the first Gullah to speak before the United Nations, giving testimony at an April 1 hearing of the Commission on Human Rights in Switzerland.[7] She participated in the United Nations Forum on Minority Rights which was first established in 2008. At the forum, Queen Quet recorded the human rights struggle of the Gullah/Geechee people for archival by the United Nations.[8]

On 2 July 2002, Goodwine was elected and enstooled as "Queen Quet, chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation."[5][9] Goodwine also serves as the Chair of the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor General Management Plan and Expert Commissioner for South Carolina. She is a member of the 15-person commission established by the United States Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Act which was passed by the United States Congress.

Goodwine is a public advocate for the Gullah/Geechee Sea Islands in the face of increasing storm damage resulting from the climate crisis[10] as well as ongoing flooding due to overdevelopment and poor infrastructure maintenance.[11] Her work includes advocating and the preservation of Gullah/Geechee cultural traditions and resources that are threatened due to gentrification and climate change.[12]

Goodwine served as a consultant for the 2000 Mel Gibson film The Patriot, which featured scenes set on the South Carolina coast of the Gullah/Geechee Nation. She has been an advisor to several historic documentaries, including This Far by Faith: The African American Religious Experience, The Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Slavery and the Making of America, Reconstruction: The Second Civil War, and The Will to Survive: The Story of the Gullah/Geechee Nation. She also lectures throughout the world.

She is the founder of a historic presentation troupe "De Gullah Cunneckshun," which has recorded several CDs and been featured on films and film soundtracks.[13][14]

In 2022, she was awarded the Order of the Palmetto by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, who has sought to preserve the Gullah culture in the state.[15]

Books

  • Goodwine, Marquetta L. (1995). "St. Helena's Serenity." Gullah/Geechee: The Survival of Africa's Seed in the Winds of the Diaspora series v. 1. Brooklyn, NY: Kinship Publications.
  • Goodwine, Marquetta L. (1997). Gawd dun smile pun we: Beaufort Isles. Gullah/Geechee the Survival of Africa's Seed in the Winds of the Diaspora series, v. 2. Brooklyn, New York: Kinship Publications.
  • Goodwine, Marquetta L. (1999). Frum wi soul tuh de soil: The Cash Crops of the Sea Islands. Gullah/Geechee Africa's Seed in the Winds of the Diaspora series, v. 3. Brooklyn, New York: Kinship Publications.
  • Goodwine, Marquetta L., and & the Clarity Press Gullah Project, eds (1998). The Legacy of Ibo Landing: Gullah Roots of African American Culture. Atlanta, Georgia: Clarity Press.
  • Goodwine, Marquetta L., and Ronald Goodwine (1994). Brother and Sister... Heart to Heart (1994). Brooklyn, New York: Extended Kinship Appeal, Inc.
  • Goodwine, Marquetta L. (2005). "365-66." Gullah/Geechee: The Survival of Africa's Seed in the Winds of the Diaspora series v. 4. St. Helena Island, SC: Kinship Publications.
  • Goodwine, Marquetta L. (2006). "Chas'tun an e Islandts." Gullah/Geechee: The Survival of Africa's Seed in the Winds of the Diaspora series v. 1. Brooklyn, NY: Kinship Publications.
  • Goodwine, Ronald "Kuumba", and Marquetta L. "Queen Quet" Goodwine (2004). T'inkin' 'bout Famlee: A Geechee Down Novella. St. Helena, South Carolina: Kinship Publications.
  • Goodwine, Marquetta L. (2013). "Love's Sea Island Song" St. Helena Island, SC: Kinship Publications.

References

  1. ^ a b c McMaster, Henry. "2023 State of the State Address". governor.sc.gov. Governor of South Carolina. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Gullah/Geechee Nation Constitution Preamble" (PDF). epa.gov. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  3. ^ "Queen Quet Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation" (PDF). www.congress.gov. United States Congress. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  4. ^ Curry, Lenny. "PROCLOMATION". jacksonville.gov. City of Jacksonville. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  5. ^ a b c Gosier, Chris (18 December 2020). "Marquetta L. Goodwine fights to preserve the culture of the Gullah/Geechee people and counteract the impact of climate change on their way of life". news.fordham.edu. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  6. ^ Hargrove, Melissa (2007). "Will 'The Fools' Always Live off the 'Damn Fools'? The Politics of 'Lowcountry' Tourism". Practicing Anthropology. 29 (3): 43–46. doi:10.17730/praa.29.3.d774548713701l21. ISSN 0888-4552. JSTOR 24782398.
  7. ^ "The Gullah Queen". African Soul. Archived from the original on 2001-04-05. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  8. ^ "Queen Quet". Smithsonian Conservation Commons. 2020. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  9. ^ Finney, Carolyn (2014). Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors. University of North Carolina Press. p. 101. ISBN 9781469614496.
  10. ^ Milman, Oliver (2019-10-23). "Gullah Geechee: distinct US culture risks losing island home to climate crisis". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-07-24.
  11. ^ Voices, I. ❤ Climate (2020-06-23). "Survivors Recount Harrowing Battles Against Flooding". Medium. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  12. ^ Griner, Allison. "The Gullah Geechee's fight against 'cultural genocide'". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 2020-07-25.
  13. ^ Sarah Welch, Sarah; Cook, Issac (1 November 2011). "Guilford experiences De Gullah Cunneckshun". The Guilford. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  14. ^ "De Gullah Cunneckshun". Gullah/Geechee Nation. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  15. ^ "Gullah/Geechee Nation". gullahgeecheenation.com. 28 July 2022. Retrieved 19 June 2023.

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