Family history, ancestry and tracing the path of relatives from generations past is a passion for Fayth Parks.
Fayth Parks’ passion for cultural traditions and genealogy has led her to extensive studies of the Southeast’s coastal Gullah and Geechee families who are descended from African slaves.
The self-described “kindred spirit” has devoted the past 10 years to meticulous genealogical research and exploration of the Gullah and Geechee communities, a fading culture of the lowcountry and Sea Islands that stretches along the southeastern coast from North Carolina’s Cape Fear River to Florida’s St. John’s River.
The psychologist and professor of counselor education was raised in Atlantic City, N.J. Her family originates from the Greenville and Laurens areas of South Carolina. Parks’ extended family moved up north to pursue greater economic opportunities, and she lived with her great-aunt and uncle during a portion of her childhood. Even though she was from New Jersey, a small slice of South Carolina was a big part of her genteel Southern upbringing when she experienced generations of family traditions.
“My childhood was full of homegrown life lessons,” she said, referring to days spent in the kitchen preparing dishes from family recipes, receiving homemade medications such as tea made from sassafras root and incorporating the Bible into her everyday life.
Parks was undoubtedly influenced by her upbringing, and this inspired her to travel with other scholars from the Chicago-based African American Studies Program to West Africa. While there, she was profoundly affected by the opportunity to explore, first-hand, the journey of her ancestors when they were captured and brought to America. “I realized that African captives traveling to the coastal areas of Georgia and South Carolina carried traditions with them,” she said, as she put together the connection and meaning of her own family’s traditions that had passed from generation to generation.
And so, Parks’ journey began. Throughout the years, she has traced her family lineage, and during a trip to Beaufort, S.C., to visit friends, she was introduced to the Gullah Festival, an annual three-day event that educates and entertains the public with music, storytelling, dance, arts and crafts celebrating the Gullah culture. “After I attended the festival I thought, ‘This is Africa! I need to spend more time here,'” she said.
During the next 10 years, Parks dedicated what precious time she was able to spare from teaching to immerse herself in the Gullah and Geechee culture, conducting interviews, visiting historic sites and attending festivals and academic seminars, making some very important discoveries. “As older generations pass away and land slips away due to modern development, it’s harder to find people carrying on the traditions these days. That’s the point of my research. Traditions that shared patterns of belief, behavior and language and psychological strengths found in religion and spiritual beliefs and practices are fading,” she said.
Parks also realized the important relationship between religion and health during her research. Last year, she completed a David B. Larson Fellowship at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., exploring the written and oral histories of African-Americans, beginning in the 1930s that are documented through the Depression-era Works Progress Administration.
Some of the Gullah/Geechee practices include storytelling, prayer, woodcarving, quilting, basketry, net making, metal working, music and folklore. “I’m especially interested in studying the health benefits of practices where people challenged distorted ideas about their humanity, expressed their frustrations, used humor, and asserted their human dignity,” said Parks, talking about these specific practices.
One low country group has preserved another well-known practice performed during worship services, called the ring shout, that involves singing, clapping, and dance-like stepping done in circular movement while keeping rhythm by thumping on the floor with a customized stick.
“The McIntosh County Shouters are the masters of the authentic ring shout, which was performed in the early black churches,” said Parks, also relating that the group continues to share this custom with attendees at various festivals and other events.
Parks continues to immerse herself in the study of the Gullah/Geechee communities, with plans to publish a book in the near future about this fascinating history of traditions through the generations.
“The lowcountry culture has a rich legacy of traditions that contribute to who we are today,” she said.
–Mary Beth Spence