Cornelia Walker Bailey (1945–2017)

Thoroughly enjoyable book about Mrs. Bailey; her family, culture, home and customs. Told in a conversational style, this book makes you feel like Cornelia is sitting with you telling her tales. There is so much interesting info about the Geechee culture and how those things are one fading away. It was also interesting, yet sad to learn how the families on Sapelo Island were driven to other places by unfairness, greed, and other things out of their control. Mrs. Bailey is keeping her families stories and their cultural stories alive with her storytelling. You will meet a lot of quirky characters in this memoir and you will be taken to many interesting places.… (more)

I bought this book while on Sapelo Island and actually met the author. I wish that I had read the book before my trip to the island. Now I want to return and ask her about the book.

It is a charming book full of well-told stories by a talented "griot". I'm so glad that she felt moved to write this book because so much of what she has included here has already vanished or is in the process of becoming extinct. Insight into a way of life seldom seen is presented in an entertaining and interesting fashion.

If you have an opportunity to visit Sapelo, do so before it is just a memory or a footnote in Georgia history. And definitely read this book before you go.… (more)

This is a book on the history and folklore of Sapelo Island just off the coast of Georgia, near Savannah. It was written by a woman who was born and raised there. Previously I didn't know squat about that part of the country, but after reading 368 pages about their culture, land, folklore, history, cuisine, climate and attitudes, I learned a hell of a lot.

Sapelo Island (about 90 square miles) was originally rice plantations dating back to the early 1700s. During the Civil War the plantation owners fled, but many of the slaves stayed on the island. They pooled their money together as a group and purchased the land from the government. It took them nearly a decade to do it (these people were dirt poor), but they did it, and by doing so created one the first black communities owned by blacks. In the 1940s they were "discovered" by anthropologists who found that they were still practicing many of the exact same traditions as their ancestors had in Sierra Leone. For example they were still making decorative baskets using the exact same weaving technique used in Sierra Leone. Even though many were illiterate, they'd still maintained their traditions orally for nearly 250 years.

The main reason I was interested in this book is because everyone on the island practiced hoodoo or "the root" as they call it (and still does). I was hoping to get more information about the legendary hoodoo conjurer, Dr. Buzzard; however, the info was pretty slim (even though he's in the title). He was well known by the islanders by reputation, but Dr. Buzzard operated on St. Helena Island to the north, so many of them never actually met him.

It's a pretty in book over all, though it tended to drag a bit at times, and I'd hoped for more info on conjure folk.… (more)