a listening project
Listen to Stories
The TREE, LIFE, STORY Project gathers stories and memories of trees in our lives, stories about family trees, and discovering our roots. This project was created to honor and share stories from Black, African American, Gullah Geechee, and Indigenous descendant communities in coastal Georgia and neighboring states. The focus on trees helps us see the connections between our history, our day to day lives, and the natural environment. Stories about other plants are welcome, too!
“Seeing those three huge live oak trees with the moss just swaying...
I felt so comforted... and I knew I was home...”
Margaret Timmons Finley and daughter Elizabeth connect special trees with family, home, and happiness in Harris Neck, Georgia.
Margaret shares joyous childhood memories of trees that were "a part of our family." Elizabeth remembers visiting Harris Neck as a child, where the massive live oaks at her grandparents' house were sources of comfort and pillars of strength, just like her grands. 0:00 Margaret, 3:28 Elizabeth [Recorded in Harris Neck, GA July 28, 2023]
Ana shares her story of leaving Liberia during its horrifying 15-year civil war, and finding a new life and cultural sense of home in Riceboro, GA. It wasn’t until Ana came to Riceboro that she learned about the deep, intertwined roots of her own ancestry, woven back and forth between the U.S. South and West Africa over centuries. 0:00 Leaving Liberia and discovering Riceboro’s cultural connection to Liberia. 7:20 New life in Riceboro, gardening plants from Africa – repeating the historical West Africa-Riceboro connections. 11:45 Learning about her family’s history, the complex history she was never taught about the freed African American people who colonized Liberia, and the need to overcome cultural misunderstandings, tensions, and resentment that caused the civil war. 27:35 Discovering the healing power of leaves from the soursop tree. [Recorded in Harris Neck, GA July 28, 2023]
“We traced our great great great great great grandfather, all the way back to St. Petersburg, Virginia…that went to Liberia as a pastor!”
Ana Cooper Joyner is from Liberia. Her family crossed the Atlantic between West Africa and the U.S. again and again ... over centuries.
Charmayne grew up in Atlanta, and discovered her calling not only to protect the environment, but to protect and ensure access and justice for vulnerable communities, people of color, and coastal Gullah Geechee lifeways. This is Part 1 of our interview, where she tells the story of how she found her passion, and where it's leading her today.
"When I come back to the Low Country, it’s something so important to me, that I just feel like I have to defend, even until my life is threatened."
Charmayne Planter's inspiring path to becoming an environmental and social change maker (part 1)
In Part 2 of our interview, Charmayne shares her thoughts and experiences with environmental racism, the ongoing injustices in Africatown, Alabama, and her dedicated path to work toward environmental justice. 0:00 Policed access to nature, and the social climate around equitable access in the north vs. south 6:08 A vision for public lands, access to nature and food, and education to make a more equitable world 10:23 Charmayne’s latest environmental justice work in South Carolina 13:40 What would you say to the trees you grew up with? 16:00 Charmayne’s pathway forward to make impacts 21:08 Reflections on working in Africatown, AL 23:45 The implications for ongoing inequities 27:28 Changing the narratives 30:15 Ending on a positive note: looking to the next generation
"What we need most is care for the environment.
We can all live by a set of beliefs, but if that's not taken care of first, we will have nothing."
Charmayne Planter's inspiring path to becoming an environmental and social change maker (part 2)
Twenty years ago, Cora Jones Hackley visited Beaufort, South Carolina for the first time. She had a powerful sense that this is where her ancestors and her family were from. As she tells in her story, "What I feel when I come to Beaufort is like an inner spirit, I can't put it into words...There is a hunger, something different, here in Beaufort." After the interview, Cora explained that there are many twists and turns in her family tree's branches that make it hard to trace. Cora lives in Jacksonville FL, and has visited Beaufort about a dozen times over the years, continuing to search for connections and names to hopefully one day find her family here. [In the background, you can hear the McIntosh County Shouters, performing on stage at the celebration. They have been practicing the song art form of the RING SHOUT since the 18th century, passed down from through the generations in this family since their ancestors arrived in bondage over 300 years ago.]
"What I feel when I come to Beaufort is like an inner spirit..."
Cora Jones Hackley's quest to discover her Gullah roots in Beaufort, South Carolina
Charadin Emilia Frank remembers a special childhood tree in the tropics
During a celebration for the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor, held in Beaufort SC on October 29, 2002, Charadin Emillia Frank of Myrtle Beach, SC tells us about a Golden Apple tree (Spondias dulcis) that she loved when she was growing up on the Caribbean island of St. Vincent. "Waiting till December for this tree to finally bear this wonderful fruit was just magic." As she recalls losing the tree when it was cut to make way to build a fence, she offered a message to that tree, if she could speak with it today: "You brought so much joy to my life, and I fought for you, I really did!" In the background, you can hear the McIntosh County Shouters, performing on stage at the celebration. They have been practicing the song art form of the RING SHOUT since the 18th century, passed down from through the generations in this family since their ancestors arrived in bondage over 300 years ago.
"You brought so much joy to my life, and I fought for you!"
Carrie Washington discovered her roots and started an African-centered school in South Carolina
Hear Carrie Washington's story of how she was embarrassed to be from coastal South Carolina when she was young, "Before I didn't think I had any roots. I just felt like I was floating and I didn't know who we were or what we were... All I knew from what we were taught is that we were slaves. We were enslaved people. So I thought, man, we were nothing." Then she explains how she learned about her Gullah Geechee culture and West African roots, and started an African-centered, independent school near Columbia, SC. As she explains, "We started the school, we started learning our history and our connection with West African people. I learned so much, and then I felt like I had some kind of roots. And now I'm just a proud Gullah Geechee woman, just to know where I'm from." Carrie goes on to explain that in their K-12 school, children learn about their ancestors, and they grow and prepare food. "We are planting the seeds for our future -- in the ground, as well as in these children." Carrie also talks about a recent hike with a Buffalo Soldier to explore trees and nature with the children. She describes her own love of nature, "I just want to hug the trees, hug the land, and say thank you, Mother Earth, for nurturing me." In the background, you can hear Mahoganee, performing on stage at the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor celebration for the Grand Opening of their new headquarters in Beaufort, SC. on October 29, 2022
