Our Christmas day

Christmas in Georgia was quiet.  Decorations consisted of small ornaments with special significance:  a felt rendition of our former cruising sailboat CHOUETTE made years ago by a friend, a stained glass Charlie, a new porcelain Spark and a toller Christmas card.

Other special ornaments were the sweetgrass rose given to me by a homeless man in Charleston, SC near the Mother Emmanuel Church, site of the June massacre (see my post entitled "A tribute to the victims") and a sweetgrass wreath.  And a little greenery for the "rig".

Feeling patriotic in 24 degree (celcius)weather on Christmas day.

 A beautiful nature walk...among the live oak trees and the marshes.

Christmas dinner: turkey breast roasted in our convection oven, homemade cranberry sauce with clementines and cloves, sweet potatoes with candied Georgia pecans and a kale salad.  Yum!!!  Dessert was sweet potato pie.  Delicious!

Patriots Point

December 21
Near Charleston, SC, we spent several hours touring Patriots Point, where 3 naval ships are open for viewing: the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, a vintage submarine and a small destroyer. We also saw the Apollo 8 capsule which was picked up by the USS Yorktown at the end of the flight.  Dave and I sat inside and had a glimpse of what it might have been  like to see the earth rise from space!

Finally, we toured an exhibit about Vietnam which promised to "immerse" you in the war's atmosphere.  Sounds of helicopters, mortars and gunshot abounded...creating a very intense feeling....A few days later we met a man who had been injured twice in Vietnam....and who was willing to share some of  his experiences with us.  What a brutal time it was!

A tribute to the victims of the June 2015 Mother Emmanuel Church massacre

In June 2015, the congregation of Emmanuel Church in Charleston was subjected to a horrendous act of terror, perpetrated by a white racist and extremist.

Nine people were brutally murdered in the church.  Many were injured.

Amazingly, the community chose not to riot, but rallied together in forgiveness.

While walking along the street, we passed by the church and met a man who took us behind the church to show us several large panels such as the one pictured above.  They feature more than a million signatures, including our own, in support of this strong community.

 After telling us the story, the man offered me this lovely sweetgrass rose he had woven.  He graciously accepted our donation in thanks.  The rose and a wreath woven in the traditional manner by an African-American woman, make up our most treasured Christmas decoration this year.

Charleston SC and Savannah GA, Southern cities with important African-American history and Gullah heritage

Savannah Gullah tour
People of African descent have been in the southern US for centuries.  Although in the Georgia colony African captivity was initially forbidden, an act was passed in 1750 repealing the former prohibition and by 1760 the population of Georgia was more than one-third African, mainly slaves.  The Gullah/Geechee people are descendants of early African-Americans who lived on the coastal mainland and barrier islands of the Carolinas, Georgia and northern Florida.  They have a language still spoken today which is a mixture of English, creole, and African languages.  
I took a tour of Savannah focused on Gullah and African-American perspectives.  The tour, which ended up being a private one (lucky me!) on December 24, was led by a young scholar named Jamal Toure, who is an adjunct professor of history at a college in Savannah.  He shared many stories and even enacted some important historical scenes.  Highlights were the contributions by African-Americans to the building and running of the city.  A moving and most interesting half-day!

The first African Baptist Church built in the late 1770s at night by slaves who transported all the bricks by hand or wheelbarrow after their hard days work on plantations or other similarly difficult jobs. 
The floors of the lower levels were drilled with holes in meaningful patterns from Africa ended up allowing fugitive slaves hiding in the basement to breathe. 

 A monument honouring the contribution of 500 Haitian free Blacks who fought with the Georgian colonists for independence from England during the Revolutionary War in 1779.

 Slaves were warehoused on the waterfront in cells such as this one while awaiting sale or transport.  The sculpture of an embracing family symbolizes emancipation.

 Since their land was taken over by the City, many African-Americans have been forced to  live in social housing developments such as this one. Today, more than 27% of African-Americans in Savannah live below the poverty line.  A chilling sidebar is that the office building of the Social Service Authority which administers these projects was built in the image of a "great house" on a plantation.  It is located mere yards away from the apartments pictured here...


The McLeod plantation near Charleston

 The contrasting living quarters of the plantation owner and slaves.  Incredibly, the slave cabins were still being rented to African-Americans up to the 1970s....

 

The cotton industry....one of the rationales for slavery.

 

 

Savannah, GA architecture

 Savannah was designed and laid out by George Oglethorpe in the early 1730s.  His plan for the city was an ambitious one aesthetically, as he designed 24 town squares, 22 of which are still in existence, adding very pleasant green spaces to the city.

The roof of City Hall was guilded with gold leaf in the 1970s.

 The African-American architecture, by economic necessity, tends to be much more modest and several of the preserved buildings are made of wood, in contrast to much more expensive brick and stone.

Charleston, SC and Savannah, GA decked out for Christmas

A Southern Christmas