|
David Mitchell
Mark,
You asked if I was familiar with Pat Conroy's early book, "The Water is Wide". I have not read that one but did see the TV film "Conrack". I am quite familiar with Conroy as he is (was) a bigger than life local character - who died up in Beufort just about a year or so ago. And you would have thought it was the end of the world in Beaufort County. More on that later.
To go back about 25 years:
My first wife and my two daughters were avid readers and I read a lot of what they told me I should read. (fortunately they read a lot of good stuff). We were all reading "Prince of Tides" back then and because of that book, my oldest daughter is part time writer - and stay-at-home mother of two. (As luck would have it, she and her husband moved to Bangor Maine about two years ago, and if we go to the end of her street and drive five blocks to the right, we pass right by a big old red victorian home of Stephen King).
I digress.
When I moved down here It became apparent that Pat Conroy's footprint is huge here in Beaufort County and all the way up to Charleston. I had seen his "Prince of Tides" film with Barbara Striesand and Nick Nolte (with much left out of the book unfortunatley) before coming down here, and learned that it was both written while he lived in a trailor here, and was also set in this town - though not mentioned as such in his book (I don't think). I also learned that he had made many enemies here - both for his outspoken views against racism (a good thing in my mind), but also his manic depressive nasty behavior towards anyone who happend to be in his way at the time. (probably got it from his disfuncional dad, The real Great Santini)
He had been banned from campus activities at the Citidel in Charleston (where he was a student Cadet - and from which he wrote "Lords of Discipline", and "My Losing Season"), and was generally "persona non grata" in this area.
"The Water Is Wide" (or TV movie Conrack) is his first book I beleive, and it describes the blatant racism of the local school board towards the poor black "Gullah"** children of Daufsukie Island. The character of the racist School Board president is a man named McCracken, who is real, and whose son Emmett McCracken (a man about 75) is a local pillar of our community (former Army Colonel in Viet Nam, town mayor, etc.) and elder of my church. And he and his sweet wife hold quite different views on racism than his father. And HIS two sons are both acquaintences of mine - one a good friend, and both even more "progressive" in their racial views than their dad. The one who is my friend is married to a dark-skinned Hawiian lady.
** the local Gullah people are a separate minority who inhabit a lot of the coastal islands from Virginia down to the top of Florida - with heavy concentrations in the two Carolinas. Their population is down to about 30,000 but a large "Historic District" has been declared along about five states here on the Southeast Coast. They are the descendents of escaped slaves who either swam, or floated on a log or raft to the nearest outer islands and were never pursued by their slave masters. Over several hundred years they met up, married, and developed their own separate culture, language, and customs - including arts, crafts, and even cooking style.
Speaking of Gullahs, It was my priviledge to know Bluffton's most popular Black man (and town poet laureate) , Oscar Frazier. He was part Gullah and when we met he asked me if I was a "Come hyah", or a "Been hyah" ? (Come here = new, or a Been here = local). My second wife and I attended his funeral at one of our two large all black churches. Largest funeral turnout ever in Bluffton and about 1/4 in attendendance wre white. We sat front row balcony and you never heard such an upbeat celebration of ''Victory" in your life! They don't just sing, they rock!
And again, I digress.
I believe the school on the island of Daufuskie was Conroy's first teaching job and he quickly grasped the intention of Mr. McCracken's school board to keep the education level at a minimum and by all means not to provide ferry service off the island to better schools on the mainland - especially where they might mix with white chldren.
I haven't been over there in years, but I blelieve that Conroy's original little white school house remains as a museum on Dafuskie.
Daufsukie today is reached by a short ferry ride from Hilton Head and also a new ferry from Bluffton (piloted by a friend of mine) and is divided in half. One half is a couple of super high-end developments with Club and golf course, while the other half has been declared off limits to development, and is the largerst remaining single community of all Gullah people left on the East Coast (maybe 600?). They still live in relative poverty but seem to be an extremely happy poeple. They hold a number of good jobs on Hilton Head and there are several well-known chefs among them. They now have a published history, and a Bible in their own language, which is sort of a "pig-english" mix of African slave, and "low-country" english - with a whole different way of phrasing things. There is also a bit of a museum in the Westin Hotel on Hilton Head. The public awarenss of them has risen a lot in recent years.
NOTE: If you are ever on Hilton Head and thinking of taking the "Gullah Tour", forget it. It is not enough to justify your time. There are "Gullah Festivals" at various times of the year in the Beafort area and up in Charleston - especaily a Gullah music performance given once a week a ta church in downtown Charleston.
p.s. More Gullah: I was also fortunate to be one of two white people to be invited to the installation of the first female pastor of a nearby tiny (all-black) "John the Baptist Church". The Reverend Mrs. Gwen Greene invited me herself. We had met and become friends at an all-black community (monthly) meeting - which I became the first and only white member of (long story). They had five male pastors there for her installation and they all spoke or gave a semon (oh yeah, it went on long). One was her own grandfather, a Gullah man in his 90's. When he spoke I could hardly get a word. It was moslty yelling in a "foreign" tongue. And near the end she stood me up in front of the whole congregation and introduced me (and one other black guy) and thanked us individually for coming! As my kids would say, Ya' had to be there!
- - - - more on Pat Conroy later
........meanwhile the weather is calm and gorgeous here.
|
