Bill to preserve Gullah culture adds Florida

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Parts of north Florida have been added to a bill to preserve Gullah and Geechee culture along the Southeast coast.

The proposal, reintroduced in Congress this week by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., would establish five cultural centers in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida and North Carolina and increase funding for cultural preservation grants in the four-state region from $1 million to $2 million a year for up to 10 years.

The Gullah and Geechee people descended from African slaves who settled on isolated sea islands and marshy areas from Jacksonville, Fla., to Wilmington, N.C., in the 19th century. In South Carolina, the culture is called Gullah. Georgians prefer Geechee.

A similar bill passed in the U.S. House and Senate last year, but time ran out before the bill could become law.