currents

CURRENTS NC Rice Festival

Celebration of Gullah Culture and History

STORY BY JAN MORGAN-SWEGLE

What does freedom mean to you? And if you lost that freedom, how would you react? Would you give in to the new norm? Would you fight a fight that could not be won? Or would you hold on to the history that you know and respect so that your children would know their true origins? History is the study of change over time. It is a look back at victories and defeats; highs and lows. It is a working map for society to follow or reject—depending on recorded events and the impact those events had on people all over the world.

An excellent illustration of this “working map,” is the North Carolina Rice Festival, which will be held on March 4 and 5 at the Leland Cultural Arts Center. Event organizer and Board Chair of the North Carolina Rice Festival, Inc., George Beatty, said that the festival is a “celebration of the economic history of our county and the people who greatly contributed to it.” He continued, “We want to not only celebrate, but educate. We need to resurrect the overall history of Brunswick County.”

George is an excellent storyteller who weaves the past into an intricate tapestry of the future. He said the history of this area has roots in Africa where the people in coastal areas, like Sierra Leone, developed the expertise of growing and harvesting African rice. Slave traders were told to find growers from “the rice coast” in Africa and bring them to the South because plantation owners in the Carolinas discovered that African rice would grow in this region better than Asian rice and the African growers had the knowledge and expertise to develop and build effective irrigations systems and dams. These growers may have been part of the “Gola,” tribe, who inhabited the border areas between what are now Sierra Leone and Liberia. Or, they could be part of the “Dyula” (pronounced Gwullah,”) tribal group captured by European slavers in modern day Liberia.

But the enslaved African growers brought more to the southern regions than their growing expertise—they brought their traditions and parts of their language.

The African enslaved persons working on the southern plantations were removed from contact with their white owners. They developed what is called a “Creole culture” in an effort to hold on to their rituals and culture. Their language, sometimes known as “Sea Island Creole,” is an English-based Creole combining their African words and dialect with English.

The language, which became known as “Gullah,” is a form of linguistic diversity; they were holding on to one world while they lived in another. The word, “Geechee,” refers to descendants of the West African growers who were located in the “low country” of South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida and Georgia. In the 1860s, 90 percent of the rice grown in North Carolina came from the efforts of the enslaved people of Brunswick County. It was the major “cash crop,” and there were more than 50 plantations in Brunswick County that counted rice as their primary crop. Life was good for plantation owners in the South. But then came the Civil War which did more than divide the country. It changed lives and lifestyles. Plantation owners lost their farms to taxes and the newly emancipated slaves did not have the resources to get back to their native Africa. “The connection to the African rice coast was broken by the slave system. Generations of blacks would never know their true heritage or families because there was a world between them,” George explained.

So, after all of this time, how can descendants of these enslaved rice growers bridge the gap that separates their new world ancestry with their old-world heritage? According to George, “in order to re-establish blood lines and tribal connections, (at the Rice Festival) there will be on-site DNA testing kits which, when processed, will be matched with the largest DNA database of African tribal groups from various regions of Africa. Those who want a DNA test done at the Festival will get a discount on the processing fee.”

The Festival will include activities inside the Leland Cultural Arts Center and outside as well. There will be food trucks onsite, arts and crafts for sale, and “Ring Shouters,” who are worshippers that move in a circle while shuffling and stomping their feet and clapping while chanting.

One of the high points of the Festival will be historical presentations by the cultural story teller, Aunt Pearlie Sue, a character created by Anita Singleton-Prather, based on her grandmother. She has been called “the keeper of the culture.” Her stories of enslaved Africans’ life in the fields have resonated with all cultures for many years.

The event closes with jazz from LeRoy Harper, Jr., and the AllStarz, who was the “horn man” for James Brown.

Inside the Center, there will be video presentations of how history affects us today, the history of rice growing, a documentary called “Gullah Roots” (produced by South Carolina eTV), a panel discussion led by Dr. Victoria Smalls, Executive Director of the Gullah Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission and Jonathan Green, the first person of Gullah ancestry to develop his painting skills at a professional art school. He is best known for his depictions of the Gullah culture and has shown his work in many major galleries around the country.

Sponsors for the event include the Town of Leland, the Department of Leland Tourism, the Brunswick Arts Council, WWAY TV3, the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Restoration and the Orton Foundation. Sponsorships for the event are still available. Visit www. northcarolinaricefestival.org, for more details about the events.

History is often told from the perspective of the victor, which doesn’t tell the whole story. The North Carolina Rice Festival gives a look at the perspective of the enslaved people from Africa who helped build the economy of this area all while holding on to those things that connected them to their ancestors. They held fast to rituals, art, and worship so that their children and those of future generations would know, understand and appreciate their stolen history. If you lost your freedom, could you do the same?

NC RICE FESTIVAL CULTURAL HERITAGE GALA – FRIDAY, MARCH 4, 2022

Leland Cultural Arts Center Auditorium

5:45 pm Doors Open 6:30 pm Welcome, Introduction of Guests 6:50 pm Dinner Served 8:40 pm Introduction of Performers 8:45 pm Entertainment – Ron & Natalie Daise 9:45 pm Acknowledgements, Closing Remarks

North Carolina Rice Festival – Saturday, March 5, 2022

Leland Cultural Arts Center Auditorium

8:30 am Doors Open 9 am Welcome, Event Introduction, Overview of Festival Program 9:10 am Opening Remarks – Victoria Smalls - CEO – Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor 9:20 – 10:10 am NCRF History Video followed by Panel Discussion and Q & A 10:20 – 11:50 am Showing of SCTV Documentary – Gullah Roots - Introduction by Victoria Smalls, followed by Panel Discussion and Q & A 12:00 – 12:30 pm Entertainment Performance – Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters 12:30 - 1:30 pm Break

1:45 - 2:45 pm Rice & Race – Gullah Artist Jonathan Green, Presenter 3:00 - 3:30 pm Entertainment – Gullah Historical Storyteller – Anita Singelton Prather as Aunt Pearlie Sue

Outdoor Stage

11:30 am Blues DeVille 12:30 pm Ian Davis 1:30 pm Aunt Pearlie Sue 2:15 pm Tina Smith 3:15 pm Geechee Gullah Ring Shouters 4 pm “Funky” Leroy Harper and his All Starz 5:30 pm Closing Remarks, NCRF Chairman, George Beatty

Tickets for the dinner are $110.

Tickets for inside the event are $10.

Right: Storyteller Aunt Pearlie Sue

Focus On Broadband

ATMC Rebranding And Looking To Future

STORY BY JEFFREY STITES, PHOTOS CONTRIBUTED

We wouldn’t be able to do what we do without a fast, reliable internet connection. As luck would have it, at just the time we were purchasing Southport and Leland Magazines and moving production to our home office, ATMC was laying fiber optic cable on Oak Island and we were able to sign up. Our experience with ATMC has been great, from the speed and reliability to the customer service. We’ve been excited to see ATMC expanding its fiber optic service to more and more of the area we cover with the magazines. Now, ATMC is rebranding itself to reflect the importance of broadband access to its members in Brunswick County. You’ve likely seen the signs and advertisements about ATMC becoming FOCUS Broadband and maybe you’ve wondered what that means. Maybe you’re new to the area and new to the idea of a utility co-op. We thought it would be a perfect time to reach out to Focus Broadband and talk about the past, present, and future of the cooperative.

Broadband is for folks unfamiliar with the concept of a utility co-op?

1957, cable TV in 1983, and internet service in 1995. will connect all members to fiber optic broadband, along with further expansion into new markets in southeastern North Carolina. Over the last four years, we’ve worked to make fiber optic broadband available to more than 12,000 addresses within the Brunswick County communities of St. James, Boiling Spring Lakes, Holden Beach and Ocean Isle Beach. These areas were previously served by a copper-only network capable of delivering a maximum of just 6 megabits per second (Mbps). As a result of the upgrade to fiber optics, these customers now have access to symmetrical gigabit internet speeds. In addition, we’ve expanded to more areas of Brunswick County, bringing fiber optics to residents and businesses in Oak Island, Caswell Beach and areas of Leland. We’ve also invested in installing fiber optics to business districts throughout Brunswick County. Over the past two years, ATMC has increased the maximum broadband speed delivered via its DOCSIS cable modem technology from 200 Mbps to 600 Mbps. More than 22,000 customers had their download speeds doubled without an increase in price. The project to convert to 100 percent fiber optics will allow customers currently served by DOCSIS cable modem technology to have even faster speeds with greater reliability. We see fiber optic internet as the way of the future and we want all FOCUS Broadband customers to have access to this technology. Once completed, the company’s entire footprint will be served by a fiber optic network capable of delivering multi-gigabit broadband speeds for decades to come.

You’ve been expanding your broadband service area. Can you

FOCUS Broadband (formerly ATMC) began more than 65 years ago by local farmers and businessman who wanted to bring telephone service to Brunswick County. At the time, the large telephone providers of the day would not serve the rural portions of Brunswick County because they didn’t feel these areas would be profitable. This led to the creation of our Atlantic Telephone Membership Corporation, a company owned by its members. Today, as FOCUS Broadband, and through the cooperative and its subsidiaries, the company provides telephone, internet, cable TV, wireless and security services, with internet being our core offering. As a cooperative, we are governed by a Board of Directors that is elected from our membership. Any profit we make we invest back into our community through improvements in our services and by giving back to our members through Capital Credit refunds where members get a share of our profits based on what they spent with us. We also offer grants, scholarships and sponsorships.

Can you tell us about the Focus branding? What has changed, if anything, about what you do?

Our recent rebrand is being made to reflect our company’s evolution from that of a traditional telephone, cable TV, and internet provider to one that specializes in providing very fast broadband internet connects delivered over a state-of-the-art fiber optic network. Our future is in providing broadband internet, so we wanted our name to reflect that. We felt the time was right because we have just launched a multi-year, $100 million-dollar project that

Focus Broadband sharing holiday cheer in the Christmas by the Sea Parade

tell us about how that’s been going, where you stand now as far as parts of the county you service, and your plans for the future?

Focus Broadband serves the vast majority of Brunswick County, with only a few small areas that are served by other providers. In 2010, we expanded our service into portions of eastern Columbus County. More recently the company has won several state and federal grants that are enabling us to bring high-speed internet service to additional homes in Brunswick County and Columbus County as well as underserved rural areas in Robeson, Duplin and Pender counties. Since 2019, we’ve won more than $45.5 million in broadband grants. We’re using these grant funds to expand our network to bring service to more rural areas in the state. In turn, this allows us to strengthen the cooperative and continue to provide the best service here at home in Brunswick County. Much like we did by bringing telephone to unserved areas in the 1950s, today we are brining high-speed internet to areas that desperately need it. It’s very much the same cooperative mentality on which our company was founded almost seven decades ago.

tion?

As a communications provider, you must have technology that is state-of-the-art. We have that, but so do the big national companies. What really sets us apart is that we aren’t a big national company. We are a local company, and our focus and priorities are all local. We’re a non-profit, so we don’t have to go out and try to create shareholder value. We aren’t beholden to Wall Street. We focus on Main Street. In doing that, all of our decision making comes with our local community in mind. If it’s good for our community and our customers that are right here in our neighborhood, we do it. The national companies don’t have that luxury. We hire local people who want to do right by their friends and neighbors. When you care about the people you serve, you provide better service. That’s what we do. In fact, our team at FOCUS Broadband has won Best of Brunswick in Customer Service for the last 13 years and we also won Best in Customer Service, Best Internet Provider and Best Cable TV Provider in Columbus County the last two years. The service mentality that we have means something to our employees and that shines through in their customer interactions. Our cooperative business model also allows us to invest in the community each year. We do this through our community and education grants programs, giving scholarships to lo-

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cal high school seniors, giving back in capital credits, and supporting a wide array of local charities through sponsorships and Board donations. We live here. We work here. We do business here.

Can you speak to how the pandemic has made home broadband even more important? Has it changed anything about how you do business?

If anything, it has solidified the importance of what we do and the need for connectivity. The pandemic has shown us how important it is to have a reliable internet connection for school, healthcare, business, entertainment and more. Since the onset of the pandemic, we continue to see an increased need for broadband, especially in rural areas, and this is why we are continuing to invest in and expand our network. One of the ways we can expand our network is through state and federal broadband grants. We’ve seen more opportunity to apply for grant funding since the pandemic started and we are working hard to apply for that funding and invest back into our network. Having reliable broadband in the home means that our customers have the opportunity to further

There has been a lot of talk, even in Washington D.C., about the importance of broadband to our economy. How do you see broadband helping to drive growth in Brunswick County?

Businesses are expected to be able to compete online and participate in e-commerce. Having access to broadband allows our local businesses to expand their platform and their customer base. We’ve been able to invest in many of the towns like Leland, Boiling Spring Lakes, Holden Beach, just to name a few, by providing fiber directly to the business districts. This investment has allowed our local businesses to continue to thrive, despite the challenges of the pandemic. In addition, broadband allows people to work from anywhere. We’ve seen an increase in work from home customers over the last couple of years. More and more people are moving to the beach as they have the flexibility to work from home. A good internet connection from a trusted local provider is the key to making that work.

Focus Broadband’s Lynette Brown

Please feel free to add anything we may have missed!

We feel blessed that we’ve been able to serve the Brunswick County community for almost seven decades. Although we are changing our name, we will continue to do business by the principles and values that we were founded on all those years ago. We look forward to continuing to serve our community for many years to come.

There When You Need Us, Since 1999

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