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Cornelia Bailey (b. 1945)
As a member of the last generation of African Americans born and educated on Sapelo Island, Cornelia Bailey
as become one of Georgia's most vocal defenders of her homeland and its African American heritage. Sapelo Island, a barrier
island off the southern coast of Georgia, has protected the state's interior for thousands of years. Although the island has
withstood countless hurricanes and the arrival of colonial settlers, a new threat has come to the people of Sapelo—the threat
of industrial development.
A self-proclaimed
"Saltwater Geechee," Cornelia Walker Bailey was born on Sapelo on June 12, 1945, to Hettie Bryant and Hicks Walker. In 2000
she published God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man, a cultural memoir that both details Bailey's experiences while growing up on Sapelo Island in the 1940s and 1950s and gives
its readers a new perspective on the African American culture that emerged on the island more than 200 years ago. Using childhood
stories and family legends passed down over generations, Bailey depicts a way of life that has become threatened by the industrial
development that creeps closer and closer to Sapelo.
Bailey traces her lineage back to an African Muslim named Bul-Allah (or Bilali), who worked as the head slave manager for
the island's owner, cotton planter Thomas Spalding. Cornelia Bailey and her family, like many of Sapelo's natives, are direct descendants of West African slaves, many of whom
(like Bilali) were Muslim. Over time, the different cultures living on Sapelo Island have blended together and become what
Bailey calls the Geechee culture. A combination of Christian and Islamic religious beliefs, the Geechee culture on Sapelo Island has remained virtually unchanged,
thanks to the island's geographic isolation.
Bailey
returned to Sapelo in 1966 after living with family members on St. Simons Island for some years. As of 2005 she lives on Sapelo with her husband, Julius "Frank" Bailey, and two of her sons. Bailey has become
Sapelo's "griot," an African term for the tribal historian who, in Bailey's own words, keeps "the oral history of the tribe,
as it [has been] passed down for thousands of years." She and her husband conduct tours of the island and teach others about
their community's rich and treasured history.
Bailey
continues to fight against the loss of her community's cultural heritage. However, as Sapelo's elders pass on and the island's
youth are forced to leave Sapelo for education or work, the Geechee community struggles to maintain its historical identity.
The state of Georgia currently owns about 95 percent of Sapelo Island, leaving Bailey and her community confined to a small,
private portion of the island known as Hog Hammock. Bailey works to raise awareness of Sapelo's plight by educating those
who visit Sapelo Island through public speaking and writing. In May 2004 she received a Governor's Award in the Humanities in recognition of her work on behalf of the African American population of Sapelo Island and the Geechee culture.
Suggested Reading
Cornelia Bailey, with Christena Bledsoe, God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man: A Saltwater Geechee Talks about Life on Sapelo Island (New York: Doubleday, 2000).
William S. McFeely, Sapelo's People: A Long Walk into Freedom (New York: Norton, 1994).
Jesse M. Bowen, Georgia College and State University
Published 5/6/2005
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