Family Across the Sea (1990)

About the Film

Family Across the Sea shows how scholars have uncovered the remarkable connections between the Gullah people of South Carolina and the people of Sierra Leone. The ancestors of the Gullah were African slaves brought to the Sea Islands because of their expertise in rice cultivation. Family Across The Sea documents how the Gullahs incorporated many aspects of African culture in the daily life of the plantations. The Gullah language contains over 3,000 words of African origin and resembles the Krio language of Sierra Leone. In the film a group of people from Lowcountry South Carolina visit their ancestors' home country Sierra Leone. One woman speaks what many African Americans will feel: "Now, I know that I have really come home."