The Louisiana Creole and Gullah Connection: Shared Roots Across the Deep South

From the Lowcountry to the Bayou: How Forced Migration Carried Gullah Language, Memory, and Resistance into Louisiana Creole Life

The story of African descended people in America is a story of movement forced movement, violent movement, but also cultural survival. Gullah Geechee roots begin in the coastal and Sea Island areas of South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina, and Florida, with branches extending inland into many surrounding counties and communities. These were the regions where West and Central African languages, agricultural knowledge, and cultural traditions blended into what we now recognize as Gullah Geechee culture.

But the reach of Gullah culture did not remain confined to its birthplace.

Through the domestic slave trade, thousands of Gullah-speaking men, women, and children were forcibly moved into the Deep South. Many were taken into the Gulf region especially Louisiana. And even after being uprooted from their homeland, their distinct language and cultural identity remained so strong that enslavers could recognize them hundreds of miles away.

The historical record proves that truth.

Runaway Slave Advertisements Reveal the Connection

Runaway slave ads tragic but powerful historical documents provide some of the clearest evidence of Gullah people living in Louisiana.

One 1859 ad from The South-Western describes a freedom seeker named John as having “the brogue of the low country negroes of South Carolina.”

That is unmistakably Gullah.

Not just any southern dialect specifically the Lowcountry speech patterns rooted in South Carolina and Georgia’s Gullah communities.

Another Louisiana ad describes a man named Mike, “raised in Charleston, South Carolina.” His speech and mannerisms were so distinctive that his birthplace became a key identifying detail

.(1850s Louisiana newspaper)

A third advertisement identifies an enslaved woman named Mary who “speaks in the manner of most Charleston negroes,” again pointing to a recognizable Lowcountry dialect—almost certainly Gullah.

These ads make one thing clear:

Gullah Geechee people were transported into Louisiana, and their way of speaking remained recognizable even far from home.

Two Creole Cultures Meeting in Louisiana

Now imagine the cultural exchange happening at that time:

Gullah speaking Africans from the Carolinas and Georgia living among Louisiana Creole speaking Africans.

Two distinct Creole cultures one English-based with strong African retentions,

and the other French and African-based with layers of Native and European influence interacting daily on plantations, in bayous, and in the city centers of Louisiana.

These cultures influenced each other.

They shared space, words, foods, and ways of life.

They blended where survival required unity.

Oral Tradition Confirms Shared Language Influence

I was told by a family relative and a friend that some words associated with Gullah merged into Louisiana Creole communities. These terms survived generations and are still remembered:

Gullah-Origin Words Found in Louisiana Creole

• Coota – turtle

• Buckra – white man

• Yam yam – to eat

• Unna – you / y’all

• Chirren / Chillen – children

• Come ya – come here

• Been ya – been here

• Guba – peanut

• Gwine – to go / going

These words reflect the unmistakable sound and rhythm of Gullah speech from the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida.

Family Across State Lines

When we bring together the historical documents, linguistic clues, oral tradition, and cultural patterns, one truth rises above all:

Many Louisiana families possibly hundreds or thousands carry Gullah Geechee roots.

Some know it through family stories.

Others were never told.

But the record does not lie.

The Louisiana Creole and Gullah Geechee connection is deeper than many realize.

It is a story of kinship, resilience, and cultural survival across state lines.