Beans Beans

 

Gullah Studies | Multimedia Ethnography | Digital Production

Doctor of Arts in Humanities (1999), Clark Atlanta University
(Dissertation: Navigating the Gullah Coast Using Multimedia
Technology) Click Here For Abstract
Master of Media Arts (1981), University of South Carolina
Bachelor of Media Arts (1978), University of South Carolina
Faculty/Georgia Tech (2001-2004), Georgia State University
(1999-2001), Clark Atlanta University (1992-1999)
Emmy-nominated producer (1991), producer/director/editor (1978-1992)
Media Services and Production Director (1986-1992), Martin Luther King, Jr. Center
Researcher (1978-1981), South Carolina Department of Archives & History
Gullah native/St. Helena Island, South Carolina

GULLAH STUDIES
 

The Gullah Geechee culture off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia is the most intact West African culture in the United States. Members of the culture have retained ethnic traditions from West Africa for over two hundred fifty years. Many traditions were passed from one generation to the next through language, agriculture and spirituality. The culture has been linked to specific West African ethnic groups who were enslaved on island plantations to grow rice, indigo and cotton starting in the early 1700s. Presentday inhabitants are greatly concerned about the erosion of their culture, not only because tourists and newcomers are flocking to the islands, but also because younger members of the population have limited information and resources to keep them connected to their cultural past.

Gullah society has often proven difficult to study because it is an insider culture. As an ethnographer and producer with training and experience in both cultural preservation and digital technology, Althea Sumpter is able to document her own culture through her access as a trusted insider. By using digital video, still photography and audio documentation to create interactive design tools on Gullah culture, she offers a model for other researchers and communities wishing to employ digital technology to document persons and cultures.

Selected Lectures and Presentations:
"Stories from the Coosawhatchie Gullah Elders." 17th Annual Zora Neale Hurston Festival of the Arts and Humanities. Eatonville, Florida. (2006)
"Digitizing Your Cultural History." Gullah Studies Institute Summer Program. Penn Center, St. Helena Island, South Carolina. (2005)
"The Gullah People: A Coastal Community," distance learning episode. Atlanta History Center, Atlanta, Georgia (2003)
"Geechee/Gullah on the Coastal Sea Island." Publication, New Georgia Encyclopedia Project, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia (2003)
"Images and Stories: Coming of Age on the Gullah Coast." University of North Carolina, Africana Studies Program, Asheville, North Carolina (2003)
"Gullah Culture: Dreams and Realities." Department of Women’s Studies, Emory University (2002)
"The Gullah Culture and New Media Technology," Gullah Connection Workshop, Penn Center, St. Helena Island, South Carolina (1998)
"Growing Up in the Gullah Tradition," Summer Teacher’s Institute, Atlanta Public School Program, Atlanta, Georgia (1996)
"Gullah Culture of St. Helena Island, South Carolina," American Pluralism: Atlanta International Communities, Atlanta, Georgia (1996)
"The Gullah People of the Sea Islands," Transcultural Nursing Society Conference, Atlanta, Georgia (1994)
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MULTIMEDIA ETHNOGRAPHY
 

Multimedia Ethnography began as a university course designed by Althea Sumpter to combine theoretical instruction with technical procedures for gathering oral histories and documenting cultures. By framing traditional oral history techniques with the use of digital field documentation technology, interactive multimedia projects based on ethnographic materials can become a creative interpretation of a person or culture.

The course is now being offered as a multimedia ethnography workshop for community-based seminars or as individual sessions designed to facilitate easy understanding of ways to document cultures or collect oral histories for preservation. Participants learn how to prepare for field research, how to use documentation technology, including journaling, and how to develop interactive media in order to understand the potential of accessible media and computer usage for capturing stories within their own communities.

Each person, especially in the United States, represents an ethnic or cultural community. Understanding one's personal heritage and its contributions to a larger society forms a beginning point for learning about oneself. Participants who learn how to document their ethnicities or their cultures for preservation can help future generations appreciate the continuity of heritage and the spirit of a cultural legacy.


Selected Lectures and Presentations:
Harris Neck Heritage Tourism Interpretive Project. McIntosh SEED Community Development. Darien, Georgia. (2005)
Multimedia Ethnography Workshop, HandMade in America, Asheville, North Carolina. (2004)
"Multimedia Ethnography: Convergence of Digital Technology and Humanities," Ivan Allen College, Georgia Institute of Technology (2003)
"Multimedia Ethnography: A Dual Approach for Disclosing Ethnicity and Culture," Society of Literature and Science, Pasadena, California (2002)
"Multimedia Ethnography" Interpretation of a Culture using Computer Technology," Department of Computer Science, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, California (2002)
"Applications of Video in Oral History," Atlanta Oral History Roundtable, chapter of the Oral History Association, Atlanta, Georgia (2002)
"Video Ethnography," School of Literature, Communication, and Culture, Georgia Institute of Technology (2002)
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DIGITAL PRODUCTION
  Althea Sumpter is an Emmy-nominated producer whose work in the freelance production industry also includes credits as a producer and editor for non-profit organizations. The documentary format has remained her primary interest, leading to a style that allows for storytelling from the subject's point of view. She has focused on capturing the stories of human challenges --including the 1987 Forsyth County March for Brotherhood and Sisterhood and the oral histories of luminaries from the human rights and civil rights movement. Althea Sumpter has taught analog and digital production at public and private universities for over a decade, using a teaching approach based on real-world production experience and applied research. Her current production emphasis is the documentation for preservation of cultures, as well as individual oral histories.
Digital documentation of the Gullah Geechee culture has become not just another project, but a deeply felt calling to capture the stories of her own family and friends on the islands of South Carolina and Georgia. Using her knowledge and technical background to preserve whatever stories she can, Althea Sumpter seeks to make a contribution both to future generations of the culture and to others interested in the most intact West African group in the United States.

Selected Productions:
"Wade in the Water, This Far by Faith," documentary on the 2005 Fellowship of Friends (Quaker) of African Descent annual gathering (2006)
"Let Your Life Speak: Atlanta Meeting Friends Discuss Quaker Testimonies," oral history of elders in the Quaker community (2003)
"Emerging, Striving, Thriving: Ready for Work Evaluation," School of Social Work documentary on women from welfare to work. Georgia State University (2002)
National Park Service Tuskegee Airman Project---video oral history of Tuskegee Airmen in Atlanta-area (2002)
"Racism in America: Eight Days of January," Forsyth County, Georgia, March in opposition to KKK (1987)

Racism In America: Eight Days of January
Running Time: 57 Minutes  
© 1987  
Producers: Althea Sumpter & Richard "Stoney" Johnson  

In 1987, in a small North Georgia town, a group of people attempted to hold a March for Brotherhood and Sisterhood in observance of the National Holiday honoring Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The January l7 march turned into an unexpected confrontation between celebrants and Ku Klux Klan members. Marchers were attacked, organizers' lives were threatened and the King Holiday celebration suddenly evoked images from the 1960s. Eight days later, more than thirty thousand people of all ages, races and religious beliefs joined hands in a nonviolent civil action to bring an end to fear and intimidation.

Racism in America: Eight Days of January is the story of the march organized by The King Center and The Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), leading up to the first silent march since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.

Racism in America: Eight Days of January has not been shown in public since the 1987 release of its demonstration version. Althea Sumpter is now making screenings of this demo version available for public viewing as a vehicle for audience response towards producing a final production.

   
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