Today we’d like to introduce you to Sistah Patt.
Hi Patt, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers?
I am a 4th generation descendant from the soils of the coast of Georgia.
I am the 7th child of a 7th child of a 7th child. I AM Gullah Geechee!’ I took the African-Ancestry DNA test and it provided me with information that I am 83% Mende from the shores of Sierra Leone, West Africa.
I really think the social justice work I do today is a culmination of 30+ years on the road working with the American Civil Liberties Union in Atlanta, The Law Project, and The GA Clearinghouse on Prisons & Jails that I directed, (long before the invention of the Internet), gathering stats on crime nationwide and selling the states to reporters across the nation!
So fast forward to Savannah, returning here in the late 90s to be closer to my elderly mother and raise my daughters as a very busy mother on the move! In Atlanta, I learned the art of nonprofit empowerment as I worked in communities all over metro Atlanta – housing, homelessness, re-entry residents, and lobbying the GA General Assembly as a Paralegal with Georgia Legal Services.
I’m not trying to lay out my resume of 30 years on the journey, I simply want to share I believe Atlanta prepared me for the truth-telling work I do in this city.
I founded Underground Tours of Savannah in 2017 and focus on the Africa American journey from slavery to freedom through my cultural heritage (Gullah Geechee) tour services. In 2018, I co-founded the Center for Jubilee, Reconciliation, and Healing with Roz Rouse, my right hand and Beloved Sistah-Friend. the Center’s mission is to provide programs and projects that educate students, churches, organizations, and tourists from around the world. In 2019 Sistah Roz and I opened. the Savannah Gallery on Slavery & Healing.
As a native of Savannah, I always knew there were Enslaved people buried downtown from duties of urban slavery. I had no idea my Ancestors were buried in the vicinity of Whitefield and Calhoun Squares in a ‘Negro Burial Ground’ and ‘the Strangers’ Cemetery’ in the downtown historic district. In April of 2020, a 68-page City of Savannah Report entitled ‘Negro Burial Ground’ verified that my Ancestors were underneath two slave owners. George Whitefield and John C. Calhoun.
Our Center for Jubilee formed the ‘Coalition to Rename Calhoun Square’, a diverse group of Savannah citizens whom I describe as ’21st Century Abolitionists’ who all bring different strengths and talents to this important work – renaming Calhoun Square to Susie King Taylor – Taylor Square’. I am honored to be a part of this Coalition and the history we will make when this ‘Sheroe’ gets her brand new square.
I love the challenge our Beloved congressman and Civil Rights Icon John Lewis has given us all, ‘Make good trouble.’ I think I’m making a lil’ ‘good trouble’ on the Georgia coast!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has been a rough ride!
I have learned a lot about our country, my Constitutional rights, criminal justice, structured racism, sexism, black classism challenges and so much more. These challenges I have faced as a Woman of Color, single mother, and Sistah Friend to many friends along the way have built my character, integrity, and honor to my Creator.
Finally, the lessons in living that I have learned have taught me to ‘walk circumspect, meaning I keep my mind and heart open for new adventures.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am a Master Gullah Geechee Storyteller/Truth-Teller. I ‘spit fire’ to audiences at schools, universities, churches, family reunions, and my own tour company, Underground Tours of Savannah.
I enjoy history and writing short stories of my Gullah Geechee childhood while living on the Georgia coast. My greatest strengths are folded into Gullah Geechee folkways, foodways, spirituality, water, and air rights.’
What sets me apart is my unique synergy, which comes from my confidence in ‘Who I Be, Chile! I AM Gullah Geechee!
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
I love, love, love getin’ to da’ wata!! I love dropping a crab basket on the back river of Tybee island, bringing it up and that’s my lunch!!
I love my kitchen, cookin’ up ‘re-memory dishes’ that MaMa Dem’ used to cook like my sweet potato pie or deep-dish custard pie that my GrandMa would fix up for a celebration or a visit.
Lastly, I like meeting new people from around the world and sharing my ‘soulcraft’ – my rich Gullah Geechee kulcha’… Fuh’ True!! Ase’.
Pricing:
- My UG Walking Tours are $40 per adult, $25 for Students
- Private Walking Tours with Sistah Patt start at $250.00
- Saltwata Player Performers – Call Me!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.undergroundtoursofsavannah.com
- Facebook: Patt Gunn / Underground Tours
- Youtube: http://youtu.be/tlaBb6QgY-w (Walking on Sacred Ground – with Underground Tours)
