(Equal parts cultural history and memoir, God, Dr. Buzzard...)
Equal parts cultural history and memoir, God, Dr. Buzzard, and the Bolito Man recounts a traditional way of life - that of the Geechee Indians of Sapelo Island - that is threatened by change, with stories that speak to our deepest notions of family, community, and a connection to one’s homeland. Cornelia Walker Bailey models herself after the African griot, the tribal storytellers who keep the history of their people. Bailey’s people are the Geechee, whose cultural identity has been largely preserved due to the relative isolation of Sapelo, a barrier island off the coast of Georgia. In this rich account, Bailey captures the experience of growing up in an island community that counted the spirits of its departed among its members, relied on pride and ingenuity in the face of hardship, and taught her firsthand how best to reap the bounty of the marshes, woods, and ocean that surrounded her.
https://www.amazon.com/God-Dr-Buzzard-Bolito-Man/dp/0385493770/?tag=2022091-20
2001
https://www.amazon.com/Foods-Georgias-Barrier-Islands-Influences/dp/B00CHR8WSG/?tag=2022091-20
2004
(A Geechee Homecoming is a historical fiction set in 1858 ...)
A Geechee Homecoming is a historical fiction set in 1858 on Bonita Island Plantation. It is the story of Etta. She and her mother are house servants to the Wilsons, master, and mistress of the plantation. Oddly, Etta has been allowed to go to the mainland to help her grandmother, a freed slave. She is called back to the island when her mother is sent away from the Main House in disgrace. They must adapt to the life of farmhands among their Geechee family and friends. Etta grows in appreciation for her history and culture. She finds her place as she learns about conjuring, medicinal plants, the ring shout, and her own ancestry.
https://www.amazon.com/Geechee-Homecoming-Philip-Wright-ebook/dp/B017GDC4MU/?tag=2022091-20
2015
Cornelia Walker Bailey was born on June 12, 1945, to Hicks Walker and Hettie Bryant. She was a descendant of Bilali Muhammad, an enslaved person and a Muslim from West Africa who worked on Thomas Spalding's plantation. Bailey grew up in the settlement of Belle Marsh on Sapelo Island, one of many communities that traced their heritage back to freed slaves who purchased land on the isolated island. She was a daughter of Hicks, who was a net maker, and Hettie Bryant Walker.
Cornelia Walker Bailey ran a gift house "The Wallow Lodge." After that, Cornelia worked as an operator of a small bed & bath.
In 2000 Cornelia Walker Bailey 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.
Bailey became one of Georgia's most vocal defenders of her homeland and its African American heritage. She appreciated her homeland and contributed to the development of Saltwater Geechee so much. Therefore, in 2004 she received a Governor's Award in the Humanities for her cultural preservation work.
(A Geechee Homecoming is a historical fiction set in 1858 ...)
2015(Equal parts cultural history and memoir, God, Dr. Buzzard...)
2001Cornelia was a Democrat.
Quotations: “[I wrote because] I felt I had a story to tell and all the old people told me to do it. Bless them. My ancestors and true friends [influence my work], I write in the form of telling a story and it really makes sense; and it stays with me and the reader longer. My people [inspired me to write on the subjects I have chosen.] They gave me the needed stories of life and how it was dealt to you. I felt I was given the job of carrying and passing these stories of life along to others.”
Cornelia became a founder of a non-profit organization "Duplin Rising". In 1993, she co-founded the Sapelo Island Cultural Revitalization Society (SICARS) with president and friend Inez Grovner. Cornelia was a Girl Scouts organizer.
Cornelia was a dark sturdy trunk of a woman, handsome and regal.
“I just wanted to be a normal kid,” wrote Cornelia. “I didn’t want to be able to see the future or predict whether someone was gonna have a baby boy or girl. The only signs I wanted to read were the signs Papa could read from nature, like when the tide is right for fishing.”
Cornelia was married to Julius F. Bailey on August 3, 1963. He was a businessman. They had got seven children: Stanley, Ten, Julius, Greg, Maurice, Tory, Janetta. Greg is deceased.
Her father, Hicks Walker, often worked for R. J. Reynolds Jr., the tobacco heir, at the mansion he owned on the island.
Ms. Bailey’s mother, Hettie Bryant, was, like many in the community, a believer in spirits; when the eyeglasses that she was sure she had left on a particular table would disappear, she would suspect a long-dead uncle of having moved them.
a Muslim man who was both enslaved and free on Sapelo during the 1800s.
Greg is deceased.
