Family Across The Sea

An interesting real-life "Roots" story, Family Across the Sea follows a group of Gullah people from South Carolina who travel to Sierra Leone, in West Africa, to see their homeland. Historical research has shown that slaves imported to the Sea Islands off the coast of South Carolina were chosen specifically for their rice cultivating capabilities, techniques they learned in the Sierra Leone area. Linguistic research has also revealed the striking similarity between the "secret" language of the Gullah people (a kind of pidgin English) and Krio, the language of the British freed slaves who settled Sierra Leone. The story of the Gullah people's travels in America (some ended up in Oklahoma--as a result of having fought alongside the Seminole Indians in southern Florida, and walking the "trail of tears") is intriguing. And the celebration in Sierra Leone during the Gullah delegation's visit is joyous. The somber moments near the film's close, when the Gullah people visit Bunce Island, where their ancestors were shipped to America, will be moving to some, merely curious to others. As a Heinz 57 American (English, French, and who knows what else), it is difficult for me to identify with the Gullah woman who says she has "finally come home" to a place that neither she nor any relative in her memory has ever known. My wife, on the other hand, another Heinz 57 type, was able to sympathize with the Gullah people's sentiments, and compared their reactions to those of a person visiting Auschwitz, regardless of his or her cultural background, arguing that man's inhumanity to man should inspire horror and pity in us all regardless of our ancestry. She has a good point. Recommended. (See BLACK ATHENA for availability.)