Day 23 of 28 – Black History Month – Julie Dash

By: Jacqueline McKay

Julie Dash (Oct. 22, 1952 – )

Author photo can be found here: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0201969/

Daughters of the Dust, written by author and film maker, Julie Dash, tells the story of an Anthropology student who travels back through generations to claim the stories and the heritage of her Gullah past. Surprisingly, I read the book so long ago and loved it, but have not yet seen the original film, which the novel is a sequel to. Reading about The Sea Islands off the Carolina coast and the strong connection to our African past in that region was enlightening. Beautifully written, Ms. Dash draws the reader into her story and the history of the characters.

Doing some research (I had bought the book for an Anthropology class), I found that the Gullah language and syntax was comfortably similar to some Caribbean dialects. In some cases it was spot on. I’ve since bought as many books on the Gullah culture and language as I can find and have done comparisons to my own Island speech.

I give this read 2 thumbs up. Check it out – Daughters of the Dust.