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A film honors America’s first self-governed town founded by formerly enslaved people
#Mitchelville#Gullah Geechee#Documentary film#Self-governed town#Enslaved people#Hilton Head Island#Cultural preservation#American Civil War
📌 Key Takeaways
A new documentary film 'The Spirit We Move With' explores America's first self-governed town founded by formerly enslaved people
Mitchelville, established in 1862 on Hilton Head Island, featured unprecedented freedoms for African Americans including self-governance and mandated education
The Gullah Geechee community has faced significant challenges including cultural assimilation pressures and land loss, with ownership decreasing by 70% since 1995
The documentary emphasizes the living culture of the Gullah Geechee people, using storytelling to preserve their heritage and showcase their resilience
The film will screen at various festivals after its premiere at Mitchelville Freedom Park, bringing this important history to wider audiences
📖 Full Retelling
In early 2025, the documentary film 'The Spirit We Move With' premiered at Mitchelville Freedom Park on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, exploring America's first self-governed town established by formerly enslaved people. Directed by Andrew Maguire and executive-produced by Lola Campbell, a sixth-generation Hilton Head native, the film chronicles the historic Mitchelville community founded in 1862 during the American Civil War, named after Union Major General Ormsby Mitchel. The documentary serves as both a historical record and a testament to the enduring legacy of the Gullah Geechee people, who built their own homes, elected officials, created their economy, and mandated education for their children—unprecedented freedoms for African Americans at that time.
The film highlights how Mitchelville represented a radical departure from the bondage previously experienced by its residents, as individuals gained autonomy over their lives, from clothing choices to social relationships and movement. For the Gullah Geechee community, whose descendants still inhabit Hilton Head, the documentary captures their resilience in the face of ongoing challenges including cultural assimilation, economic pressures, and land loss. Since 1880, when the island was 98% Black, Hilton Head has become approximately 77% white, and Gullah Geechee land ownership has decreased by about 70% since 1995 due to development pressures. The documentary addresses this complex history while showcasing the community's vibrant living culture through stories, traditions, and family connections.
'The Spirit We Move With' emphasizes that the Gullah Geechee people are not merely figures of the past but active pioneers shaping their future. Campbell, whose family traces ancestry back to an enslaved person brought to the island around 1820, underscores the importance of storytelling in cultural preservation. The film captures intimate moments like Sunday family dinners to foster genuine connections and authenticity. After its premiere, the documentary will screen at various festivals, including the Rapport festival in Brixton, London on March 28, 2025. Through its exploration of family, food, and land traditions, the film challenges outsiders to recognize the Gullah Geechee as a living, continuously developing culture rather than a historical relic, ensuring their stories and contributions are preserved for future generations.
🏷️ Themes
Historical Preservation, Cultural Resilience, Community Identity, Social Justice
Mitchelville was a town built during the American Civil War for formerly enslaved people, located on what is now Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. It was named for one of the local Union Army generals, Ormsby M. Mitchel. The town was a population center for the enterprise known as the Port Royal E...
African American ethnic group in the Southern United States
Gullahs () are a subgroup of African Americans who predominantly live in the Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, as well as the Sea Islands. Their language and culture have preserved a high volume of Africanisms as a result of their historica...
Hilton Head Island (sometimes referred to as simply Hilton Head) is a resort town in Beaufort County, South Carolina, United States. It is a barrier island within the South Carolina Lowcountry, located 20 miles (32 km) northeast of Savannah, Georgia, and 95 miles (153 km) southwest of Charleston. Th...
Slavery is the ownership of a person as property, especially in regard to their labour. It is an economic phenomenon and its history resides in economic history. Slavery typically involves compulsory work, with the slave's location of work and residence dictated by the party that holds them in bonda...
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in terms of "a fi...
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Original Source
A film honors America’s first self-governed town founded by formerly enslaved people The Spirit We Move With explores the legacy of Mitchelville on Hilton Head Island and its Gullah Geechee community I n 1862, while the American civil war spread across the country, formerly enslaved people on Hilton Head Island in South Carolina were imagining a new future and envisioning new possibilities. They began organizing themselves and eventually created the first self-governed, autonomous city for freed people. It was called Mitchelville , named for the Union army Maj Gen Ormsby Mitchel, who led what would become known as the Port Royal Experiment, a model for how the country might transition away from slavery that served as a precursor to the Reconstruction period. The freed people, who would come to be known as the Gullah Geechee , built their own homes, elected their own officials, created their own economy and, for the first time in US history, mandated education for their children . Each individual made their own decisions, from what they would wear, to whom they would see, to where they would go – decisions that they were prevented from making when they were kept in bondage. The Spirit We Move With, a new documentary set on Hilton Head Island, explores the story of the historic Mitchelville and its connection to Gullah Geechee descendants today. The film underscores the notion that Gullah Geechee people don’t just have a past; they are also the pioneers of their future. While their history is a central theme of the film, the Gullah people and families who are featured in the short ensure that viewers come away understanding their resiliency and their continued impact on the island they have called home for generations. The short, directed by Andrew Maguire and executive-produced by Lola Campbell, who is also featured in the film, was developed by the island’s Gullah community and made in partnership with the Hilton Head Island-Bluffton chamber of commerce. After premi...
