Where the story begins

The complicated history of Charleston has sometimes been eclipsed by its myriad Southern charms. But the Holy City is taking steps to confront—and honor—the difficult parts of its past

- By Latria Graham

In Charleston, the land bears witness. But the water is where the story begins.

It was on the waves of the Atlantic, beginning in the 16th century, that hundreds of thousands of enslaved Africans-packed tightly into the cargo holds of European slave ships-were transported from West Africa to the Americas. If they survived the treacherous crossing known as the Middle Passage, most would arrive at Sullivan's Island, a two-and-a-half-mile-long barrier island separating the city of Charleston from the Atlantic Ocean. After a period of quarantine, they would be transferred to mainland Charleston, to a dock known as Gadsden's Wharf, and sold to the highest bidder.

Before the American Revolution, this enslaved labor force built the South Carolina Low Country into a place of unfettered prosperity, with Charleston as its epicenter. The goods wrought through its plantation economy-indigo, rice, and later sea island cotton-made Charleston the wealthiest city in the 13 colonies. Isolated and forced to toil on these hot, humid coastal plantations, West Africans were able to retain pieces of their culture, passing down songs, stories, and foodways from their home across the ocean. After emancipation, some stayed on and created self-sustaining coastal communities. Their descendants became known as the Gullah Geechee. A swath of land along the coast, which stretches from Wilmington, North Carolina, down to Jacksonville, Florida, is now called the Gullah Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.