Seitz III: The Spirit of Gullah

What fascinates you about the Gullah people?

What fascinates me the most is that the Gullah people have kept parts of their history, their heritage, in a place and time where it may not be the most popular or easy thing to do. The Gullah people revere their ancestors and work hard to bring honor to them. In modern-day times, this is refreshing and rare.

How did you obtain your research?

I began by researching on the internet, reading articles from newspapers and such. What I learned ultimately was that the media is often incorrect in its relaying of facts. After the book was written, I had a couple of people who knew first-hand about the Gullah culture read it and help me with my Gullah translations and Mount Pleasant African-American vernacular—not to mention customs and other important details. Those people were Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation and Alada Shinault-Small of the Avery Research Center at College of Charleston. Their help was immeasurable.

Why do you think their culture is important for a national platform?

I think I was drawn to the Gullah culture because I grew up on a South Carolina Sea Island. There was a large Gullah population on Hilton Head, yet I never understood the importance of it until I moved a little north to Mount Pleasant where basket makers are celebrated. When my eyes were opened, I wondered, “How did I not know about this culture sooner?” or maybe more importantly, “Did I not care?”

What I realized was that too many times Americans consider “black history” to be for blacks only. This is not true. Black history is “American history”. It’s important to all Americans to understand our beginnings—to understand one another. Learning about the Gullah culture, whether you’re black, white, Asian, it doesn’t matter…it’s important because it helps us to understand our beginnings and also how we can each retain unique aspects of our heritage, yet strengthen our connections between ethnicities. As a Southerner, there are also so many facets of Southern culture that are a result of direct contributions of the Gullah people—food, art, language, you name it.

Stay tuned next week Nicole will share her road to publication with us. If you have any questions for her, please leave them here in the comments section.

Seitz II: Black Spiritualism

Yesterday, Nicole introduced herself to us. Today we're talking about Black Spiritualism and its role in her debut novel, The Spirit of Sweetgrass.

An excerpt from the Spirit of Sweetgrass...

Gullahs are real respectful of the dead, and they want to make sure they go onto the afterworld, and don't come back for haunting. Back in 1939 when my grandma died, I can remember ma turning the mirrors in the house backward, facing the wall, so Gran's spirit wouldn't reflect.

What do you know about Black spiritualism?

Black spiritualism is the blending of old and new beliefs, traditions, practices into one harmonious spiritual belief system. Certain aspects can be borrowed from Protestantism, Catholicism, etc, yet traditional African spirituality remains. In Louisiana, there is a blend of Catholicism with African spirituality including aspects of the Voudon religion. Here in the Lowcountry, it’s a mix with Protestantism instead.

When I first started writing this book, I was soon after put on bed rest for some problems in my pregnancy. God put me in the capable hands of an African-American woman who had been a nanny and sweetgrass basket maker. She watched over me and my then one-year old daughter. I could not write, but found myself listening to her praises to Jesus.

The black community is fascinating to me in that spirituality spreads throughout ever facet of life—in speech, in family life, everything. I come from a background where spiritual things are not talked about very much except in church. If you do talk of such things you feel funny, people are uncomfortable. As a Christian, I want my connection to God to permeate every facet of my life, no matter how people look at me. This is my heart’s connection to the black community.

How important is this religious thought to Essie Mae?

Essie Mae is a simple woman. She loves Jesus. She loves her family. She has a respect for her roots, both Gullah and Creole. She has a reverence for spiritual mysticism, understands the power of it, fears it at times. Ultimately, she puts her faith in God as her true power.

You cannot have Essie Mae in existence without her spirituality. Loving Jesus is who she is. Bringing that love to her family and friends is a natural extension.

How does Black spiritualism fit in our Christian worldview?

It’s hard for those of us who are not Black to understand how ancient beliefs and practices brought to America by African forefathers can coincide gracefully with Christian beliefs, but these are things embedded in the fabric of the black community. The one does not negate the other—loving Jesus Christ.

How much did orthodoxy played a role in your theme?

To be honest, I simply told Essie Mae’s story. I was not too concerned with rigidity to rules or orthodoxy in religion. Essie Mae is a “real” character. Things in her world as in ours are not “black and white”. There is much gray in this world. I explored some of these gray areas and allowed my imagination to soar.

Monday we will explore the Gullah people and the art of sweetgrass. If you have questions for Nicole, leave them in our comments section.

Interview: Nicole Seitz

Today CFB is having I think its first author interview of the year. Haven't done these in a while, but poll results show that readers want more interviews. So we're giving it to you. :)

For the next few days Nicole Seitz will be sharing her love for Christ and writing with us. Remember this month CFB is featuring her debut novel, The Spirit of Sweetgrass. If you have any questions you want to ask Nicole, leave them here in our commennts section.

Nicole, briefly share your writing journey.

I have a degree in journalism, and I wrote for local newspapers when I was going back to school for illustration in the early mid-90s. I didn’t write for publication again until I did an article on local artists for South Carolina Magazine a few years back. Since then, I’ve written another piece on sweetgrass basket makers for the same magazine.

When I was expecting my daughter, I started working on my first piece of fiction, a middle-grade novel. It remains unpublished, but I finally finished it a year and a half later and learned that I could, indeed, complete a manuscript. I was not planning to write an adult novel until I got the idea for The Spirit of Sweetgrass, driving past the roadside stands here in Mount Pleasant while pregnant with my son. The Spirit of Sweetgrass is my first published novel. My next novel, Trouble the Water, will be out in February 2008.

Nicole, define Christian Fiction.

To me, Christian fiction is fiction written by Christians. Period. If you are writing ultimately to honor God, I believe the story you need to tell will come out. It may not, however, fit into tradition “Christian fiction” mold.

Why did you choose this character to build your stories around?

I'm not sure I can say I chose this character. It was more like she chose me. I had a general idea for the book, started some research and the next morning at about 4 AM, woke up with Essie Mae “speaking” through me loud and clear. It sounds strange, I know. But true.

Although you are not African American, did you feel ever uneasy for building an african-american character?

Yes. I would worry at night in bed about it. I would not have chosen to write an African-American in first person if I could have dreamed up the perfect debut into publishing. However, God gave me this story. I would pray to Him, ‘are you sure?,’ and He’d reassure me to keep going. I chose to be faithful and face whatever may come my way.

Tomorrow we will talk about Black Spirituality and is importance in Christianity.

Juneteenth Rain Storm

Rain Storm
Vanessa Miller
4 hallelujah handclaps
Setting: Chicago

This contemporary remake of the Book of Hosea is an urban treat with a juicy cherry on top. Filled with characters you hate to love and love to hate Miller has set the pace for the urban Christian sub-genre. It’s gritty, heartwarming, drama-packed, and tender in just the right places. I was pleasantly surprised.

However, Nina, Keith, Isaac, Cynda’s flashbacks slowed the pace down. Readers note that this story contains graphic language and violence

The romance that developed between Keith and Cynda was great wish fulfillment. The two deserved each other by the end. Keith’s passion reminded me of the Late Great Reverend Hosea Williams more so, then the Prophet Hosea. Although the Bible doesn’t go into great detail of bad girl Gomer, her indiscretions didn’t pail in comparison to Miller’s Cynda.

Summary: What if God told you to marry the man of your nightmares? Rev. Hosea Keith Williams faces that horrible fate when something inside him—God—leads him to believe that he has to marry Cynda Stephens, the most troublesome prostitute in Chi-town. To make matters worst Cynda is holding a secret that he can’t keep from his best friend, Isaac, a secret that may shatter Isaac’s marriage to his wife, Nina. Yet with a name like Hosea, he has no choice but to do the right thing or the wrong thing depending upon how his church members, family and friends look at it. Did God really speak to him or did his lust?

Feisty, overbearing, but gorgeous Cynda Stephens needs help, if only she could believe it. This drug addict’s only redeeming quality is her quest to change her daughter’s future for the better. When she decided to trust Keith with her daughter, Iona found herself also trusting him with her heart. If only she can realize it before it’s too late to reconcile their relationship…

(Urban Books, May, 288pp., $14.95)

—Dee Y. Stewart