Gullah/GeeChee Cultural Heritage Act
GULLAH/GEECHEE CULTURAL HERITAGE ACT -- (House of Representatives - March 14, 2005)
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Mr. CLYBURN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman very much for yielding me the time. I want to thank her for her good work on the subcommittee on this legislation. I want to thank the majority side for their unique understanding of a unique slice of the American culture.
My colleagues may recall, Mr. Speaker, that we passed this legislation last year unanimously. It also passed in the other body, but time ran out before we could reconcile the differences that were in the two bills.
I want to point out today, for those people who may be listening, that this time around we did move to incorporate all of the aspects of the study conducted by the National Park Service. Last year, we only recognized South Carolina and Georgia in the legislation. In this legislation, however, we have moved to bring Florida and North Carolina into the corridor, and that gives it the credibility that a lot of mail I got indicated was lacking the last time around.
I want to just point out that I do not believe there is anyone who has ever traveled to Charleston, South Carolina, or to Beaufort County, South Carolina, or to the Jacksonville area of North Carolina or the Jacksonville area of Florida who have not encountered some unique aspects of this culture. One need only walk the streets of Charleston and see the art of basket weaving, the sweet grass baskets that are made there, all coming out of this culture.
One of the reasons we thought it necessary to move quickly, as the National Park Service urged us to do, was because just that unique craft itself is beginning to dissipate, if not disappear, simply because of the sweet grass that is needed in order to make those baskets is fast disappearing, and we want to do what is necessary to preserve and protect that art and the culture that goes along with it.
I just want to point out, Mr. Speaker, that the communities that are identified along this corridor, many of them in years past were dependent upon textiles and tobacco as a large part of their economy. We all know going forward that that is not going to be a significant part of their future, but we also know that tourism is growing at 6 percent a year. Heritage tourism is growing around 30 percent a year, and we do believe that these communities, with the culture that is indigenous to the area, will benefit greatly from this legislation and bring them into the mainstream of activity of South Carolina's coast, Georgia's coast, Florida and North Carolina going forward.
So I want to thank the Members of this body for the work last year, thank the committee for bringing this bill to the floor so quickly this year, and I am hopeful that my colleagues will give us a favorable vote on it today.
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