In 2017 Charleston earned an alarming award for the fastest gentrifying city in the United States and continues to make the top ten lists in the coming years.
Although gentrification brings advancements to the community, the influx of people is disenfranchising one of the Lowcountry’s most marginalized groups - African Americans.
And this means it is also destroying some of the history of Charleston’s Gullah Geechee, a culture steeped in the traditions and language of enslaved Africans brought to the Southeast.
Gentrification in Charleston has severely affected both the education level and affordable housing availability for residents of the communities due to the mass influx of people moving here daily.
This redevelopment has disproportionately affected African Americans who live in many of these communities, which has also threatened preservation of the Gullah/Geechee culture here.
by Fern Wooden-Edwards