Queen Quet of the Gullah/Geechee Nation Embarks on World Tour from Queen City to Queen’s Park
Queen Quet, Chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation who was homegrown on historic St. Helena and Polowana Islands, SC in the Gullah/Geechee Nation has embarked on her annual world tour. The focus of this year’s fundraising and Gullah/Geechee awareness tour is “Healin de Land.” Queen Quet will begin the national and global travels in the Queen City of Cincinatti, OH by providing the keynote address at the kickoff dinner for the “Neighborhood Summit Conference” at the Cintas Center of Xavier University on Friday, March 15, 2019 at 7 pm.
Queen Quet will depart the Sea Islands for the island of Bermuda where she will be joined by other royalty including Dame Fiona Reynolds, HRH the Prince of Wales, HRH Princess Dana Firas of Jordan, President of the Petra National Trust and Dame Pamela Gordon Banks, first female Premier of Bermuda as they present at “Arms Wide Open,” the International Conference of National Trust. Queen Quet will not only keynote, but will also be a panelist for the session entitled “Whose Heritage Counts?”
Queen Quet’s journey continues across the United States as she opens the National Adaptation Forum (NAF) in Madison, Wisconsin and leads a training session with other members of the Gullah/Geechee Sustainability Think Tank. The Gullah/Geechee Sustainability Think Tank members will continue their collaboration by also presenting at the Keeping History Above Water Conference in St. Augustine, Florida. Queen Quet has presented at both of these national conferences in the past and is currently serving on the equity committee for the NAF. She will share her personal knowledge concerning sea level rise and the protection of cultural heritage resources in the face of climate change and in adaptation and resilience planning at both of these events before heading back to the University of Florida in Gainesville to provide a similar lecture centered on how these things affect public health.
Queen Quet has been invited to return to UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France for the International Water Conference in May. The testimony that Queen Quet recently gave before the United States Congress not only emphasized the importance of water to the cultural heritage of the Gullah/Geechees, but it also floated across the internet and went viral!
Queen Quet and the co-founder of the Gullah/Geechee Nation International Music & Movement Festival™ have sent out a global call to have the entire African Diaspora join them in this “Healin de Land” journey as they take their event to be part of the Crop Over on the island of Barbados during Father’s Day weekend in June. She will be welcomed there by Visit Barbados, Minister of Culture, the Honorable John King, former Ambassador Michael King, Consul General Neval Greenidge and a host of other dignitaries including the Pan-African leaders of the island. Queen Quet will have the opportunity to examine the agricultural and land use traditions on the island and will present at the Hackett Theater in Queen’s Park. as part The Gullah/Geechee Nation delegation will celebrate relinking the bloodlines and history with their Bajan family.
They will continue the celebration during the annual “Gullah/Geechee Nation Appreciation Week” in July which will be kicked off at Mosquito Beach on Saturday, July 27th at Noon once again. Queen Quet says “Disya gwine be a Gullah/Geechee famlee reunion at Skeeta Beach!”
The Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition that Queen Quet founded in 1996 and which remains the premiere advocacy organization for Gullah/Geechee rights around the world has been working with the Mosquito Beach Business Association for several years to restore and revitalize Mosquito Beach. The beach suffered more damage during the hurricanes and tropical storms of the past two years, but has once again started buzzing. The community invites everyone to come down to this historic Black business area and support the Gullah/Geechee economy and to help keep alive Mosquito Beach’s historic legacy.
Queen Quet’s continued work regarding the water ways, climate change, adaptation, resilience, and the protection and continuation of Gullah/Geechee cultural heritage continues to receive support from the University of Minnesota which recently named Queen Quet and Representative Glenda Simmons-Jenkins of the Gullah/Geechee Nation CREATE Fellows. Queen Quet hopes that the work that they are embarking on within that program will be coupled with the USA Today Community Thrives fundraising effort for her “Gullah/Geechee Rising SEA” project. This CrowdRise fundraising challenge to obtain a six figured grant that matches or surpasses the online funds raised will kick off on Monday, March 18, 2019 at https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/gullahgeechee-angel-network-south-carolina
Queen Quet is encouraging all those that truly support the efforts to keep Gullah/Geechee culture alive on the Sea Islands to contribute to the campaign within the 1 month that the Gullah/Geechee Nation’s official 501(c)3, the Gullah/Geechee Angel Network has for donations to be contributed. The competition for which organization raises the most funds will end in April. So, as Queen Quet flies from point to point healin’ de land, she is calling on the world to join in supporting this effort so that the Gullah/Geechee Nation can continue to stand.
Queen Quet states:
“Ef bout de Gullah/Geechee culcha gwine on hunnuh wan lun all hunnuh caan, den hunnuh hafa support we pun disya journee fa heal de land.”
To keep up with the additional stops on Queen Quet’s world tour or to sponsor a stop at your island, city or country, go towww.QueenQuet.com or follow www.GullahGeecheeNation.com and @GullahGeechee on Twitter and Instagram.
