点评:We came here interested to learn more about the area's Gullah-Geechee history and culture. The museum was strongly recommended to us by a docent at another area museum as well as by our tour book.
The person working at the front desk seemed very friendly. In hindsight, I think we would have benefited from asking her to show us around the museum (paying an additional fee, if that were an option). It's possible our not getting more out of the museum was our own fault.
The museum is in a small room and is packed full of pictures, text, and miscellaneous artifacts. Despite all the items, we still came away feeling we had less of a strong understanding of Gullah-Geechee culture than we expected. During the era of plantations and slavery, many enslaved people from rice growing regions in western Africa were brought to the southeast and forced to work on the rice plantations. Although from different sub-regions and cultures in Africa, this group formed a unique and interesting new culture here in the Americas (along the coast from Wilmington NC to Jacksonville FL). That is an intriguing backstory that excites my interest.
But I left the museum without being able to define clearly what that unique new culture was (beyond a few basics like a shared language and sweetgrass basket weaving). I wanted to understand better what else made that culture unique - what was unique about their food, religious traditions, etc. I think much of that info probably was discoverable within the museum for someone with more time than we had or someone better able to synthesize seemingly random, discrete artifacts, photos, etc. I would have benefited from a more structured presentation of info.
The museum has no mandatory admission fee and there is no pressure to make a contribution. It has a recommended contribution amount of $10 per person.
翻译:我们来这里是为了更多地了解当地的格拉-吉奇(Gullah-Geechee)历史和文化。另一家博物馆的讲解员以及我们的旅游指南都强烈推荐了这家博物馆。
前台的工作人员看起来非常友好。现在想想,如果我们当时请她带我们参观一下博物馆(如果可以的话,额外付费),或许会更有帮助。也许我们没能从博物馆获得更多信息,是因为我们自己没能做到。
博物馆位于一个很小的房间里,里面摆满了图片、文字和各种各样的文物。尽管展品很多,我们离开时仍然感觉对格拉-吉奇文化的了解不如预期。在种植园和奴隶制时期,许多来自西非稻米种植区的奴隶被带到东南部,被迫在稻米种植园里劳作。尽管他们来自非洲不同的亚区域和文化,但这个群体在美洲(从北卡罗来纳州威尔明顿到佛罗里达州杰克逊维尔沿岸)形成了一种独特而有趣的新文化。这段引人入胜的背景故事激发了我的兴趣。
然而,离开博物馆时,我仍然无法清晰地定义这种独特的新文化究竟是什么(除了共同的语言和甜草编织等一些基本特征之外)。我渴望更深入地了解这种文化的独特之处——他们的饮食、宗教传统等等有何独特之处。我认为,对于那些时间充裕或更善于整合看似零散的文物、照片等信息的人来说,这些信息或许可以在博物馆内找到。如果信息呈现方式更加系统化,我会受益匪浅。
博物馆不收取强制性门票,也不会强迫捐款。建议捐款金额为每人10美元。