Jeanne Moutoussamy-Ashe and the Last Gullah Islands

When Moutoussamy-Ashe made her photographs of Daufuskie, there were around just 80 permanent residents left on the island–roughly twice the number pictured in this group portrait of a wedding party. The destruction of Daufuskie’s cotton crop by the boll weevil in the early 1900s had a long-lasting impact on the island’s economy and infrastructure, and local jobs disappeared as pollution from the Savannah River contaminated its once-thriving oyster beds. By the 1970s, real estate developers were circling, emboldened by neighboring Hilton Head Island’s burgeoning reputation as a profitable tourist destination. Though an outsider, Moutoussamy-Ashe’s respect and gentle curiosity earned her the Daufuskie community’s trust.  “Because the Daufuskie I photographed no longer exists,” she would later write, “I know now that these photos are an invaluable archive for the islanders and greater American society, which makes me confident that their trust was not misplaced.”