The Sea Islands are a chain of tidal and barrier islands on the Atlantic Ocean coast of the United States. They number over 100, and are located between the mouths of the Santee and St. Johns Rivers along the coast of the U.S. states of South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. They are noted historically for their distinct Gullah/Geechee Creole-type culture and language and currently for rapid resort, recreational, and residential development.
During the American Civil War, the Union Navy and the Union Army occupied the islands early in the war. The whites had fled to the mainland while the blacks stayed, largely running their own lives (as they already had much of the time, since plantation families often stayed on the mainland to avoid malaria and isolation). This changed after President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. When the proclamation went into effect on January 1, 1863, over 5,000 slaves on Union-occupied islands obtained their freedom. Unlike some Union-occupied areas of Virginia and Louisiana, the Sea Islands were not exempted from the Proclamation.[1]
They were also struck by the Sea Islands Hurricane in 1893.
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   | Pritchards Island - University of South Carolina Beaufort |
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