The University of Lynchburg will host a virtual presentation by Marquetta L. “Queen Quet” Goodwine, chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 29.
The lecture, which is free and open to the public, is titled, “We de Land and de Land da We: Sustainable Solutions of the Gullah/Geechee.” It is co-sponsored by the University of Lynchburg’s Office of Inclusive Excellence and School of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
The Zoom meeting can be joined here.
Queen Quet is a lecturer, historian, columnist, preservationist, environmentalist, environmental justice advocate, mathematician, computer scientist, and film consultant. She is the elected chieftess of the Gullah/Geechee Nation, an African American cultural heritage region that stretches from Jacksonville, North Carolina, to Jacksonville, Florida.
She is the author of numerous books and founder of the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition, which has been described as the “premiere advocacy organization for the continuation of Gullah/Geechee culture.”
Queen Quet was the first of her people to speak on behalf of the Gullah/Geechee Nation at the United Nations in Switzerland.
She also was the Gullah/Geechee cultural heritage consultant for the TV series “Underground,” a period drama that follows several enslaved people on their quest for freedom via the Underground Railroad.
Dalton Cooper ’16, an alumnus, social worker, and co-chair of Lynchburg’s JEDI — Justice, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion — Education Committee, described the upcoming lecture as a “very good opportunity to understand racial and cultural diversity.”
He also sees it as an opportunity for participants to learn more about the Gullah/Geechee people, a group he believes “deserve[s] some more attention.”
As someone with a multicultural background himself, Cooper said he feels obligated to “reach out to these communities and lift these voices and stories up,” and Queen Quet’s lecture will be an opportunity for students and the wider community to better understand the importance of community.
“That is one of the core tenets of Gullah/Geechee culture,” Cooper said.
For more information about Queen Quet’s lecture, contact Dr. Robert Canida II, chief inclusive excellence officer, at [email protected] or 434.544.8540.
