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For Charleston in the lowcountry, it all starts with rice.

But it's a complicated start because rice and the knowledge and skills to cultivate it comes to the lowcountry through the transatlantic slave trade.

Rice wasn't the only thing the enslaved peoples of West Africa brought with them across the sea.

They brought the arts, music, cultures, and language.

It's changed, blended, transformed, yes, but it's still here.

In and around the low country of South Carolina, we call it Gullah.

And we discovered the Gullah tradition has inspired some of the greatest food, music, and craft coming out of the lowcountry to this day.

[music playing] [non-english speech] [non-english speech] [music playing] We set out to learn more about the ways the deep Gullah roots have impacted the people and communities in and around the lowcountry.

One of the most recognizable Gullah traditions in the region is the weaving of sweetgrass baskets-- a beautiful craft that has been passed down for generations.

We met with Nakia a master basket maker at her basket stand just across the bridge from Charleston in the city of Mount Pleasant.

We discovered when we got there that many of the stands are now abandoned or unused to the transformation of what was once a dirt road into the major thoroughfare it is today.

I know when I first came to Charleston, I had never even heard the word.

Believe it or not, I haven't heard the term Gullah on my life either.

Interesting.

I heard the term Geechee but in a derogatory way.

Gullah, it's language, is food, is history, is a way of life.

And it's been handed down in tradition all the way back to West Africa, almost 400 years.

It's very important that a lot of people even people that lived in South Carolina, some of them had never even heard of sweetgrass baskets.

It was all about rice.

And unfortunately, the Europeans did not know how to grow rice and Africans did.

So instead of trying to form a partnership, they decided to capture people into slavery.

And that's how this whole basket making business came over here because it made baskets over in Africa to winnow the rice.

You're still very connected to that past.

Very connected-- What about the present?

I love my home.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I want to raise Mount Pleasant home with the sweetgrass basket makers.

But I always thought that there was a part of me missing my whole life.

And I got to find my other side.

And so that's when I went start seeking, looking for where I came from.

This longing compelled Nakia to travel to Sierra Leone to try and learn more.

When I went over there and I saw the grass laid out and look identical.

Are you serious?

Identical to this.

Before, I thought, my family was closer to the people in Senegal because if you look at the style, you can see the grass between the binding material.

Right.

Like here.

But when I went to Sierra Leone and actually saw the grass that they were using and see that it's exactly the same thing that we're using, then I know, Sierra Leone is the real connection.

What was it like to land in West Africa and think about your roots?

I'll tell you, when I was flying on the plane, I was fine.

When the pilot said we are five minutes away, the tears just started falling.

Oh, my God.

I mean like a waterfall.

Do you know what tribe your ancestors were from or-- I don't.

But when I went to Sierra Leone, I went to the Rogbonko village.

They're not-- I'm going to adopt them as-- because like I say, this is what connects us.

We're sewing together forever because of this right here.

The Gullah culture was preserved partly due to the relative isolation of the enslaved peoples working rice plantations on the Sea Islands of North Carolina.

Variations on this story can be found up and down the East Coast.

This environment allowed the many different West African cultures and beliefs to blend and simmer like a one pot dish.

Often, quite literally.

Many amazing culinary traditions we treasure in the South started in those communities.

These traditions continue to inspire chefs today, one of which is Marcus Middleton.

Marcus owner of Keoni's lowcountry diaspora food trailer.

You can find him all over the region.

But he invited us to a meal on his family property about an hour North of Mount Pleasant.

What we have here is pine-built South Carolina, St. Stephen South Carolina on that border.

We're in the country.

Yeah.

We're deep in the country.

And to be honest, a lot of people call it the boonies.

boonies?

Yeah.

The boondocks.

Somewhere to you, right.

I grew up here.

This is your home.

Right, right, right, right.

Everywhere is somewhere.

Everywhere is somewhere.

But the good thing about it, it's peace and quiet.

You know, I don't hear a lot of sirens, traffic, accidents.

Yeah.

Y'all used to farm out here?

Yes, my grandfather sore on this land.

My grandfather would have corn, cabbage, watermelon, everything, man.

Yeah.

So y'all grew up cooking early on.

To be honest, that would put me in the cooking scene.

We would have five to seven gatherings a year with goat leg, crab stuffed shrimp, and we will cook just because it's Saturday or Christmas Eve.

Yeah.

We would just show love and fellowship with each other.

That's true.

Breaking bread, right?

Yeah.

We got to.

So tell me what we're going to make here.

Today, we're going to do a very local dish.

It's a perloo It's a one-pot dish and we're going to have some rice, chicken, and some ginger, bell peppers, garlic, onions, and a lot of love in this pot.

One, I'm just using my hands right now.

I'm going with what I see, what I feel, what I want to taste, and what I want to provide.

So what's the history between-- behind the one pot?

Oh, man.

So when it comes to one-pot dish, sometimes, that's all you had.

The Gullah culture, man.

They brought rice with them, okra with them, a lot of knowledge with them on how to grow these things.

This is one of the key dishes that came with the slave trade coming from West Africa, Sierra Leone side.

Do you feel like the younger generations are coming back to fresh made food?

To be honest, I think so.

I'm a '90s baby.

No, you just bragging.

[laughter] A lot of people that's in my generation, they're looking for ownership.

Health is wealth.

If you have these knowledge, you definitely can cook and control what you put in your body.

And that's the first thing.

The way you cut that, I just learned something.

I'm never going to cut it the old way again.

I love to teach old dogs new tricks.

[laughter] You don't see.

You got to use everything.

Everything.

You know what I'm saying.

From the roota to the toota.

I love barbecue.

When I barbecue, I keep some of the fat.

I smoked a pig about maybe three weeks ago and I saved some of this lard to caramelize our chicken and veggies.

You know, barbecue was the first origin of cooking.

You know what I'm saying?

Because at the end of the day or at the beginning of the day, that's all we had is fire.

And then we are the only species that put fire to-- To food.

Yeah.

Really.

How far back does your family go in South Carolina?

Woo.

About this time, Marcus's older brother Quintin showed up.

He's a highly sought-after knife forger and creator of Middleton Made Knives.

He forges the knives here on the property and wanted to educate us on some of the finer things Pineville had to offer.

Hey, hey, hey.

Hey, hey, hey.

You're bringing something to the party.

[inaudible] So this is jet fuel.

[laughter] Right.

Yeah.

This is jet fuel made locally?

It is.

It is.

It's a local jet fuel.

Cheers brother.

Hey, thanks so much for you guys-- To brothers.

--for hospitality and letting us enjoy your family place.

Thank you.

They warm me up.

I told you.

It doesn't hit you until about a half a second.

That's why I say [inaudible].

That's something.

This is jet fuel.

Ooh.

All right.

You can realize that we're not jets, right?

Yeah.

I mean, I love the sibling thing.

But I also love that sibling rivalry is-- Yeah.

And I know you're proud of your little brother.

Oh, yeah.

I mean, I'm so proud of him.

Sometimes I used to give him a hard time-- Yeah.

--very.

[laughter] Used to gave me a hard time.

Yes.

I overheard you talking about where our family come from.

Yeah.

Our last name explains it all.

Our last name is Middleton.

And Middleton place is a famous plantation-- Correct.

--just right outside of Charleston.

Great and our ancestry do trace back into that.

What we tried to do trying to build beyond that.

Defining who we are by Marcus Middleton.

And Quintin Middleton, we are an entity.

So we are our own person.

Does this feel familiar, Quintin?

I mean-- Yes.

Because truthfully, my mom used to make this dish a lot.

Really?

Right.

I love it when it comes from your mama.

We weren't rich and my mom did the best she could in raising us.

So she would pull from the little bit to make a lot.

And our rights extend to that.

You know what I'm saying.

Right.

Marcus, talk a little bit about-- I mean, the Carolina Gold rice, you know?

So Carolina Gold rice, it was a key staple within the growth of Charleston.

In a sense it was money.

Having that knowledge that came from the slaves that came over.

They brought that with them to how to cultivate the rice there and also to know how to cook it as well.

We're going to do what we like to do, make some fire!

I got fire right here in a-- I know.

And I shot it.

I shot it.

I ain't going to do that.

It hurt.

Marcus got the perlou in its one pot.

And we all enjoyed the company and the sunshine while it simmered.

After about 30 minutes, time to eat.

Y'all ready to crack it?

Let's crack it, baby.

Give me a countdown, please.

Let's do-- From five-- 100.

--four, three-- 99.

--two, one.

There you go!

Lift-off!

This is generations of love, hard times, history, you know?

So-- History in a single pot.

Is this pretty much solely low country?

Down here, we like to do a combination where it's pretty much drier, and the grains are separate.

Gotcha.

And then that's the perlou.

And then once you get in that peaty area, you get boggy.

That's more of a wetter rice, a risotto-ish type texture.

Pretty much across the state, though, there's some variation on this.

Yeah, just like the barbeuce.

Like, you got your mustards.

You got your potato base.

And you got your vinegar.

I think it's just a preference thing, you know?

I prefer to eat.

Me, too!

I'm going to get some plates.

All right.

And we're going to fellowship.

Would you like some, brother?

I would love some, brother.

Dum, dum, dum.

Ooh, we getting old, bro.

All right, man.

Thank you, sir.

Oh man, that is amazing, right there.

I don't know how much chicken in there, but-- I like chicken.

Well, Chef Marcus, this is a honor.

It's a joy to be out on your guys's family property, trying some of the food that is your family food.

It is fellowship.

And I can't wait.

Buen provecho.

Buen provecho.

Oh my god!

Oh my gosh!

What I love is the parsley and cilantro.

So fresh and bright, and-- Right, right, exactly.

And you get the richness, and all the fats right from the chicken itself, from the lard.

But yeah, you got your ginger in there.

Yeah, thank you.

This is fantastic.

How often would you guys eat this, typically?

Well typically, this would be a celebration dish.

Oh, OK.

So this is not an every day, that you eat every day.

Right, well, happy birthday.

My birthday is at the end of the month.

Is it really?

Yeah.

And Marcus, to the Chef.

Thank you, brother.

To the Chef!

Thank you, Marcus.

Yeah, salud.

A lot smoother than the jet fuel.

That's nice.

That's peachy.

That's peachy, right?

Nice, very nice.

Possibly the only thing in the Low Country that owes as much to the Gullah culture as food is music.

Back on the Peninsula of Charleston, we caught up with Grammy award-winning musician and producer, Quentin Baxter, from the Low Country quintet, Ranky Tanky, to his experimental jazz solo work, Quentin is heavily influenced by Gullah tradition at a deep level.

We visited the future site of a music education center he is developing in the community he grew up in.

And we're rolling into your neighborhood right now.

On the street, that I literally grew up in.

So you are a true Charlestonian.

That's right.

Not one of these New York transplants.

I'm a-- benya not a comya That's right.

People always ask me, you know, how long have I been playing?

And I literally tell them, I don't remember not playing.

No matter who you are and what church you went to, we fellowship with all churches.

So I've played in Baptist churches, Methodist churches.

I grew up in the Holiness Church.

And five, six days a week, we enjoyed it.

We loved playing for all types of services.

We played for funerals.

We played for weddings, and everything in between.

If the church was built before '85, I probably played it.

You know?

And you'd be the drummer?

I was the drummer.

Let me explain it to you.

OK.

In the church I grew up in, everyone could play something, especially a percussion instrument.

Especially in the Gullah tradition, the band is the congregation.

Right.

You know, but I played drums.

And my parents played drums.

And listening to their sound and learning their sound, as well as my two older brothers, informs the actual rhythms that I use in Ranky Tanky, Rene Marie, Monty Alexander, all the musicians I've toured with and recorded with.

I have a couple of your albums.

And one of the things that I noticed is quite a few songs based in faith.

Up until this point, primarily, where you would find traditions of-- especially the music of the Gullah traditions, would be embedded in Christianity, in the church, in the Black churches.

There are kids games.

There are poems.

And there are all these other informants.

Well, when we take those rhythms, and we take those songs, it has everything to do with cultural memory.

You're really bringing in the spirituality that moves you-- not necessarily what I consider to be the religion that moves you.

It's the spirituality.

And that's what all music shares.

It's the muse that really moves people.

So here on the property, you're going to do something that I think is amazing.

This is the future site of Baxter Center.

This is the street you grew up on?

This is the street that I grew up on.

And going back to what my parents always wanted, it's going to be built for music production, education, and performance.

So these are all the hats that I wear, either on the road, or at home.

It's important to actually be able to offer this to this community because it's going to be a venue.

And it's going to have its own nonprofit academy.

I mean, it has always been important with my parents to be able to share, to teach.

Speaking of, this is probably my dad rolling by right now.

Hey, dad.

All right!

How you doing?

Pretty good.

Is he a good son?

Yeah, he's pretty good.

My name is Craig Martin.

I'm the host of The Good Road.

Oh, good!

You're on the right road, then.

My name is Clarence Baxter.

Clarence.

Yes, sir.

It's very nice to meet you, Mr. Baxter.

You, too, all right.

All right, dad.

Call you later.

Yes, sir.

That's awesome.

Man, your dad rolls up.

Right, right?

How perfect is that?

You can't make it up.

I look at this, and I'm like, this is going to be a school, OK?

How do you get support for something like this?

Oh, man, the drawings are done.

I'm very hands-on with the drawings, and the build-out and everything.

And timing has it that Optus Bank-- we're at the table now with Optus Bank about financing.

And it's the only African-American owned bank in South Carolina.

It's huge.

It's huge to just have the layers and levels of support, with my architect here in town, who's been working on this project with me upwards of 10 years.

This is a good time.

And that's The Good Road.

It's all there, man.

I love that.

The Gullah tradition is alive in the Low Country through the amazing people that preserve it.

We followed Quentin to a classic Charleston haunt, Harold's Cabin, and found ourselves talking about why so many folks fall in love with Charleston and its very messy history.

Joining us were artist and writer, Colin Quashie, chef and namesake of the beloved restaurant, Dell'z, as well as the owner of Harold's Cabin, John.

We sat down to some incredible and healthy food, prepared by none other than Dell herself.

What is it that's unique about what you do?

It's just Dell'z.

It's what I do.

I love cooking.

I've been cooking since I was seven, eight years old.

I just like throwing things together, messing up, and make it-- woo!

I was the first one to start doing late night healthy food.

Oh, yes you did.

Yes, and all my little college girls used to come in so drunk.

Y'all would have lunch.

You'd have that-- I know exactly.

[inaudible] big, old break.

And then all the college kids would come on in late.

Yes, I used to walk them home with my son.

one half of the customers, they want to be just me, just us.

Yeah.

And so we started something real good downtown because I felt better giving them hummus.

And then when they wake up in the morning, they won't be throwing up.

Right.

But it was a great six years down in Cannon Street.

Dell'z therapy, right?

Yeah!

It actually was really Dell's Therapy And it's always good to do that.

Sometimes you're ahead of your time.

But it's always great to be that spark that did it.

Yeah.

Quentin's a benya I literally met Quentin when he had a high top fade.

[laughter] You had every opportunity to go wherever the heck you wanted to all over the world.

And you stayed.

And you continue to stay, and invest in this community.

New York doesn't need me.

I need New York more than New York needs me.

When I go there, I'm worth more because I don't live there.

But what I'm able to do at home and what I'm able to accomplish at home, I think home deserves it.

And I think that's why we all are doing something here.

True, yeah.

It's because this place needs what we can bring to the table.

We need some of this.

That's right.

We need this place.

That's right.

We need all the art that explains what the heck we're seeing.

Well, Charleston has served me well, artistically.

It's provided me a tremendous amount of material.

One of the things that I utterly despise about the South is plantations and the way that plantations have been re-branded.

And the fact that individuals actually come to Charleston, and say, have weddings at plantations, just blows my mind.

The last exhibition I had was called the LINKED exhibition.

And one of the pieces in there was called The Wedding Party.

And it just shows two individuals getting married.

But in the background is a famous scene of the contraband slaves.

By placing images like that in the forefront to let people have a conversation, and sometimes that discussion can be very uncomfortable.

But you have to go there.

Now we're starting to see a greater movement getting away from weddings and plantations.

So people-- we are starting to have that conversation.

Charleston's a special place.

It's funny because his love for Charleston is-- He loves the this place.

It's a special place.

Why would you live anywhere else?

Here's what happens when you travel with anyone else and you say, where are you from?

Richmond.

Where are you from?

Charleston.

And they're like, oh my god, I love Charleston.

I love Charleston!

It has a big city vibe to it.

You can find what you want because people, like these people, are here.

And so I think that's why we're all connected.

I think no matter what, we want to see one another succeed in this town, and especially this town.

Yeah, you try to aspire to give back to the community.

And you want to be a part of the community.

And that's one of the reasons why I think we chose a location like this because it's in the neighborhood.

When you walk in, it's almost like it's your home that you're inviting them into, you know?

And you want to give them the sense that you can have a conversation here.

You can tell us anything you want.

And just feel comfortable, feel cozy.

You'd think traditional British-- it's the neighborhood pub.

It's where you go, and where you see your people.

I love to see people's happy, like, especially when they come into the restaurant.

And they're sitting, eating my wrap.

And they look at it.

And it's just-- they don't need to have anyone with them to enjoy our food.

Your food is your art.

Yes, and I just love it, you know?

Yeah, that's how you pass the art on to other people, is by feeding them, nourishing them.

And it's not about competition with this other-- it's just what I do.

I love to give what I-- so I think that's why people really love Dell'z because they can come in and just be theirselves.

They comfortable.

And they're happy.

And it's just-- I love it.

Quentin, your music, man, that touches a lot of folks.

You guys have a big voice.

So selfishly stated, I play music because I feel like it makes me a better human being.

And I know a lot of musicians who feel the same way.

We all say the same thing.

But we also know that what we're able to give and share with people who actually enjoy it, it just exceeds any type of monetary value.

It's a beautiful thing, man.

I think maybe what we do is share.

We share.

You said it.

We share.

And we share to the best of our ability, to really give to this community, to give to this community not only what it deserves, but the best that we have.

It's been such an honor to sit here with you all.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, guys.

Thank you.

Well, cheers.

[interposing voices] Cheers to-- Charleston!

Yeah, cheers to Charleston.

Don't tell my Richmond friends.

[interposing voices] Charleston.

Sharing the traditions you grew up with is a reward greater than no other.

Preserving them under the weight of history can be heroic and transformative.

It can also be exhausting.

But there is strength in numbers.

And building real community and fellowship with others that share your love for a place sure beats doing it alone, especially when the food and music is so good.

There's so much more to explore.

And we want you to join us on The Good Road.

For more in-depth content, meet us on the internet, at thegoodroad.tv.

Hear more great stories, connect to organizations, and make sure you download our podcast, Philanthropology.

Funding for The Good Road has been provided by-- Every road is a good road when you're behind the wheel of a Toyota electrified vehicle, from the hybrid Sienna, and plug-in hybrid RAV4 Prime, to the fuel cell Mirai, and all-electric bZ4X 4x.

And with available all-wheel drive on select models, they're designed to go the distance, whether you're driving to work, school, or down the Pacific Coast Highway.

Proud sponsor of The Good Road.

Toyota, let's go places.

Technology changes the world, but not on its own.

Hardware needs heart.

Software needs soul.

When we match compute power to instinct, and acceleration to imagination, tomorrow comes alive.

For us, it's not what we achieve alone, but sharing a vision to solve the world's most important challenges because together, anything is possible.

And together, we advance.

And by Uncommon Giving, the generosity company.

At Plow & Hearth, we believe that the place you are can become the place you want to be.

Philanthropy Journal, stories about bold people changing the world.

[music playing]