Louise Miller Cohen is a native of Hilton Head Island and therefore has experienced the Gullah culture first hand. Her latest role in preserving this unique culture, which she has been doing for the past seventeen years, is that of Gullah storyteller. Community elders have passed the torch on to her and she has adopted the mission of preserving the Gullah/Geechee heritage and culture. Ms. Cohen accomplishes this by telling tales, singing gospel songs, proudly speaking and teaching the Gullah language, sharing knowledge of plants used for medicine, preparing Gullah cuisine, performing the “Ring Shout” and making home-made wine from mulberries and other seasonal fruits. She believes that as these rituals are performed in the presence of children and their parents, the rituals will be passed down from generation to generation and the Gullah/Geechee culture will be preserved forever. She founded and is the Executive Director of the non-profit Gullah Museum of Hilton Head Island which gives children of all ages, locals, and tourists the experience of what life was like on Hilton Head Island before the bridge to the mainland was built in 1956.
Years ago, Ms. Cohen said that she kept reading that the Gullah language and lifestyle were becoming “extinct”. Her entry into Gullah storytelling and historical preservation started with her involvement in Hilton Head Island’s Annual Gullah Celebration. Ms. Cohen stepped out of what she calls her “shell of shame” and began to share her Gullah culture with others. Since that time, she has organized committees and appeared at the Hilton Head Island Gullah Celebration (sponsored annually on the island by the Native Island Business and Community Affairs Association), the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, numerous church and school programs, local and regional festivals, college campuses and conferences in the Southeast. In 2007, she received the Jean Laney Harris Folk Advocacy Award. The winner was selected by an advisory panel appointed by the South Carolina Lieutenant Governor and the Speaker of the House, and administered by the McKissick Museum at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and the South Carolina Arts Commission.
Ms. Cohen has been interviewed on NPR’s ‘Weekend America’, and appeared in The Island Packet The Beaufort Gazette, Bluffton Today, The South Magazine, Hilton Head Monthly and in many other media outlets. Ms. Cohen also received a ‘Lifetime of Leadership’ Award nomination from the Civitas Award Organization, and in January, 2010 she received the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Community Service Award at the Town of Hilton Head Island’s Annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration. In 2007, she was appointed a South Carolina Commissioner to the Gullah/Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission. In 2012, Ms. Cohen was a co-recipient of a prestigious award for preservation from the National Trust for Historic Preservation for the restoration of the GMHHI’s “Duey’s Home” also known as The Little House. In March of 2017, she received a Mayoral Commendation from the Town of Hilton Head for preserving the “indigenous coastal culture for future generations”. In February of 2018, the Native Island Community Affairs award for Preservation of the Gullah Culture. In June of 2018, the Bluffton MLK Observance Committee awarded Dr. Cohen with the Preservation Award in a ceremony at the Heyward House. Over the past 2 ½ decades, she was featured in many TV and radio shows and in magazine and newspaper articles as well as the South Carolina African American History Calendar in 2018.
Dr. Cohen and her board work tirelessly with funding from the Accommodations Tax Grant awarded by the Town of Hilton Head Island, donations and other sources of income, to implement programs that benefit the community, including the free Summer Cultural Enrichment Camp offered annually to teach approximately 25 children (ages 6-12) about their culture including drumming, basket weaving, jewelry making and cooking Gullah style. Each camp participant learned about how water was drawn from the hand pump, the purpose of the bateau to bring bounty from the creeks, and how the plum trees bore fruit.
In 2021, the Town of Hilton Head Island’s Arts and Culture Affairs curated and put on permanent exhibit colorful large-scale artworks at the Gullah Museum which brought attention to the museum’s site. In addition, Great Dane, a national truck manufacturing company based in Savannah was informed about the silver trailer and it was discovered that the trailer on the Gullah Museum was made in 1947, and is one of two that remains today in the entire country. The company restored parts of the trailer and funded a mural and signage to honor the history of this trailer.
In 2023, Dr. Cohen and her board have been working on a renovation project for the two migrant houses, and the silver trailer which will allow visitors a greater learning experience about these very important original structures. The exhibit opened on July 1st of this year.
Dr. Cohen oversees annual events held on and off-site including the Annual Gullah Oyster Roast, a July event focused around Gullah food and crafts, the Fall Food Festival, the Old Fashioned Christmas Gullah Christmas Celebration. In the past, classical music concerts, cake baking competitions and Juke Joint fundraisers have been popular. She works with the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra, the Arts Center of Coastal Carolina and the Town of Hilton Head Island’s Arts and Cultural Affairs with storytelling performances.
Louise Miller Cohen has an Associate Degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of South Carolina at Beaufort. She received an Honorary Degree of Doctor of Humane Letters from the University of South Carolina in 2016 from Dr. Al M. Panu, Chancellor.
She was a Teaching Artist with the Lowcountry Arts Integration Project at Whale Branch Middle School, Whale Branch Elementary School and St. Helena Elementary School. She has also made numerous presentations to thousands of school children both at the museum and at area independent and public schools.
In 2014, Louise Cohen served as the primary consultant and was also featured in the award-winning documentary “Hilton Head Island Back in the Day: Through the Eyes of the Gullah Elders” and has lectured about the Gullah history of Hilton Head Island at numerous screenings with educational and cultural organizations. She is in the process of writing an autobiography which will also include information about Gullah traditions and rituals.
Ms. Cohen is the mother of four children, grandmother of five and great-grandmother of five. She enjoys gardening, singing, walking and cooking traditional Gullah recipes.
www.gullahmuseumhhi.org