Daughters of the Dust

In Daughters of the Dust, Dash explores the complex relationship between societal progress and the preservation of Gullah-Geechee culture. A key element of Gullah-Geechee culture is the preservation of key elements from African cultures, including spirituality, folklore, art, music, and language. Some characters see this preservation as a desirable way to maintain ties to a culture and a land that was stolen from them, while others see it as yoke keeping them tied to a traumatic past.

The Gullah-Geechee community is unique in its relative isolation from the rest of America, which has allowed its culture to flourish with few outside influences. The choice to leave the Sea Islands for the industrial cities in the North, undertaken by many Gullah-Geechee people during the Great Migration, entails the decision to assimilate into white American society rather than hold onto the cultural traditions of West Africa. Haagar Peazant sees this assimilation as positive. By moving to Harlem, she puts physical distance between herself and a past with the trauma of slavery and abuse: “In the rush to fit in” (67), she eagerly sheds her connection to Gullah-Geechee culture and to her family. Haagar’s definition of progress is the active assimilation into the well-off Black urbanite culture in the industrial cities of the North, where Black people are afforded access to higher education and the chance at upward mobility.