Inaugural parade will include “Gullah-Geechees”

Freedom Road managing partner Derek Boyd Hankerson announced to local Historic City News reporters today that as the presidential inaugural parade makes its way down 15 blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue, Monday, January 21; the National Park Service Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor Commission will be included.

Participation in the inaugural activities is a milestone of sorts for Hankerson and St Augustine period actor James Bullock, who worked with Florida Senator Tony Hill and Mayor Alvin Brown to extend the Cultural Heritage Corridor south to St Johns County.

“What passed for African American history when I was a child was largely spotty and made-up,” Hankerson told Historic City News. “But today, African American history can be accurately portrayed as an integral part of American history — since the stories have been reconciled to the facts.”

Hankerson credits the local community; who he says believed in the group’s talents and compassion for accurate American History stories.

“We at Freedom Road had the vision to connect the stories,” said Hankerson. “We had the foundation, the family to help us believe in ourselves, and are blessed to have the talents to have made it happen.”

Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor project is a $20 million dollar economic development initiative authorized by the United States Congress and includes North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.