The rotting hull of “Miss Shem Creek” rests atop the remains of “Marvin’s Pride” near the docks of Benny Hudson Seafood on Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. In the distance, several more boats are in varying degrees of decay at the docks of the former Hilton Head Fishing Company. The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of Africans who were enslaved on the rice, indigo and Sea Island cotton plantations of the lower Atlantic coast. Many came from the rice-growing region of West Africa.