Healing Love

September 4th, 2007: Jim Geffert introduced Fouchena Sheppard as a strong community advocate who served on the SC Arts Commission for over 18 years and expresses her art through poetry, dance and entertainment. Ms. Sheppard introduced herself as a native of Charleston whose native language is street Gullah and expresses her art through poetry and motion. She explained that “Healing Love” is the language developed on plantations to communicate among the various individuals who originated from all parts of Africa and didn’t speak a shared language or dialect. Fouchena went on to explain that when she was in grammar school, teachers taught English as a second language.

Ms. Sheppard then began a story about a young Gullah-speaking woman with a “very strong personality” named Lena and an older man who was “frail, profane speaking, and not clean” named Professor Christopher Givens (“Fessor”). As the story of two cultures unraveled, we became aware of “Healing Love”. The words Fouchena spoke served as a framework for the understanding that “Fessor” and Lena gained for each other. The “Lord gave Lena a job” and “I’m going to do it!” The “Fessor’s” wife had recently died and he needed “Healing Love”. Thus, began a new story of understanding.

After the story, Ms. Sheppard related a poem and ended with a beautiful rendition of Amazing Grace. Her story telling would be impossible to ponder in a history book, but truly wove a very descriptive and moving tale related to history, art and how two cultures melded together through individual encounters that built trust and understanding. We have to know where we’ve come from and how we got here in order to know where we are going.

Submitted by Bill Crowe, Keyway Committee Chair