Daughters of the Dust

“She had left Dawtuh Island twenty-four years ago, determined to wash the Geechee stain from herself and her children.”

In this quote, Dash articulates the deep resentment and anger that Haagar Peazant harbors for her heritage and family history. Haagar is ashamed of her heritage and seeks to erase it from herself and her descendants. Her shame stems from a mixture of internalized racism, prejudice, and trauma. Only by returning to Dawtuh Island in search of her lost family history does Amelia Varnes finally come to understand her grandmother’s reasons for leaving her community behind.

“Eli had maintained that the missionaries were asked to leave because they were making the colored children smart, and too many were crossing over to go to the colored high school on the mainland.”

This quotation comes fairly early in the novel and introduces the systemic racism that continues to oppress the people on the Sea Islands in many tangible ways. Keeping the Gullah-Geechee children ignorant of both their history and of life outside the islands makes it easier for the government to limit their prospects.

“Now she realized how difficult her task would be; teaching someone to read required patience and diligence, but teaching someone to dream required the exploration of a soul.”

Elizabeth realizes that teaching her students is a twofold challenge. Given time and resources, she can eventually teach them literacy, but if they never see the world outside of Dawtuh Island, then even their dreams for the future will be limited to one place. Her time on the mainland has left her restless and curious about the outside world, a drive that is not shared by her students because they are not aware of the world beyond the island.

“When the light-skinned family had moved out, Haagar had raged for days about ‘them no-good coal-black negroes driving out the better coloreds.’”

Despite being a Black woman with dark skin herself, Haagar has internalized the racist narrative that lighter skin is superior to darker skin. Her thought process here reflects her assimilation of the ideals of a racist society, undertaken in an attempt to fit in better on the mainland after renouncing her own family and heritage.

“Her grandmother never talked about the past except to say that they were much better off, and her father claimed his past had ended when he left Arkansas at thirteen years old.”

The importance of storytelling is a key theme of Daughters of the Dust. Haagar actively opposes the practice of storytelling, choosing to cope with her trauma through repression instead. When Amelia truly begins listening to the stories of the Gullah-Geechee in earnest, she finds a richly complex world opening up to her and gains a new understanding of her innate connections to her people.

“Once they had reached the North, it seemed that everything that had held them together disappeared as they struggled to provide for themselves and their families.”

Migration is a recurring motif throughout the narrative. Dash explores the effects of migration on both individuals and communities as the novel progresses. In the case of the Peazant family, those who undertake the Great Migration often suffer the loss of their close family bonds.

“Nana had taught her to look for the spirits that rode with the storm; Oya, who brought the fierce winds, Obatala, whose booming voice was masked in the thunderclaps, and Yemoja, whose moods would change quickly, one minute sending the rain down with stinging force and the next minute gently sprinkling the land.”

This quote illustrates how deeply the traditional West African spiritual beliefs are woven into the fabric of Gullah-Geechee culture. For Elizabeth, who grows up hearing stories of the old spirits, faith in these deities is natural and self-explanatory, but for Amelia, it takes an active journey of self-exploration before she can fully embrace the spiritual beliefs of her people.

“He got real excited because he had a friend who had come out here sometime back and said it wasn’t much different from slavery times.”

This quote, referencing Professor Colby, offers a glimpse at the outsiders’ limited perspective of Dawtuh Island. They see Dawtuh Island as regressive; even academics in the North view the Gullah-Geechee as anthropological curiosities rather than as people worthy of privacy and respect. At the end of the novel, Dash brings this point home even more forcefully when Amelia must defend her thesis—and uphold the honor and dignity that her people deserve—even in the face of extreme skepticism and disrespect on the part of her professors.

“Maybe Daddy tell you all about Nathan Samuels his brothers, it a man’s story.”

This line from Iona, which comes in the middle of her own story, showcases how each person on Dawtuh Island has a unique role to play in passing on the collective oral history of the island based on their status and experiences. As each person contributes a new story, the theme of Building Identity Through History and Storytelling becomes more and more prominent, culminating in Amelia’s discovery of her own true identity as a result.

“If half of what Carrie Mae said was true, Amelia understood both her mother’s desire to recall only the things that brought her peace and Haagar’s determination to leave stories untold.”

After learning about the circumstances of Haagar’s childhood, Amelia understands that her grandmother’s desire to hide the past is actually a coping mechanism to distance herself from the trauma she endured as a youth. Thus, she eventually comes to forgive Haagar’s overbearing and judgmental nature even as she herself chooses to embrace her lost heritage.

“It just go to show dat dem ol African ways, dey stay wit you!”

Cultural preservation is another major theme of the novel. The African heritage of the Gullah-Geechee people continues to influence their present lives on Dawtuh Island. In this quote, Eli celebrates the continued influence of these old ways, which provide him with strength and protection.

“Amelia say everything in Iona’s face that she would have wished for her mother, a warmth tempered with love, strength and humor.”

The comparison between frail, unhappy Myown Varnes and strong, healthy Iona provides a literal example of how important love and community are to maintaining a fulfilling life. Amelia grieves for Myown’s lack of these joys, and at the end of the novel, she does what she can to restore Myown’s lost heritage by bringing her back to Dawtuh Island to live out the rest of her days surrounded by her friends and family.

“We have gone in many directions to seek our own way, but always we must return to this land for our renewal.”

These lines, spoken by a member of the Last Child family, highlight the similarities that Indigenous Americans and Gullah-Geechee people share in their relationship to the Sea Islands. Both communities are strongly connected to the land, and both value the maintenance of that connection while honoring the need to explore the outside world.

“While Amelia had no doubts about Elizabeth’s love for her family and her dedication to her students, she knew that Elizabeth was finding the return home difficult.”

Amelia recognizes the gravity of Elizabeth’s internal dilemma and understands that her cousin is deeply torn over the decision of whether to stay or leave Dawtuh Island. Having seen the opportunities afforded by a life on the mainland, Elizabeth feels restless and trapped after her return, but her love for her family makes leaving the idea of leaving seem impossible.

“Us got to move dem from de evil dat brought dem here an live in dis land. Us got to make de journey of de ancestors.”

After the discovery of the remains of enslaved people on the Wilkerson land, Miz Emma Julia calls on the Gullah-Geechee to give their deceased ancestors a proper burial in accordance with Gullah-Geechee tradition. Cultural preservation therefore plays a vital role in the Gullah-Geechee people’s ability to process the trauma of the past.

“You chilren callin you from all de places of dis earth!

De chilren stolen from de lands of Ibo, Yoruba, Kissee,

Dahomey, Angola, Gambia, Wydah!”

Throughout the novel, the stories told by Gullah-Geechee characters remember and honor the cultural identities that were stolen by slavery. Here, Miz Emma Julia lists the many countries that her ancestors hailed from, highlighting how the creole culture of Gullah-Geechee preserves the unique influences of many different places.

“We done took de pain an de sadness! All dat lef is de healin!”

Miz Emma Julia believes that healing comes from accepting and processing pain rather than ignoring it. After the community remembers, feels, and honors the suffering of its ancestors, the pain dissipates, and the recovery can begin.

“My God, gal, what good is it going to do them to learn this Lincoln? And to hear the words of the Great Traitor come from the mouths of South Carolina schoolchildren!”

After Elizabeth spends months preparing for her audit by the school board, she is punished for teaching her children too much and too well. Mr. Hammond’s rebuke, which is clearly fueled by racism, demonstrates how the government uses a lack of education as a weapon to keep the Gullah-Geechee communities on the Sea Islands impoverished and oppressed.

“No stranger to guilt herself, Amelia realized that she had fled New York to escape a similar burden, the expectations of the next generation, that had been placed on her since birth.”

Despite their vastly different circumstances, Amelia and Elizabeth both grapple with the weighty expectations of their elders. Amelia is expected to climb the social ladder in Harlem, while Elizabeth is expected to stay on the island and continue spreading the old ways. Ultimately, both women defy expectations in the pursuit of their own dreams.

“I listen to the folks talk, I listen to those old superstitions, stories, and roots and all. I wonder, ‘How we going to get past all this? We got to be ready when the time comes.’ But these folks have seen the worst and they just keep on going.”

Here, Amelia reevaluates her idea of what progress means. Though she initially perceives the old Gullah-Geechee practices as obstacles to progress, she now understands that people on the islands have pushed through impossible circumstances to preserve their community and culture. Their continued ability to survive and thrive is its own form of progress.

“Why, it is an established fact accepted by your own colored sociologists, that the colored people, bereft of a history, culture, and traditions, have long since adopted the ways of the dominant culture, shedding all ties with the African continent.”

In this quotation, a member of the all-white thesis board who has not experienced the richness of Gullah-Geechee culture firsthand attempts to dismiss Amelia’s thesis on the racist grounds that Black people cannot have their own culture due to slavery. His argument demonstrates the prejudiced and ignorant thinking that ultimately makes Amelia decide not to publish her thesis, for she does not want to expose those on Dawtuh Island to this kind of person.

“‘Miss Varnes, change is going to come to the island,’ Professor Colby warned her. ‘If it’s not through you, it will be someone else. You can’t stop that.’”

Though Amelia tries to avoid bringing change to the island by retracting her thesis, Colby asserts that change is an unstoppable force. This rings true in the context of the narrative, which has already explored the effects of modernity and the Great Migration on Dawtuh Island.

“All I wanted was to keep my chilren safe. The only way I knew how was to keep them close to me. But it seem they thought it was the worse place they could be.”

When Amelia departs for Dawtuh Island with Myown, Haagar is left alone in Harlem, separated from the last of her family. Despite her overbearing and often unkind actions, this quote reflects Dash’s attempt to portray her in a more sympathetic light, for Haagar’s migration to the North was an earnest attempt to secure a better future for herself and her children, and the choice to leave Dawtuh Island has cost her dearly.