Our Gullah Geechee tour took us to the Discovery House on Honey Horn Drive in the Lowlands of Hilton Head Island. Upon viewing the signage with photos and history of not only this museum but of the island, I felt my eyebrows immediately begin to furrow.

The title “Discovery House” alone gave Columbus vibes. What exactly did you discover? Pushing past this potentially misguided and possibly misinformed burst of anger, I began to read the history. The land was purchased in 1789 to grow sea island cotton. My squelched anger quickly returned as I thought about how so many landowners became rich off of the backs of slave labor.

The history went on to talk about yet another wealthy northern landowner who purchased 9,000 acres as a private retreat. How nice it must have been to purchase land so easily, never wondering about how you would cultivate it or who would maintain such a vast area. You already had your labor.

They spoke of how much he enjoyed visiting the island in the winter months for hunting and fishing. The photo showed a small boat with four people in it: only two were rowing and guiding the trip. How nice it must have been to sashay your rich, pillaging, and entitled embodiment of all things inequitable self down to these plentiful islands at your leisure. No doubt relishing in all of the spoils knowing you were able to obtain them without ever earning the victory.

I continued to read on about new landowners with the same old stories: northern, white, rich. There was no mention of the Gullah Geechee people. There was no mention of the Gullah Geechee in the last photo, which showed another boat with three riders. Again, there was a Black man guiding the journey while a white man sat. There also appeared to be what looked to be a white woman peered through binoculars. How nice it must be to go “sight -seeing” while someone else did the labor of rowing a boat through rough marshlands.

Part of me wanted to research more about how these lands went through so many rich white hands, ultimately ending up being sold to the town of Hilton Head. Part of me wanted to inquire about why I had to go on a tour and explore a museum to learn about the Gullah Geechee inhabitants and rightful landowners of these islands instead of learning about them in school. I already knew the obvious answer to that one. But a greater part of me wanted to know who had the audacity to name this house “Discovery House.”

What I discovered was that the descendants of rich, white, northerners bought land and created generational wealth for their descendants. What I discovered was that the Gullah Geechee people continue to have their lands taken from them by multiple means, including gentrification. What I discovered was that this house represented the continual use of the word “discovery,” which so many use to talk about lands that were already occupied by their rightful inhabitants.

I may not have the full history; I may not even have the correct history, but one thing I do have is the same old American story when it comes to how so many white families’s “discoveries” have led them to establish generational wealth, built on the backs of my ancestors.

Selah.