Congratulations and Thank You to each of our supporters—our fellow
travelers and to all of you who helped spread the word about our Indiegogo
campaign. In addition to the funds you raised on Indiegogo, we’ve received an
addition $20,225 in individual contributions during the campaign. That means we reached over 97% of our
goal! Take pride in what you have accomplished. We’re proud to have you on
board for the journey!
Travel Notes Of A Geechee Girl
a new film by Julie Dash
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[Scroll Down for ![]()
French and ![]()
Dutch Translations]
WHO IS VERTAMAE SMART-GROSVENOR?
She is a writer, actor, storyteller, broadcaster, grandmother, griot, culinary anthropologist, and key figure in five watershed cultural movements that helped define American history:
- Beat Literary Movement
- Black Power Movement
- Black Arts Movement
- New Black Cinema
- Food as Cultural Memory
VERTAMAE is a self-described, “6-foot-tall Geechee girl with dark skin, a flat nose, and full lips.” She is the author of four books, including the groundbreaking 1970 autobiographical cookbook, Vibration Cooking or the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl, which inspired the emerging critical studies movement of Food as Cultural Memory.
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Born April 4, 1937 in rural Hampton County, South Carolina, she was strongly influenced by her Gullah Geechee community. At the age of 10, VERTAMAE SMART and her family moved from the Lowcountry SC to the urban center of Philadelphia. There she led a sheltered existence, but established friendships with the future poet LARRY NEAL (Black Arts Movement scholar), and Pulitzer Prize winning playwright CHARLES H. FULLER.
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They were the early black geeks, and they called themselves the Three Musketeers! VERTAMAE and her fellow Musketeers befriended an up-and coming musician, Eunice Waymon, who called herself NINA SIMONE. Like VERTAMAE, she was another tall, lanky, awkward black teenager bursting with talent — NINA SIMONE was the mirror image of VERTAMAE. They would become best friends, and it was NINA who encouraged VERTAMAE to follow her imagination and creativity beyond the confines of the U.S.
WHY VERTAMAE IS IMPORTANT
VERTAMAE is a fearless, creative and an imaginative woman who has crossed multiple borders and boundaries — she has dared to live her life out loud!
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A true American icon, her stellar career, and persistence of vision began in the late 1950s. At the age of 18, VERTAMAE boarded a ship for Paris, and landed herself in the heart of the Beat Literary Movement. VERTAMAE's basic knowledge of food preparation and Gullah culinary traditions served her well living among Black American Expats, writers, and artists who include JAMES BALDWIN, TED JOANS, ROBERT GROSVENOR, WILLIAM BURROUGHS, and ALLEN GINSBERG. Dr. Rafia Zafar describes VERTAMAE as having reversed the Middle Passage!
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VERTAMAE traveled the world as a costume designer and Moon Goddess with Sun Ra’s Solar-Myth Arkestra; as an editor for Elan Magazine; as a columnist for multiple publications and a broadcaster for NPR.
VERTAMAE’s Vibration Cooking, or The Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl is now in it’s fourth publication. Her story is a treasure trove of adventures, encounters and experiences with some of the most influential artists, writers, actors, and musical performers of the Twentieth Century.
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THE FOOTSTEPS OF A GEECHEE GIRLA Message From Filmmaker Julie Dash
VERTAMAE's bestselling
Vibration Cooking literally fell into my lap many years ago, when I was working in New York as a production assistant for the late documentary filmmaker St. Claire Bourne. I have vivid memories of shyly perusing the first edition of this landmark cookbook/travel memoir; the cover photo--she holds her arms akimbo, with Geechee not only printed boldly in plain sight – the cover, hot mama-Red, Black and Green! This was a first for me, Geechee was out of the closet! You see, my own family came from coastal South Carolina, just like Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor. Yes, I came from a family of Gullahs and Geechees. We were living in New York City, and at the time, it was all very hush- hush -- we were encouraged to keep our Geechee heritage a secret, fearing ridicule of our language, food ways and other cultural traditions.
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VERTAMAE's cookbook inspired me find out more about the rich cultural heritage of the Gullah Geechee people in the Lowcountry of South Carolina – and our strong connection to West Africa. I went on to produce, write, and direct
Daughters of the Dust, which highlighted these same influences, and it became the first feature film by an African American woman to receive a wide and general theatrical distribution in the US. VERTAMAE was featured in
Daughters, which also won Best Cinematography at the, 1991 Sundance Film Festival, and was later inducted into the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. Since that time, I have continued to create a body of work that brings multi-faceted, diverse lives and stories of African American women to the screen.
Travel Notes Of A Geechee Girl is one such story.
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Please join me in the making of
Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl, a documentary feature film
that chronicles the remarkable life,
multi-faceted career and madcap adventures of
VERTAMAE
SMART-GROSVENOR—Geechee Girl and Citizen of the World.
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We're literally retracing the footsteps of VERTAMAE's extraordinary journey from the Lowcountry of South Carolina, across the United States and Europe, and through some of the most significant social, historical and cultural movements of her time. We're asking for your support!
TRAVEL WITH US ON THIS JOURNEY
With an early production grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, we’ve been able to conduct extensive research into each of the historical periods that will be depicted in the film, and have begun filming interviews with some of the many artists, activists and scholars whose lives VERTAMAE has touched.
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Your support will help us continue the journey! We’re seeking to raise a minimum of $55,000 to continue the filming of living witnesses who have shared her journey throughout the United States, in Europe, and back in the South Carolina Lowcountry.
Specifically your efforts will support:
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• production crew
• production equipment rentals
• formatting and logging of our footage in preparation for editing
• interview transcriptions
• editing
Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl will be mastered in state-of-the-art 4K cinema. We hope to have the documentary completed for distribution by early 2017. Fundraising for film is a tremendous endeavor, and we know we may encounter some delays. However, with your timely support we will be on our way!
SELECT YOUR PERKS
On the right side of this page, you'll find a column outlining some of the levels at which you may contribute to the project. Select "Contribute Now" and choose a level (or create your own) that feels comfortable to you. The perks are but a small way of expressing our huge gratitude for traveling with us on this journey.
Here are a some of our featured perks:
We listened to you and responded! Now you can choose your favorite luggage tag color.
Choose our Indiegogo-exclusive edition DVD of Julie Dash's landmark film Daughters of the Dust, or an autographed 4th edition of VERTAMAE's classic autobiographical cookbook, published by the University of Georgia Press. Or choose both-- they're both included in our perk packages at the Flight Signal Officer level and above.
New York Women in Film and Television has graciously donated tickets to the 2015 Muse Awards, celebrating the vision and achievements of women in entertainment.
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Schedule an online chat with filmmaker Julie Dash, or invite her to your institution for a screening or special event.
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NEW! TIME TRAVELER PERKS
Select from our new stand-alone perks, exclusively for the final days of our campaign:
Time Travelers may select one of our exclusive Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl keychains or kitchen magnets;
Or, claim an exclusive limited edition Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl commemorative poster, designed especially for our Indiegogo supporters by internationally acclaimed South Carolina artist Jonathan Green. Note: The TNGG poster is also included in the perk package at the Co-Pilot level and above.
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If you've already selected another perk, or see another perk you'd like, go to our Update tab to find out how to claim one or more of our Time Traveler perks in addition to your primary perk!
OTHER WAYS YOU CAN HELP
Help spread the word about this film and about our Indiegogo campaign. Tweet it, Facebook it, post about it through your other social media networks and e-mail your friends. Share the link to this page, and let the world know that you think this project matters. Thank you for taking this journey with us!
If you have any problems making donations to Travel Notes of A Geechee Girl using Firefox, please use Chrome or Safari.
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PARLEZ-VOUS FRANÇAIS?
Nous vous invitons a être des nôtres pour la production du film Les
Annotations de Voyage d’une Geechee
Girl. Il s’agit d’un documentaire relatant la vie extraordinaire
et la carrière d’ne Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor.
Qui est-elle? VERTAMAE
Elle est écrivaine, comédienne, raconteuse, griot, grand-mere, anthropologue
culinaire et un personnage clé dans
cinq mouvements culturels ayant marqué l’histoire Américaine
Mouvement Littéraire [Beat]
Mouvement [Black Power]
Mouvement Artistique des Noirs
Mouvement Cinématographique des
Noirs
Cuisine
Culturelle et Traditionelle du Sud des Etas Unie
Elle
se décrit comme étant une “grande femme, mesurant 6 pieds, a la peau foncée,
ayant un nez plat et des lèvres
volumineuses." Elle est l’auteure de
quatre livres incluant une autobiographie culinaire des années 1970. “Vibration
Cooking, Les Annotations de Voyage
d’une Geechee Girl”. inspirée de
l’etude critique d’un mouvement culinaire
et culturel.
Pourquoi VERTAMAE
est importante?
Elle est une femme creative
ayant dépassé plusieurs paramètres et
limites sans peurs ou apprehensions,
elle a vécu sa vie toute allure, une
vraie idole Américaine, sa carrière a
débuté dans les années 1950’s. A l’age de 18 ans, elle s’est rendue a Paris en bateau et a parachute en
plein coeur du mouvement littéraire,
ses connaissances de base en cuisine traditionnelle “Gullah” lui purent tres
utiles après de “Black American
Expats”, des écrivains et des artists incluant JAMES
BALDWIN, TED JOANS, ROBERT GROSVENOR,
WILLIAM BURROUGHS, and ALLEN GINSBURG
Dr. Rafia
Zafar la décrit de façon particuliere
ayant inverse Le Passage du Centre
milieu.
Elle a voyagé partout a travers le
monde en tant que dessinatrice de costumes et aussi en tant qu’editrice pour le
magazine ELAN et de plus en tant que chroniqueuse
pour de multiples publications.
TRAVEL NOTES OF A GEECHEE GIRL, VIBRATION
COOKING en est a 4e edition, so
historic represent un amalgam d’a ventures,
de rencontres et d’experience avec des artistes de grande influence du 20e
siècle
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SPREEK JIJ NEDERLANDS?
Bij deze bent U van harte uitgenodigd om met ons te samen de film Travel
Notes of a Geechee Girl, een nieuwe lange documentaire over het bijzondere
leven en uiteen lopende carrière van
de zelf beschrijvende Geechee Girl, Vertamae Grosvenor, te maken.
Wie is Vertamae Grosvenor?
Onder anderen: schrijfster, actrice, vertelster, televisie peroonlijkheid, grootmoeder, griot, culinaire antropoloog en
centraal persoon in vijf belangrijke culturele
bewegingen die zeer bepalend waren
van de Amerikaanse historie.
* Beat
Literatuur Beweging
*
Black Power Beweging
*
Black Arts beweging
*
Voedsel
as cultureel geheugen.
VERTAMAE beschrijft zichzelf als, “ een één meter tachtig lange
Geechee Girl met donkere huidskleur, een platte neus en volle lippen.” Ze
is de schrijfster van vier boeken, onder anderen
de verbijsterende autobiografie Vibration Cooking or the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl. Dit boek
inspireerde zorgvuldige studies
van voedsel als cultureel geheugen.
WAAROM IS VERTAMAE
BELANGRIJK?:
VERTAMAE is onverschrokken,
creatief en is een fantasierijke vrouw die vele letterlijke en innerlijke grenzen heef overschreden. Ze had de moet om haar leven zeer openbaar te leven.
Zonder reservering een
Amerikaanse verschijning. Haar indrukwekkende carrière en haar onbreekbare visie begon in eind jaren 50. Op 18 jarige leeftijd stapte VERTMAE op een schip naar Pariis. Dit
belandde haar te midden van de Beat Literatuur Beweging. Haar rudimentaire kennis van het traditionele Gullah koken
kwam goed van pas terwijl ze leefde met Afrikaan - Amerikaanse expertises,
schrijvers en artiesten zoals James Baldwin, Ted
Joans, Robert Grosvenor, William
Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. Dr.
Rafia Zafar beschrijft VERTAMAE als degene die “The Middle Passage”
heeft omgekeerd.
VERTAMAE reisde
de wereld af als kostuum ontwerpster
en “Maan Godes" met Sun-Ra’s
Solar- Myth Arkestra, als redacteur voor het tijdschrift Elan, als
columnist voor veel publicaties en een omroepster
voor NPR [National Public Radio]
VERTAMAE’s Vibration Cooking, or The Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl is ten
heden in de vierde druk. Haar verhaal
zit borden vol met avonturen, ontmoetingen en belevingen met sommige
van de meest invloedrijke artiesten, schrijvers, acteurs en musici van de Twintigste Eeuw.
French and 
Dutch Translations]
They were the early black geeks, and they called themselves the Three Musketeers! VERTAMAE and her fellow Musketeers befriended an up-and coming musician, Eunice Waymon, who called herself NINA SIMONE. Like VERTAMAE, she was another tall, lanky, awkward black teenager bursting with talent — NINA SIMONE was the mirror image of VERTAMAE. They would become best friends, and it was NINA who encouraged VERTAMAE to follow her imagination and creativity beyond the confines of the U.S. 
