(East) Texas "geechee" redux

[George Thompson]

Wilson Gray writes:
WRT to the E TX BE use, I had in mind the fact that, AFAIK, the only
other use of "Geechee" is as an alternate term for "Gullah," applied
to the African-American people who live or used to live on the sea
islands of the Southern U.S. coast. Again, AFAIK, neither Geechee nor
Gullah refers to their racial/ethnic make-up or place of birth, though
it does, I believe, refer to their local dialect and culture.

There was a trombonist active in the 1920s known as "Geechee Fields"  I
read somewhere that that name was from the Ollageechee (sp?) River in
South Carolina, he having been born in that area.  I also recall
reading an interview with a jazzman of the 1920s averring that the
Charleston was a development of a dance known to him as "Geechee
dancing".
The source for the latter tidbit is most likely to be Here Me Talkin'
To Ya -- will check, upon request; source of the first forgotten, but
if true it will be no doubt easy enough to confirm.

GAT



George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern
Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.