Frank Major Sr., commercial crab fisherman, checks his traps for blue crab and stone crab. Photos © 2011 Denise McGill
Frank Major Sr., a commercial crab fisherman, checks his traps for blue crab and stone crab.
Photos © 2011 Denise McGill

St. Helena Island is a magical place on the South Carolina coastline. African Americans have farmed and fished here for centuries: first as plantation slaves, then as freedmen owning small subsistence operations.  It’s now one of the last farming communities on the East Coast that hasn’t been swallowed up by development. 

This week catch up with the residents of St. Helena Island by way of photographs and video interviews by clicking on the photograph above.