Emory Campbell is a community leader among the Gullah people, African Americans who live in the coastal low country region of South Carolina and Georgia.
When he went to high school on the mainland in the 1950s, he discovered that his Gullah language was so "deep" that even his African American teachers had trouble understanding him and the other children from the islands.
Later, as the Executive Director of Penn Center, Inc. on St. Helena Island, South Carolina Campbell helped lead the movement to preserve Gullah culture and make Gullah people in the rural areas more aware of the importance of their uniquely rich African cultural heritage.
Beginning in the 1980s, Campbell helped spearhead the efforts to reestablish the family connection between the Gullah people and the West African nation of Sierra Leone.
[3] The Sierra Leoneans made Campbell an honorary paramount chief with the royal title of Kpaa Kori I.