When I view the mythical story of Eve and the snake in the Garden of Eden through the lens of this etymology, I’m moved by Eve’s willingness to risk her safety and security and step into the unknown. I’m struck by her desire to eat from the Tree of Knowledge and to know both the world and herself more deeply. Eve seemed to intuit that this knowledge would allow her to access the power of choice and to become less dependent on a so-called benevolent god who kept secrets and the sources of wisdom to himself. Rather than the power to harm, I picture Eve reaching for a power to create both her present and future.  

While there are different versions of Cumbayah’s origin story, the one most likely is that it was a song of the Gullah Geechee people of the Sea Islands of Georgia. According to Dr. Sumpter, Gullah Geechee people resisted the prohibitions of enslavement and sustained ethnic traditions from one generation to the next through language, agriculture, and spirituality. When heard against this backdrop of herstory, Cumbayah is transformed from a naïve panacea for peace to a call for action amidst the most oppressive of conditions.