Descended Author Talk with Keith Rushing (Hilton Head Island, SC)

Feb 10, 2026 @ 7pm - 8:30pm | Location: First Presbyterian Church, In the Sanctuary, 540 William Hilton Pkwy, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928

Feb 10, 2026 @ 7pm - 8:30pm
Location: First Presbyterian Church, In the Sanctuary, 540 William Hilton Pkwy, Hilton Head Island, SC 29928
Hosted by: First Presbyterian Church

Join author Keith Rushing for a talk about his recently published book, Descended: Searching for My Gullah-Geechee Roots. On his journey to learns about his family's past, Keith uncovers more than expected.

It began with a name. Sancho. Gleaned from the memory of his oldest living relative, that name set author Keith Rushing on a quest to recover his family's story.

Rushing came to learn that Sancho was an African name, a common practice among the Gullah-Geechee communities of the South Carolina and Georgia Sea Islands. He found that Sancho had been born into slavery on Hilton Head Island and later fought as a soldier in a war for self-emancipation. Rushing learned that after that war Sancho had become a small landowner. Above all, he discovered that his family's story was richer than he had ever imagined.

In Descended, Rushing recounts his own journey of discovery, and in the process unfurls a dramatic story about the transformation of Hilton Head. Descended is a story about family, place, and the desire to understand where we have been and where we are going.

Keith Rushing is a former reporter who worked at newspapers in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and California and now works as a communications strategist for an environmental nongovernmental organization. He has written blogs and commentary for the Huffington Post and Ebony.com among other online publications. Rushing grew up in Queens, NY, and now lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and two children.

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Hosted by the First Presbyterian Church.