The Nick Jr series encouraged cultural preservation of the Gullah Geechee, descendants of formerly enslaved people in South Carolina

Thirty years ago, Ron and Natalie Daise and their children, Sara and Simeon, beckoned TV viewers: “Come and let’s play together in the bright sunny weather. Let’s all go to Gullah Gullah Island!”

The theme song marked the beginning of every episode of Gullah Gullah Island, a musical children’s television show, based upon an idealized version of the Daise family, that ran on Nick Jr for five seasons from 1994 to 2000. As the family sang in the introduction scene, images of curious hogs, frolicking children, Binyah Binyah – a large, yellow anthropomorphic polliwog who served as the family’s playful companion – and other characters danced across the screen.