The McIntosh County Shouters are a group of traditional
Gullah
The Gullah () are a subgroup of the African Americans, African American ethnic group, who predominantly live in the South Carolina Lowcountry, Lowcountry region of the U.S. states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida within ...
musical performers from the community of Briar Patch in
Bolden, Georgia (located in
McIntosh County). They have kept the
ring shout
A shout, ring shout, Hallelujah march or victory march is a Christian religious practice in which worshipers move in a circle while praying and clapping their hands, sometimes shuffling and stomping their feet as well. Despite the name, shouting a ...
, one of the oldest continuously practiced African-American traditions, alive.
Background
Music folklorists discovered a group performing Watch Night shouts in 1980. Centered around the Mt. Calvary Baptist Church, these people were descended from former slaves London and Amy Jenkins, who passed down the ring shout tradition.
Smithsonian Folkways released recordings of their performances in 1984 on ''Slave Shout Songs from the Coast of Georgia'', and again in 2017 on ''Spirituals and Shout Songs from the Georgia Coast''.
Founding member Lawrence McKiver (born April 1915) died in 2013. He is credited as a major factor in maintaining the ring shout tradition's continuity.
In 1993, the Shouters received a
National Heritage Fellowship
The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...
from the
National Endowment for the Arts
The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...
.
References
External links
Official websiteFacebookX
{{Authority control
Musical groups from Georgia (U.S. state)
Gullah culture