Shout Because You're Free: The African American Ring Shout Tradition in Coastal Georgia PDF
Preview Shout Because You're Free: The African American Ring Shout Tradition in Coastal Georgia
Shout Because You're Free Shout Because You're Free The African American Ring Shout Tradition in Coastal Georgia Text and Drawings by Art Rosenbaum Photographs by Margo Newmark Rosenbaum Musical Transcriptions and Historical Essay by Johann S. Buis The University of Georgia Press \ Athens and London © 1998 by the University of Georgia Press Athens, Georgia 30602 Music and Lyrics © 1998 by McIntosh County Shouters (trademarked) All rights reserved Designed by Kathi Dailey Morgan Set in New Caledonia by G&S Typesetters, Inc. Printed and bound by Braun-Brumfield, Inc. The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library Resources. Printed in the United States of America 02 01 00 99 98 C 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Rosenbaum, Art. Shout because you’re free : the African American ring shout tradition in coastal Georgia / text and drawings by Art Rosenbaum ; photographs by Margo Newmark Rosenbaum ; musical transcriptions and historical essay by Johann S. Buis. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8203-1934-1 (alk. paper) 1. Afro-Americans – Georgia – McIntosh County – Social life and customs. 2. Afro-Americans – Georgia – McIntosh County – Religion. 3. Afro-Americans – Georgia – McIntosh County – Folklore. 4. McIntosh County (Ga.) – Social life and customs. 5. McIntosh County (Ga.) – Religious life and customs. 6. Folklore – Georgia – McIntosh County. I. Buis, Johann S. II. Title. F292.M15R67 1998 305.896'0730758737—dc21 97-43833 British Library Cataloging in Publication Date available Frontis: McIntosh County Shouters at Filming Session, 1985 ISBN for this digital edition: 978-0-8203-4361-7 The publisher and the authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Sapelo Foundation in the publication of this book. This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xvii Introduction: "We Never Did Let It Go By" 1 1. "Kneebone in the Wilderness": The History of the Shout in America 17 2. "One Family of People": The Shouters of Bolden 53 3. Lawrence McKiver, Boss Songster 85 4. The Shout Songs 105 Jubilee 107 Blow, Gabriel 110 Move for Your Dyin' Savior 113 I Want to Die Like Weepin' Mary 114 Wade the Water to My Knees 116 Army Cross Over 118 Happy Angel 120 Move, Daniel 121 Drive Ol' Joe 124 I Come to Tell You 126 Kneebone Bend 127 Pharaoh s Host Got Lost 130 Hold the Baby 132 Religion, So Sweet 134 Time Drawin Nigh (I See the Sign) 137 Read 'em, John 139 In This Field We Mus' Die 142 Eve and Adam 144 Went to the Burial (Sinner Rock So) 146 John on the Island, I Hear Him Groan 150 Walk through the Valley in the Field 152 Ezekiel Saw That Little Stone 153 Lay Down, Body 155 Watch That Star 158 Farewell, Last Day Coin' 162 Transcribers Note 164 Historical Essay. The Ring Shout: Revisiting the Islamic and African Issues of a Christian "Holy Dance" 167 Notes 173 Bibliography 183 Index 189 viii Contents Preface On a hot July afternoon in 1995, the annex building of the Mt. Cal- vary Baptist Church in Bolden, Georgia, did not ring with the sound of the shout songs or resound to the beating of a stick on the wood floor; nor did that floor move to the force of a score of people mov- ing counterclockwise in the ring shout, as we had seen it on four Watch Night (or New Years) shouts in the only community where the African American southeastern coastal ring shout is known to have survived. Instead, this day several members of the group that has become known as the Mclntosh County Shouters were sitting down with us at long folding tables that usually hold church sup- pers, to go over the manuscript of Shout Because You're Free. Lawrence McKiver, patriarch and lead songster, was there along with Odessa Young, the oldest of the women who currently perform the compelling circling movements of the shout in public perfor- mance. A woman of great dignity, Odessa Young had overcome her reluctance to "talk" in order to help us tell the story of the shout cor- rectly. Also there were Carletha Sullivan, a younger shouter who handles the business side of the tricky task of presenting a precious community tradition to the public, and Bettye Ector, an instructor at Coastal Georgia Community College in Brunswick, who is kin and neighbor to the shouters and who recently has become their ix
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