Georgia's Gullah-Geechee Heritage

The "Ring Shout" is a performance tradition that survives in the Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor. The word "shout" does not refer to the voice, rather, some historians believe it originated from the Arabic word, saut, referring to movement around the Kabaa in Mecca.

The Ring Shout is among the oldest known African-American performance traditions surviving on the North American continent. It is still performed in McIntosh County, Georgia, with the McIntosh County Shouters being the most prominent group carrying on the tradition.

• Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers

  "Daniel in the Lion's Den"
• Georgia Sea Island Singers

  "Adam in the Garden" (features the Ring Shout)
• Georgia Sea Island Singers

  "Throw Me Anywhere Lord" (features The Buzzard Lope Dance)
• Georgia Sea Island Singers

  "Yonder Come Day"
• John Davis and the Georgia Sea Island Singers
• McIntosh County Shouters
• Outtakes of Presidential Visit to Sapelo Island

  University of South Carolina

Learn the history of "shouting" and watch the McIntosh County Shouters perform the Ring Shout at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. (The actual performance starts at about 9:19.)