Georgia's Gullah-Geechee Heritage

The Buzzard Lope is a traditional African-American dance/play performed in Gullah-Geechee communities as well as other regions of the South. The movement mimics a buzzard swooping in and jumping or loping about as it prepares to eat carrion, represented by a handkerchief on the floor. Cornelia Walker Bailey describes the men of Sapelo Island performing the Buzzard Lope in her book, God, Dr. Buzzard and the Bolito Man.

Watch the Georgia Sea Island Singers perform the Buzzard Lope to the song Throw Me Anywhere, Lord. This video, along with several others on YouTube, was recorded by folklorist Bess Lomax Hawes.