Lorenzo Dow Turner
Lorenzo Dow Turner (1890-1972) is considered "the Father of Gullah Studies." He was the first linguist to make a connection between the Gullah-Geechee dialect and native African languages.
Turner traveled throughout the Gullah-Geechee Corridor in the 1930s recording people talking, praying and singing. He later published his groundbreaking book, Africanisms in the Gullah-Geechee Dialect. His life and Gullah-Geechee research are featured in a Smithsonian exhibit titled Word, Shout, Song: Lorenzo Dow Turner Connecting Communities through Language.
One of Turner's most significant discoveries was a Mende song that had been passed down from slavery. The Moran family in McIntosh County, Georgia, had rocked babies to sleep with the song for generations but did not know its origin or meaning. Anthropologist Joseph Opala continued Turner's research of the song in the 1980s, and the story of its African roots is told in the documentary, The Language You Cry In (see the trailer in the Films section of this guide).
A Gullah translation of the King James Version New Testament Bible was published in 2005 by the American Bible Society. It took 25 years for the translation to be completed by a team of historians, linguists, and native Gullah-Geechee speakers.
Audio Resources
This list includes early music and interviews of people who lived in what is now known as the Gullah-Geechee Cultural Heritage Corridor.
- Library of Congress: American Memory "Voices from the Days of Slavery" (use search term "Gullah")
- Lomax Family Collections: Alan Lomax, Zora Neale Hurston, and Mary Elizabeth Barnicle Expedition Library of Congress' American Folklife Center
- Cultural Equity: Alan Lomax Collection Bessie Jones Recordings
- Cultural Equity: Alan Lomax Collection Georgia Sea Islands Recordings
Videos
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Bessie Jones and the Georgia Sea Island Singers Daniel in the Lion's Den
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Georgia Sea Island Singers Adam in the Garden (features the Ring Shout)
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Georgia Sea Island Singers Throw Me Anywhere Lord (features The Buzzard Lope Dance)
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Georgia Sea Island Singers Yonder Come Day
The following recordings are available at many public and academic libraries. Ask our library staff for help finding them.
- Put Your Hand on Your Hip and Let Your Backbone Slip
Featuring Bessie Jones and others. Published by Rounder Records in 2001, from tracks recorded in 1973 on St. Simons Island and Brunswick, Georgia, and in Watertown, Mass. - Southern Journey: Earliest Times
Georgia Sea Island Singers of St. Simons Island, featuring Bessie Jones, John Davis, Willis Proctor, and more. Published by Rounder (1998) from field recordings made by Alan Lomax in 1959 and 1960. - Southern Journey: Georgia Sea Islands, Vol. 12
Georgia Sea Island Singers of St. Simons Island, featuring Bessie Jones, John Davis, Willis Proctor, and more. Published by Rounder (1998) from field recordings made by Alan Lomax in 1959 and 1960.
