"I'm Going to Sing and 'Shout' While I Have the Chance": Music, Movement, and Dance on the Sea Islands

Abstract

The Sea Islands of the United States are located along the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia, extending almost four hundred miles from the southern border of North Carolina to the northern border of Florida. The islands themselves, actually a part of the coastal plain, are readily accessible by water through the streams and the riverine and brackish marshes that separate them from the mainland. Some of the islands are located far enough out in the ocean that boats are required for transportation; others are now connected (since the 1930s) to the mainland by bridges or causeways, making access possible by car or bus. The continuing inaccessibility of some rural islands, such as Sapelo and Daufuskie-a key factor in their economic and social lives-perpetuates the isolation that has so significantly operated to preserve the Africanity of the folklore and culture of the Sea Island area. In recent days, one of the isolating factors has been the arrival of developers who have come to Daufuskie and radically changed the character of life there through exclusionary transportation and irresponsible land usage. AfricanAmerican Sea Islanders, however, fought change and recently won a lawsuit concerning such irresponsibility in the desecration of a graveyard. While inhabitants of the islands hold the line against moder encroachment, traditional attitudes and practices continue. Music, movement, and dance constitute a complex of artistic behavior that is only separated by a European analytic sense of aesthetic category. In African societies throughout the world, these expressive modes are