Georgia Historical Society

Wednesday, July 21, 2010, 6:00 P.M.

Second African Baptist Church

123 Houston Street, Savannah

 

Derived from African practices, the ring shout combines call-and-response singing, the percussion of a stick or broom on a wood floor, and hand-clapping and foot-tapping. First described in depth by outside observers on the sea islands of South Carolina and Georgia during the Civil War, the ring shout was presumed to have died out in active practice until 1980, when the shouters in the Bolden community first came to the public's attention.
 
The McIntosh County Shouters are the last of the active practitioners of this art form and the only group with a direct connection to their African roots.    Through there performance, the McIntosh County Shouters have preserved one of the oldest forms of African American cultural and religious expression.  Since 1980, they have held audiences spellbound and contributed to a greater understanding of early African American culture.

We ask that no photographic/video/audio equipment be brought into the church for the performance.
 
Free and open to the public.