Eric Crawford: "Gullah Spirituals: The Sound of Freedom & Protest in the South Carolina Sea Islands"

The Horry County Museum and the AVX Foundation present a lecture by musicologist Eric Crawford June 25 on his book, Gullah Spirituals: The Sound of Freedom & Protest in the South Carolina Sea Islands.

Join us to learn the history of Gullah Geechee songs from their beginnings in West Africa to their height as songs for social change and Black identity in the 20th century American South. While much has been done to study, preserve and interpret Gullah culture in the Lowcountry and sea islands of South Carolina and Georgia, some traditions like the shouting and rowing songs have been all but forgotten. This work, which focuses primarily on South Carolina's St. Helena Island, illuminates the remarkable history, survival and influence of spirituals since the earliest recordings in the 1860s.

Eric Sean Crawford is the director of the Benedict College Honors Program and holds a Ph.D. in musicology from the Catholic University of America. He is the former director of the Charles W. Joyner Institute for Gullah and African Diaspora Studies at Coastal Carolina University, served as musical consultant for the Amazon series Underground Railroad and is featured in Henry Louis Gates's miniseries, The Black Church.

The program will begin at 1 p.m. in the McCown Auditorium, located at 805 Main Street in Conway. This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call (843) 915-5320 or email hcgmuseum@horrycounty.org. To view a full list of programs, visit our website.