There is a practice called ring shouting (see below) in the Gullah Geechee culture. Gullah Geechee was a culture of the runaway slaves that lived on the barrier islands and coasts off South Carolina and Georgia. These Africans were able to live their lives in isolation from the white world for the most part. Therefore, many say that the Gullah Geechee people are the closest to the West African culture from which they were stolen. Culture is never a fixed thing, it evolves and adapts to different environments. The Gullah Geechee have a unique dialect, religious practices, food, and many other things. But one of the ones I find most interesting is their ring shouts.
These are dances and songs that grew out of their isolation and the pain of being taken to a land where the people did not respect their humanity.  Many of the rhythms and dance steps are ghosts of West Africa where they and their ancestors once lived. These dances and songs (as all of Gullah Geechee culture) came close to being lost. As slavery and Jim Crow ended the children felt the pull as many did to the big urban centers. But a few tireless workers who knew the beautiful culture and its significance worked to maintain the culture.
The music came from contact with the Christian culture. But Christianity viewed through the eyes of slaves and their yearnings and hopes. It is believed that the ring shout was originally two art forms: the shout and ring play. The shout was a ‘call and response’ similar to African-American preachers of the nineteenth century and seen in many Black churches today. The dancing had to be religious in nature as it was thought to be of Satan. Adding to this challenge was that the steps could not resemble secular dancing like toe tapping, crossing of the legs, or fiddle playing. Thus over time the merging of the two art forms began to arise as an acceptable form of religious expression.
Drums were not allowed on plantations because the owners felt secret seditious messages might be communicated. This led to the enslaved African-Americans inventing new rhythm techniques which was called “hamboning” or “Juba Dance.”  They used foot stomping and hand slapping of the chest, legs, hands, cheeks, etc. to keep time and replicate their earlier forbidden drum rhythms.
“Shouting" men and women move in a circle in a counterclockwise direction, shuffling their feet, clapping, and often spontaneously singing or praying aloud. This was done usually around the church building itself but on occasion around the altar of the church.
It was thought that ring shouts were lost in the late twentieth century. But it was found still being practiced in 1983 at Mt. Calvary Baptist Church in Darien, a small coastal Georgia city about forty minutes south of Savannah. From this church would be formed a traveling group called the McIntosh County Shouters. It is a ten-member Gullah-Geechee group. They travel the United States with the "ring shout," introducing the music and movements to the world. It is not uncommon to hear groups practicing the ring shout at various events across the coastal islands of Georgia and South Carolina. Here in Savannah one of the places that celebrate the Gullah Geechee culture is The Pin Point Community and the Pin Point Heritage Museum. The Gullah Geechee have seen a revival and appreciation of a culture that has survived the Middle Passage, Slavery, and Jim Crow. And the children who once thought the culture too ‘country’ are now proud to have come from such a celebrated culture.
“May be the las’ time we shout together”
“May be the las’ time I don’t know”
“May be the las’ time we shout together”
“May be the las’ time I don’t know”
“I don’t know, I don’t know, may be the las’ time, I don’t know”
These words from a ring shout song can be answered ‘I do know, I do know, when will be the last time, I know not now’.
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One of the great civilizations of North America was the Mississippian Culture or as some call them the Mound builders. Their cities can be found by most rivers. They used the rivers to connect themselves with other cities in the Indian Community. At one time, Cahokia, the capital of the Mississippians was larger than London and Paris. They built large several story mounds on which stood the homes of the elite and religious structures.
 
They had ball fields with amphitheaters that held thousands to gather and watch. They had grand festivals such as the annual Green Corn Festival. They had communal gardens and their presence was prolific on this side of the Mississippi River.
 
Eventually, their civilization died out due to disease and environmental ruins among other things. Today the mounds of these great people can be found throughout the Eastern United States. Some mounds are in the shape of serpents. Today there are state parks and national monuments that preserve the remnants of this great civilization. In Georgia you have the Ocmulgee Mounds in Macon and the Etowah Mounds in Cartersville.
 
It is little known but Savannah had their own mound city. It was called the Irene Mounds and was excavated and destroyed for port expansion in the 1940’s. It was located five miles northwest of Savannah. It was occupied during the Middle Mississippian period between 1100-1350. It was abandoned by the time Europeans came. It would be some of what Tomochichi the Native American who was here when Oglethorpe came would refer to when he said he wanted to be close to burial grounds of his ancestors.
 
In 1937 to 1940 it was almost completely excavated by professional archaeologists as part of the Works Progress Administration. Its importance rests on the fact that it was the most completely excavated mound site in Georgia. The excavation was unusual in that black women were used in the excavation. Black women were excluded from many of the Works Progress Administration Projects. But in this project on the Irene Mounds they were welcomed workers and highly praised by the archeologists for their professionalism.
 
The site included a large rectangular, flat-topped mound called the Temple Mound; a small conical mound with much shell and several burials called the Burial Mound; and a square building and surrounding wall at ground level in the village with many burials named the Mortuary. The site also included a series of concentric circular walls interpreted as a rotunda. These and smaller structures were found.
Savannah’s history of the Native American’s who lived here before the Europeans came is not well known. But thank goodness there is a recently published books that gives and excellent bird’s eye view of that history if you are interested: Native American History of Savannah.
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