This exhibition documents the historical journey made by people from Africa to the Americas, along with their language and music. In the 1930s, Lorenzo Dow Turner discovered that the Gullah people of Georgia and South Carolina retained parts of the culture and language of their West African enslaved ancestors. Turner's research produced a living treasury of previously unknown traditions, songs, and folkways that also uncovered and illuminated the connections with West African and Afro-Brazilian communities.
On view are rare photographs, recordings, and artifacts collected by Turner from those Gullah communities in the United States, Brazil, and West Africa.
Lorenzo Dow Turner makes recordings in an African village. Lorenzo Dow Turner Papers, Anacostia Community Museum Archives, Smithsonian Institution. Gift of Lois Turner Williams.