Circle Unbroken: A Gullah Journey from Africa to America

In filmmaker Clark Santee's musical documentary, co-writer and narrator Anita Singleton-Prather tells the story of the Gullah people through song, dance, and re-enactments (for several numbers, she provides lead vocals in a husky alto). In America, the Gullah primarily live in South Carolina, tracing their ancestry to the West African nations of Sierra Leone, Gambia, Senegal, and Angola. In one 18th-century re-enactment, slave traders raid an African village; in another, Southern plantation owners bid for slaves at an auction. Period drawings, paintings, and prints depict the harrowing journey that slaves took from Africa to the New World, during which many died due to overcrowding, malnutrition, and corporal punishment. On the plantations, slaves picked cotton, indigo, and rice—crops similar to those they cultivated in Africa. Singleton-Prather also describes cultural practices, such as weddings (or “jumping the broom”) and Poro, the latter an initiation ritual signifying a boy's transition to manhood. One song, “Peas and Rice,” celebrates two staples of the Gullah diet, while the Yoruba traditional “Funga Alafia” offers glad tidings and hopes for peace. For these sequences, the performers eschew the stage for parks, cemeteries, and other locations. Singleton-Prather also provides an overview of the abolitionist movement, the Underground Railroad, the Civil War, and the Emancipation Proclamation. Towards the end, she mentions the 2015 murders of nine parishioners at the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, a sad reminder that racism is far from over. Students of African-American history will find much of interest here. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (K. Fennessy)