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  Joseph and Rosa Murray, July 2010

  Joseph Murray and Rosa Murray

  An interview with Rosa and Joseph Murray, an elder song leader and farmer in Beaufort, South Carolina. Murray married Rosa Murray, a native of Saint Helena Island, but he was born on the mainland near Beaufort, South Carolina. The interview begins mid-conversation talking about fertilizer, but quickly changes to talking about how he remembers "Ride on Jesus" being sung by his wife (Rosa), and how she sings songs that he had not heard before. He sings a few bars of "It's Alright," "Jesus is the Light of the World," and "Everything Moving." He talks about how songs are a form of communication, sharing songs with one another in the community, then expounds by testimonials on the Lord's sheep. His mother was a woman who could sing and would catch the spirit during a shouting song. Rosa Murray enters the interview around 15 minutes in, to talk about how individuals were taught songs and how individuals were baptized at the river. She sings a few "Ride on Jesus," "Mary Had a Baby," and "Blood Done Sign My Name." Joseph Murray sings the communion hymn, and then talks about the songs that he's forgotten for funerals and baptisms. Rosa and Joseph both sing "Nobody Knows," "Remember Me," "I Wonder," "Serve One of God," "Hey Neva." The interview terminates at the start of "Hey Neva." After a break in the recording, the tape finishes with "Hey Neva." Rosa sings "Where You There?" and she remembers a woman in the choir she called her mother, whose funeral happened the previous Wednesday. Rosa discusses how she came back to Ebenezer after she moved back to the island from Florida, and how she was recruited back to the prays house from Nina (who recommended the Murrays to Crawford).

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  Reverend Kenneth Doe, August 2009

  Kenneth Doe

  An August 10 interview with Dr. Kenneth Doe of Bethesda Christian Fellowship Church (which Crawford describes as Baptist Church). Doe discusses the demographic and linguistic changes to the island that have affected the retention of spirituals and religious practices, such as seeking. Doe discusses the history of religious practices, from enslavement to emancipation, as well as the history of Brick Baptist and the prayer houses (or prays houses). He also discusses the prayer house course of events versus the churches. He discusses that congregations still keep some of these traditions alive today in prayer services, with marked differences. The recording abruptly cuts off a minute before the end of the track. The recording splits at 19:15 onto a new tape, and picks up mid-conversation while Doe is discussing the harmonies of the worship choir. He also discusses the talents of the senior choir. He discusses how song leaders are cultivated within families to replace family members who have left home or passed away. Doe discusses the popularity of certain songs. He then shifts where the acoustic services, testimonies, and structures of spirituals during church services. Doe also briefly discusses his efforts to keep spirituals alive in his congregation, and why he feels it is important to keep the spirituals forward and train young people in a wide variety of music. He discusses the formation of the senior choir and the construction of the congregation building. The interview terminates in the middle of Crawford posing a new question about the ring shout.

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  Minnie Gracie Gadson, 2009

  Minnie Gracie Gadson

  Interview with Minnie Gracie Gadson, which picks up in mid-conversation between Eric Crawford, a researcher studying Gullah spirituals. The interview is a dialogue between the two, Crawford often prompting Gadson for the next song. They discuss Violet Alston and James Garfield Smalls. This is a continuation of the previous interview with Gracie Gadson, a song leader on St. Helena Island, which begins in the midst of "Drinking of the Wine," and then proceeds with "Take Me to the Water." Gadson talks through the different songs for different occasions. She discusses that some individuals have certain songs that belong to them, and why certain songs belong to certain individuals. She discusses her time performing songs at festivals and then she moves through some additional spirituals. The recording cuts off in the middle of Gadson performing "I Saw the Light."

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  Robert Ralph Middleton, August 2009

  Robert Ralph Middleton

  Interview with Ralph Middleton, a native of Saint Helena Island and continued worshipper at Coffin Point Prays House. In the last minutes of this interview, he discusses his role in World War II and getting back and forth from the island to Beaufort via boat before the bridge was built. He attended the Penn School as a child, and the interview begins with Eric Crawford asking Middleton about the Big Chapel at Penn Center. Middleton describes the order of the program, as well as spirituals used in general at Penn School. The conversation covers house blessings, particularly the one that Courtney Siceloff recorded in the 1950s. They discuss the transcription of spirituals by Penn students, and the improvised nature of songs and their variations, and the way that the Penn School encouraged the individuals to not use the Gullah language and to use and speak English, even when performing spirituals. Middleton provides a comparison of spirituals performed at the prays houses, the types of instruments (like washboards), used to accompany the spirituals. They also discuss the various choirs and quartets that would travel and perform the spirituals to audiences, both internal to the island and external. After a break in the recording, Middleton continues the discussion of his education and work when he graduated from Penn School and before he was drafted into World War II. Though he had the option to get kicked off the draft roster, he chose not to in order to get the G.I. Bill. Middleton then used the G.I. Bill to attend Howard University in D.C., and he was able to get an apartment and job through his family connections. He recollects that most of the students who attended Penn spoke both English and Gullah, though they were careful not to let the Gullah slip out. He discusses the complications of performing and traveling for spirituals, which remove the songs from their original purpose.

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  Robert Ralph Middleton, Unkown Date 2009

  Robert Ralph Middleton

  Interview with Ralph Middleton, a native of Saint Helena Island and continued worshiper at Coffin Point Prays House. Middleton was born in 1926, but left the island for Washington, DC, for a career as a social worker, before returning to the island after he retired. The interview sounds as if it is in a car as Middleton takes Eric Crawford around the island, particularly in the Coffin Point Community. The tour ends at the Coffin Point Prays House. A woman joins them at the prays house, and they sing "Amazing Grace," "A Hole in the Wall," and a few songs that can't be deciphered because of noise interference from the tape. The last ten minutes of the tape are obfuscated by white noise from the recording.

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  Unidentified Penn School Graduate, August 2009

  Unknown Penn School Graduate

  An unidentified 81-year-old female Penn School graduate interview, who was a classmate of Robert Ralph Middleton and is now the board member of the Penn Center and member of Brick Baptist Church. She attended school from 1932, and she attended Adam Street Church as a child. The interview covers the use of classic English versus Gullah, and the emphasis of the spirituals at Penn. She recalls that that Penn School emphasized the Gullah culture through the food, spirituals (which she recalls were performed in Gullah), and through the preservation of the language. She recalls why Penn School required students to stay on campus the last two years, as well as the convenience it provided to other island communities like Hilton Head and Shell Island, which did not have high schools for black students. She recalls the routines of Penn School such as the flag service and chapel service, as well as the numerous individuals who came to study the songs and the educational models at Penn. They discuss Mr. J. P. King, who went to school with her father at Hampton College. The interviewee discusses the quartet contests, as well as the site of the first reading of the Emancipation Proclamation. She recalls her own baptism, the baptisms that occured at the creek, and the communion service traditions at churches on the island. She then shifts back to Penn School to discuss the number of boys who were drafted during World War II. She discusses the benefits of the isolation of Saint Helena Island before the bridge was built, and the importance of midwives and doctors at Penn School. The interview cuts off in the middle of her discussing the vesper services held by a principal at Penn School. After a break in the recording, the interviewee discusses her brother's education at Penn School, and the fact that some individuals would have to leave Penn because they could not afford tuition. She recalls that Mrs. Agnes Sherman brought back some of the old customs after she was hired as a cultural coordinator at the Penn Center, and she explains the experience of these celebrations, such as Fourth of July and Labor Day. She also discusses Mrs. Sherman's collaboration with James Garfield Smalls. As Crawford and the interviewee look through artifacts, she remembers how both girls and boys were involved in the war effort during World War II. She also sings a few bars of "Leanin' on the Lord," which Garfield would sing. She also sings parts of "Hold Out Your Light."

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  Gardenia Simmons-White

  Gardenia Simmons-White

  Interview by Eric Crawford with Gardenia Simmons-White, a 1952 graduate of the Penn School, who was present when Courtney Siceloff was at Penn. The recording begins in the midst of Gardenia Simmons-White remembering the chapel and vespers services in Frissell Hall. She discusses the traditions at Penn, and spirituals sung frequently by the Penn School Quartet and others. Simmons-White tells that while certain collections of Penn School are in English, some of the older transcriptions are in the Gullah dialect.

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  James Garfield Smalls, August 2009

  James Garfield Smalls

  Interview by Eric Crawford with James Garfield Smalls on August 12, 2009. Smalls begins by talking about the composition of a singing group without instruments historically. He emphasized the importance of knowing the music from both learning and tradition. He discusses the various groups on St. Helena Island and Penn School. He feels that the spirituals are good to sing for the younger people, but only as long as they respect the music as it has been developed over time. Smalls also discusses the patterns of historic seeking, a ritual where a young person comes into the spiritual membership of the church. He sings "Don't Turn Back," a song that was sung during seeking. He describes the Penn School chapel services and how the room was laid out, and how important the chapel services were. He remembers the progression of bridges between Saint Helena Island and Beaufort. He sings "I Heard the Angel Singing," while remarking that some of the songs have been forgotten because people don't remember how they were sung anymore. He then sings "Fisherman Peter," often regarded as one of Smalls' songs on the island. He states the role that songs played during slavery, like books or a way of trading knowledge. After a break in the recording, Smalls continues talking through the role of education, sometimes being self-effacing, calling himself an uneducated man, which is ironic as one of the most knowledgeable musicians and teachers on the island, and perhaps the region. Crawford remarks in the interview, "No one else knows these songs." Crawford offers song titles, and Smalls affirms that he knows these songs, sometimes offering a few bars. Crawford alludes to the respect that Pastor Doe has for Smalls. Smalls contends that any song can become a shouting song if you sing it right. He also remembers the particular songs that were sung during a house blessing, and remembers the particular people that were at the 1941 house blessing recorded by Siceloff. The recording cuts off in the middle of a conversation.