The Gullah Music website was created to introduce children to the evolution of African music in America through Gullah history and culture. Gullah is the name of the descendants of enslaved Africans who lived on the Sea Islands of South Carolina, Georgia and northern Florida. It is also the language spoken by the islanders.
Aunt Pearlie Sue and her sidekick stick Reverend Leroy take visitors on a musical journey to listen and learn how African music influenced many styles of music in America. Explore work songs, spirituals, play songs and the blues.
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Anita Singleton-Prather is an entrepreneur, Gullah scholar, entertainer, and master storyteller. She brings Gullah culture to countless people through “Aunt Pearlie Sue,” a character inspired by her...
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Design and play unique, student-made versions of traditional Gullah musical instruments.
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Students will understand how enslaved Africans created music for their worship experience. Religious meetings in “praise houses” provided the spiritual outlet for enslaved Africans on the plantation...
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Students will understand that music and material culture became a mode of covert communication between slaves. Aunt Pearlie Sue is our guide as students uncover hidden messages in the work songs...
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Students will understand traditional blues form that contains three four-measure phrases that follow the pattern AAB. Let Reverend Leroy show you how to express your sad feelings by composing a blues...
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Blues and country music contributed to a style called rhythm and blues. This was an early form of what we now call rock and roll. It appealed to a younger audience that liked to dance to the sounds of...
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Enslaved Africans sang songs as they worked to help keep the pace of the task they were doing. A leader called out a verse or yell and others responded. This is the call-and-response singing tradition...
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African call-and-response patterns and improvisation survived the Middle Passage and became two of the basic elements of one of today’s most popular forms of music. In the 1970s, rap music began in...
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European slave traders brought Africans to the New World on ships as early as the 1400s. These voyages across the Atlantic Ocean are called the Middle Passage. It was a terrible experience for the...
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Reggae music is a Jamaican style of music that has roots in African music and rhythm and blues, or early rock and roll. Reggae songs are usually about social issues, politics and the Rastafarian...
