Circle Unbroken: A Gullah Journey from Africa to America

Gr 4–9—Gullah culture is centered in the coastal areas of South Carolina and Georgia, where rice has been grown since colonial times. Africans brought as slaves from the western coast of Africa (primarily Sierra Leone) were brought to this area, where their rice-farming knowledge and resistance to diseases, such as yellow fever, allowed them to subsist in larger groups with less interaction with white British/American culture than their peers. Because of this, they were able to retain more of their African language and traditions than those enslaved in other regions of the United States. The video program is primarily comprised of reenactments of historic events: Africans being captured in Africa, the Middle Passage, slave auctions, field work, the Underground Railroad, and, ultimately, freedom. These scenes are accompanied by songs, in between which brief informational narration and historic images are provided. The audio quality makes it clear that the songs were recorded in a studio. The somewhat obvious lip-synching attempts of the performers might be distracting to media-savvy youth. While there are facts included in the program, the journey is more cultural than informational.