Da Language

Logline

Lorenzo Dow Turner's wax cylinders prove Gullah is African, and a Mende song survives 200 years.

What the episode covers

• Lorenzo Dow Turner arrives on Sapelo Island with a wax cylinder recorder, 1932.
• The Amelia Dawley recording — a Mende funeral song sung by a woman who never left Georgia.
• Turner's Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect (1949) rewrites American linguistics.

Production notes

Community-attributed traditional music only, no post-1928 material. All primary sources public domain (Library of Congress, National Archives, community archives) or community-controlled oral history. Screenplay filed with U.S. Copyright Office as part of the Gullah Geechee Biz Season 1 deposit.

Attribution

Written & Directed by Darryl Elliott Brown
Produced by Darryl Elliott Brown
A Gullah Geechee Biz Production
© 2026 Darryl Elliott Brown