Margaret Washington

Gershwin used Gullah dialect in Porgy and Bess and my love for that American opera prompted me to read this. it has nothing about Gershwin and the dialect is a minor yet significant feature. the rest is fascinating and rich in scholarly detail. act 1 is the tribal roots of south Carolina's slave population in three great waves from the slave coast with Christians buying pagan populated coffles from Moslem traffickers. they brought with them a polyglot culture and such intrinsic elements as show more the male and female Poro and Sande secret societies. act 2 is american religious movements from the Great Awakening to the solidification of the Methodist and Baptist denominations. especially for the former there's the schizophrenic hypocrisy of biblical support for slavery, abolition and converting the slaves for either end. act 3 is the outgrowth of ecstatic worship by postbellum Gullahs. show less